Flower power brings chaos to Death Valley

[emad]

Telegraph
By Catherine Elsworth in Los Angeles
(Filed: 01/04/2005)

The most dramatic display of wildflowers in Death Valley, California, for more than 50 years has attracted such huge crowds to the normally desolate national park that it is struggling to cope.

Traffic jams have clogged roads, causing the asphalt to crumble and huge potholes to open up, and fights have broken out as drivers queue for petrol.

With three and a half times the average number of visitors pouring in, hotels within a 100-mile radius are booked until the middle of this month. Sales of guide books and basic foods have reached record levels, while lavatory paper is in short supply at park facilities and sewerage systems are overloaded.

Death Valley, on the California-Nevada border, usually gets less than 2in of rain a year, sometimes none. Since last July it has received 6.3in, the highest since records were first made 94 years ago.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/04/01/wflor01.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/04/01/ixworld.html

SORRY can't find pic...

[Ripley]

1. I saw it on tv recently....beautiful!

I'm sure the anti-Earth people will say "See!!! There is no global warming crisis...look how life flourishes in Death Valley!"

Setting climatic records annually is a clue something is wrong. This situation, while beautiful is a clue something is wrong.

I guess it will take a cascade of chaos in their own front yard to wake them up.

[yebrent]

2. Check out this link for wildflower reports and pics in the SW.

http://www.desertusa.com/wildflo/ca.html#anchor312854

[Eloriel]

4. Those were wonderful -

a bit like taking a mini-vacation. Thanks!

[UpInArms]

3. a blooming desert - an awesome sight

[amazona]

5. it kind of touches the heart

All this hoo ha over flowers, fistfights even. In a funny way it gives you hope for the human race that we do put such a premium on the beautiful.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72