Devils golf course

The Devil's Golf Course, a large salt-pan on the Death Valley's floor, is located in the Mojave desert, east California, in the Death Valley National Park. It covers a distance of approximately 40 miles, although its boundaries are not well defined. It extends from the Ashford Mill site to Salt Creek Hills. The salt pan is basically a huge, dried-up lake bed that once covered the valley down to 30 feet. The lake was formed by weathering over thousands of years into amazing shapes. It dried between 2,000 and 4,000 years ago.

Devils golf course

Devils golf course death valley

The landmark Mojave Desert site of the Devil's Golf Course can be found in the mysterious Mojave Desert. According to the 1934 National Park Service guidebook, the surface is so hard that “only the devil could play golf” on it. Soon after, the salt pan was renamed the Devil's Golf Course. The vast saltpan is a key feature of Death Valley National Park, and it's a stunning example of the region’s otherworldly landscape.

The present-day salt pan was formed around 150,000 years ago by a large deep lake that was created by melting glaciers and snow from as far as the Sierra Nevada. This body of water, also known as Lake Manly was 600 feet deep. The majority of salts found in these formations were discovered during this time. The last Ice Age, which was approximately 10,000 years ago, saw climate change initiate a period where the lake began to evaporate and dry up. For a brief time, the climate became much more humid during the Holocene (2,000-4,000 years ago). A second shallow lake was formed by snowmelt from the mountains surrounding and the drainage of the Amargosa River. The salt pan was able to flood to about 30 feet deep. As the climate warmed up again, rainfall decreased, and the shallow lake began drying up. The water evaporated and minerals in the lake became more concentrated. Eventually, a thick salty pool was formed on the floor of Death Valley.

Death valley devil's golf course

Badwater's salt pan floods occasionally, but then dries out. Devil's Golf Course, however, is in an area of the Death Valley saltpan that is several feet higher than the flood level. The pinnacles of silty, beautiful salt at Devil's Golf Course are not affected by floodwater. The pinnacles rise from salty water rising up from the underlying clay. The water is pulled up by the capillary action and quickly evaporates. Pinnacles can grow only a few inches in 35 years. The amazing shapes of the salty spires can be created by rain and wind.

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