Tag: Natioanl Park

Death Valley NP’s Racetrack Playa

California, Death Valley, Desert Southwest, National Parks

Racetrack Playa at California’s Death Valley National Park is hard to get to but worth the effort. It is home to the famous sailing or sliding rocks. I’ve posted images of them here before but I wanted to bring a friend for her first visit. The 27 mile highly-washboarded road is teeth rattling but you must take your time.

The Racetrack from about 5 miles away. The elevation gain from one end to the other is a mere 1.5 inches and the Racetrack is almost 3 miles long. That is flat.

 

The road has views of mountain ridges and blowing sand.

 

No one really knows when Teakettle Junction got its start but is a quirky site in a quirky park

 

                         Sliding rock.

 

Lian trying to capture their story.

 

 

What probably is the cause

 

                   This lake bed gets baked by the summer heat of Death Valley

What Do Hurricane Mesa and The Flying Monkey Have in Common?

Desert Southwest, Utah, Zion

The Flying Monkey, a pizza joint in Springdale, Utah,  derived its name from an Air Force test track on the top of nearby Hurricane Mesa just outside of Zion NP. In the 1950′s the U.S. Air Force constructed a 12,000 foot test track on nearby Hurricane Mesa.   The track was constructed to test aircraft ejection systems using dummies.  

In at least one test series the rocket sled dummy was replaced by apes to identify the g-force effects of this type of ejection on a live being.  Hence the Flying Monkey name came into existence. They could have also called it the Screaming Monkey!

You can barely see in the image below a building or two at the top of Hurricane Mesa. Flying Monkey pizza is not just another pizzeria. It is wood-fired, thin crust, with aromas remindful of my days as a kid getting a slice from Alfonso’s in NJ.

Zion Smith Mesa_8769

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