A Weekend in Death Valley

This seems to be a trend lately, forgetting to post something and getting yelled at by a family member, but with my first international trip of the year looming, I figured it was time to get back in the swing of things.

For those that don't know, last month I was able to work in a long weekend trip to Death Valley National Park in California. It was my first getaway for the year and a pretty incredible place to visit. I had always heard about it as a really interesting park, but I admit, I was totally blown away.

I flew out on a Thursday night to Las Vegas and drove about halfway between there and Death Valley for the night. I've never really liked Vegas, so it was nice to get right out.

The following morning, I stopped off at Zabriskie Point to catch the sunrise. It's hard to describe the area, but it's a really incredible viewpoint. The park is pretty much a treasure trove of geologic formations, and the formations called alluvial fans are the showcase at Zabriskie. Well, for me anyway. For most it's the pointed rock called Manly Beacon that juts up above everything else. It didn't even matter that morning that there weren't any clouds in the sky, as the alpenglow still lit up the Panamint Mountains in the background, putting on a really nice show of pinks and purples. Overall I stayed for about an hour and then hopped back in the car for my first ever visit to below sea level.

The main attraction of DV is being the lowest point in the Americas, with the lowest point in the park being at 282 feet below sea level at the badwater salt flats. The entire valley used to be under water, but as the Sierra Mountains rose up in the west, less and less moisture reached the area and eventually it all dried up. What was left was a long flat, covered with honeycombed salt formations. I wandered around there scouting for the next morning's shooting and then headed over to an area known as the Devil's Golf Course, a pockmarked rock and salt flat just up from badwater.

From there, I put away the camera and stopped by the visitor's center to figure out what to do next. My plans were to visit Racetrack Playa, which is the reason I wanted to visit DV in the first place. The playa is an old, dried up lake bed with one of the most incredible things I've ever seen, moving rocks. Well, the rocks don't actually move when you're there, nobody has ever seen them move, but they do and they leave a telltale track behind them. I was really looking forward to it and it was one of the most amazing places I've ever been.

The only trouble with visiting the Racetrack, is that it's a 27 mile drive back on a really rough, gravel road to get back there. The park service warns that high clearance vehicles are needed, but I'd heard that wasn't necessarily true. They stuck to that story at the visitor center, but I decided to risk it. I figured if I took it easy I'd be fine. It really wasn't that bad, but having a small SUV helped.

The drive back was really nice, going over a small mountain pass and through a large stand of Joshua trees. It took just over an hour and when I finally arrived at the Racetrack there was only one other car there. They left shortly after I got there. It seemed to be a common theme that weekend, having the place to myself. I love having that at these parks, it's such an overwhelming experience.


I wandered around the playa taking photos through sunset and decided to head back to the main campground. My original plan was to camp out there, but I took just about all of the photos I wanted to, so I figured I'd try to hit badwater the next morning.

That decision turned out to be a great one as we were treated to a really nice sunrise. Two other photographers were out on the flats that morning, and we all three talked about how nice it was to see clouds and get a nice show of color. It doesn't happen that often in that dry of a place, so we considered ourselves lucky.

From there, I decided to get some hiking in and I couldn't think of a better spot to stretch my legs than the 6.5 mile loop from Golden Canyon, back up to Zabriskie Point and down a wash called Gower Gulch. The rock formations at Zabriskie were incredibly beautiful, but wandering among them was really awesome. The trail rose and fell and worked its way through the formations and passed right under Manly Beacon. It's easily one of the best dayhikes I've ever done, just an incredible place to wander. After that I hiked around the dunes at Mesquite Flats, pitched my tent, and called it a night.

The next morning I headed out for a pool of standing water I'd spotted from the road. I've always enjoyed shooting reflections, so I thought it would be fun to see what I could get out there. That and in Death Valley you don't expect to see water, but it's there. It was a nice morning, but I made a huge mistake with the camera settings and the pictures ended up being pretty unusable for any prints. They look nice at web resolution at least.

After that I packed up my campsite and got a big breakfast at the restaurant at Stovepipe Wells. I needed some energy for my hike in the afternoon, which would take me 9 miles through a trailless wilderness to the second highest group of sand dunes in the park, Panamint Dunes.

The dunes aren't that popular because of the hike, but they make for a great afternoon of hiking. The highest are roughly 300' high, but most wouldn't ever guess that. You can see them from the road, nestled underneath some peaks, but they look tiny. The reason is they're roughly ten miles away. To get back to them, you drive in on a gravel road for about 6 miles and just pick a parking spot along the road. From there you just head straight for the dunes, about 4.5 miles in the distance.

The only other place I'd hiked in trailless areas was Alaska, and this was just as much fun. I had to negotiate some pretty deep washes, one about 20 feet deep, but it only took about an hour and a half to make it to the dunes. I'd read that they got few visitors and I didn't see a soul while I was out there. It was really incredible to be there alone and have it to myself.


I stayed as late as I could, but had to hurry back to catch my flight home. In all, I had an unbelievable trip out to Death Valley and can't recommend it enough. It's only about 2 hours outside Vegas, so it makes for a great side trip. Just try not to go in the summer!

I'm still working on the pictures, but the ones I've got so far are below:
http://tmgimages.smugmug.com