Death Valley is full of surprises and oddities, such as the fact that this arid, desolate valley was once part of a massive freshwater lake. A remnant of this lake is found at Salt Creek, where freshwater converted to saltwater as the giant lake dried up about 10,000 years ago. The creek is home to the Salt Creek pupfish, a 2-inch/6.4-cm-long fish that lives nowhere else. As its watery home changed from freshwater to saltwater, the pupfish evolved to survive in its new environment. The fish’s evolutionary change would be roughly the same as if humans decided to drink gasoline instead of water. Not only that, but the pupfish has the ability to survive in water from near-freezing temperatures to almost 108°F/42°C.
A wheelchair-accessible boardwalk trail crosses a wetland of salt grass and pickleweed, tracing the path of Salt Creek. In springtime, peer down into the pools and you may spot the minnow-sized pupfish swimming. In the heat of summer, the fish go dormant. At any time of year, songbirds and great blue herons congregate, and the stream’s salty pools reflect the blue sky and surrounding badlands in their stillness.