A few miles down the road from Golden Canyon was the Devil’s Golf Course. To get to the vista point, we had to turn into an unpaved road which had its share of bumps and dips. Many of the roads in the Valley were unpaved, and I have yet to figure out whether this is because of the relatively small number of visitors compared to the other national parks in the region, or because of the huge size of the Valley itself.

“This is terrible! Oh! My car!” Needless to say, Paul was really feeling for his car as we vroomed onwards. “Drive slower.. please. Ouch ouch ouch ouch.” I wondered how much fun the new Honda Civic couple was having just about now. But then again, maybe they were still parked at the pump.

The Devil’s Golf Course was the remnants of an ancient lake. Believe it or not, back in the good old days thousands and thousands of years ago, this entire place was filled with water. But time passed, and even climates change. The lake dried up, leaving behind the crystallized minerals on the Valley floor as a silent memorial to the days long gone.

At the vista point, we were surrounded by miles upon miles of craggy terrain covered with white crystallized salt. The unique feature of the Devil’s Golf Course was the gnarled lumpy formations that lent an unreal, extra-terrestrial quality to the region. All you needed now was a spaceship, and buckets of goo to smear onto the lumpy formations. Wait till nightfall, and you’d be expecting to see Ripley running around spraying the badass Queen-mother Alien with napalm. We didn’t wait till nightfall, so we had to settle for trying to make out the sound of billions of salt crystals cracking in the afternoon sun.