2018-03-23 Fri

A view of the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes in Death Valley National Park is shown on this stamp marking the hottest spot in the United States.

In 2006 the U.S. Postal Service issued a pane of 40 stamps entitled “Wonders of America: Land of Superlatives.” The 40 different stamps show natural or man-made entities or phenomena which represent the biggest, tallest, fastest etc. of their respective genre. The “superlative” denoted on this particular stamp is the place with the highest temperature ever recorded in the United States: 134.1 °F at Furnace Creek Ranch in Death Valley, California (July 1913).

The image on the stamp shows the sand dunes at Mesquite Flat near Stovepipe Wells (at least the top part of the image does). Death Valley is part of the Great Basin desert which stretches from the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the Wasatch Range in Utah. A common misconception is that deserts consist mainly of sand. There’s actually very little sand in Death Valley (less than 1% by area). Mesquite Flat is the largest area of sand dunes in the park.

Image Courtesy: Google Image