Death Valley park officials kindly asks visitors to stop fying eggs on pavement

Visitors to Death Valley in California are being asked to stop doing one very weird activity - frying eggs on the ground.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Anyone who lives in the southwestern states where summertime temperatures routinely climb into the triple digits, has a common fear when riding a bicycle or walking along the street. They fear being incapacitated on the pavement.

Perhaps more scarring than the injury of a collision or fall, would be the subsequent burning from the pavement in summer heat that so great it can sometimes make gooey tar percolate from fresh pavement.

In places renowned for their heat, such as Death Valley, visitors are taking that macabre fear to a viral level, marveling at the frying of eggs on park pavement.

The problem began as a video of a park staffer frying an egg in nothing but a skillet heated by the sun went viral. The staffer was attempting to demonstrate just how hot is can get in Death Valley, the hottest place on the planet.

In fact, the park just marked the anniversary of recording the world's hottest day, a stunning 134 degrees on July 10, 1913. The extreme heat is a caused by the remote desert location and its elevation below sea level.

However, unbeknownst to visitors, the heat of the pavement at the park isn't quite enough to completely fry the egg. This hasn't kept visitors from trying, and leaving a sickly, gooey mess all across the park and throughout parking lots.

Park officials are now complaining that each day maintenance staff has to clean up egg messes and cartons and shells from parking lots and along the roads. It's unsanitary and can be hazardous as visitors might slip on the remains.

Instead, viewers are admonished to drink water, avoid activity in the daytime heat, "And please don't try to fry eggs on the ground. It makes a mess and it doesn't work."

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