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Morning View
Zabriskie Point, Death Valley - January 2010It was a video shoot combined with a fortuitous free weekend that allowed my friend, Tim Sternberg, and me to explore Death Valley. I’ve always called this place my winter happy place – a place that is reliably sunny and warm when Central Oregon is covered with snow. But not this weekend. Clouds and colder temperatures preceded the arrival of a major winter storm over Southern California – a storm that was due to arrive in Death Valley sometime within the next 24 to 48 hours. Would we be able to make our way through the park before the storm arrived? That was the question on our minds as we headed out before dawn in hopes of catching a sunrise at Zabriskie Point.
Zabriskie Point is the prettiest view in the park. At the right time of year, Manly Beacon (the large triangular peak at the far side the badlands) appears to glow as the sun’s first rays strike its Eastern face. On this particular morning, heavy cloud cover prevented this from occurring. Eventually the sun lit up a section of the distant Panamint Mountains through a break in the clouds.
The Sun Breaks Through
Zabriskie Point, Death Valley - January 2010Because this was Tim’s first visit to Death Valley, I was especially glad to see the sun break through onto the badlands for a few minutes. The colors and textures are completely different in the beautiful low light of early morning. Everyone who visits Death Valley should get to experience it.
Greenwater Valley and the Funeral Mountains
Death Valley - January 2010From Zabriskie Point we drove to Dantes View, a viewpoint high in the Amargosa Range that provides a breathtaking view of Death Valley 6,000 feet below. On our way up, we stopped to enjoy the view in the opposite direction – toward Greenwater Valley and the Funeral Mountains.
Dantes View, Death Valley - January 2010
From Dantes View, one can see the Badwater salt flat spreading north into the valley. It’s typically twenty degrees cooler up here than it is in the valley below. When it’s windy, it feels even colder than that.
The scale here can be deceptive. Just out of view below us is Badwater. At -282 feet, it is the lowest spot in the U.S. Just out of view across the valley is 11,049 foot Telescope Peak. The 11,331 foot disparity is the largest of any two nearby points in the U.S. Only the tiny ribbon of highway along the valley floor hints at the enormity of this place.
Racetrack Road, Death Valley - January 2010
After enjoying lunch at the swanky Furnace Creek Inn, where I made the rather regrettable discovery that soft-shelled crabs are expected to be eaten shell and all, Tim and I went across the road and rented a Jeep. Our next stop would be The Racetrack, famous worldwide for its mysterious moving rocks.
If it was the moving rocks which brought us to The Racetrack, it was the always miserable Racetrack Road which brought us there in a rented Jeep. The local tow truck driver reportedly makes a good living towing vehicles off this road – usually because of punctured tires. I know. I know. You’re looking at the picture and you’re thinking that the road doesn’t look that bad. It wasn’t…in this particular spot.
Teakettle Junction, Death Valley - January 2010
By the time you reach Teakettle Junction, you’re over three quarters of the way to The Racetrack. We’d made it in less than an hour with Mario…err…Tim driving. It didn’t hurt that the road was in as good a condition as I’d ever seen it. We could have probably made the trip in our rental vehicle. Probably. I wasn’t sorry we rented the Jeep.
The Racetrack Playa, Death Valley - January 2010
We arrived at The Racetrack ahead of schedule and well before sunset to find it already enveloped in shade. Because it is ringed with mountains and, with the sun so low in the sky at this time of year, the playa falls into shadow early in the afternoon. Not what I had hoped for. Nevertheless, it was a beautiful afternoon to be out walking around on this unique dry lakebed.
”Where are the moving rocks?” you may be asking yourself. They’re called moving rocks for a reason. They move around on the huge playa so you have to look for them. I never came across any. Fortunately, Tim did.
Edge of The Grandstand
The Racetrack, Death Valley - January 2010
Photographer on Dunes
Mesquite Dunes, Death Valley - January 2010Our second morning was spent on the Mesquite Dunes. These are the most easily accessible dunes in Death Valley so they are rarely in pristine condition. Visiting photographers pray for overnight windstorms to erase the previous day’s tracks but such prayers are not often answered at this time of year.
Mesquite Dunes Vista
Mesquite Dunes, Death Valley - January 2010
Polygons in the Sand
Mesquite Dunes, Death Valley - January 2010One of the most interesting phenomena found among the dunes are these clay polygons which form in the depressions between dunes.
Polygons in the Sand II
Mesquite Dunes, Death Valley - January 2010
Titus Canyon Road, Death Valley - January 2010
Death Valley has hundreds of miles of four-wheel drive roads waiting to be explored by anyone with an appropriate vehicle – typically a 4WD vehicle with high clearance and all terrain tires. The most popular of these roads leads 27 miles to and through Titus Canyon. This is one road I had never had the chance to explore so Tim and I set out to do just that before turning in our Jeep.
Titus Canyon Road, Death Valley - January 2010
Titus Canyon Road proved significantly better than Racetrack Road in most places but we still passed one truck with a punctured tire.
The color along this route defies description. Tim remarked that it looked as though God dropped his paint palette here. I could not disagree. These images don’t begin to do the area justice.
Textures and Patterns
Titus Canyon, Death Valley - January 2010It is only toward the end of this one-way drive that one enters Titus Canyon. The many colors, patterns, and textures demand further investigation.
Tim Investigates
Titus Canyon, Death Valley - January 2010
Textures and Patterns II
Titus Canyon, Death Valley - January 2010
Entrance to the Titus Canyon Narrows
Titus Canyon, Death Valley - January 2010Titus Canyon becomes progressively narrower as it descends into Death Valley. The narrowest section, barely the width of a car in places, lies just beyond this curve.
Devils Golf Course, Death Valley - January 2010
This area is known as the Devils Golf Course but it wasn’t until this trip that I understood why. I always kind of got it. Obviously, this would be the golf course from hell. But why a golf course and not a football field? Tim discovered the answer in these small white salt formations that appear randomly across this formation. They are about the size of a golf ball.
Tim Takes a Seat…Carefully
Devils Golf Course, Death Valley - January 2010Many of the geological formations in Death Valley, from Devils Golf Course to Dantes View to Devils Cornfield to the Funeral Mountains and Coffin Peak have death and hell-themed names. My wife has always wished that different names had been chosen – names that reflected the beauty of the area rather than its harsh extremes. Tim found himself agreeing with her, admitting that he never would have considered visiting a place called Death Valley had I not suggested it. The earliest promoters of the area disagreed. Although they did not give Death Valley its name, they did provide many of the other macabre monikers in the hope of luring curious tourists into the valley, a strategy that is still working to this day.
Tim Shoots a Golf Ball
Devils Golf Course, Death Valley - January 2010The salt ridges covering Devils Golf Course are every bit as sharp as they look. I would compare them to coral: You can crush them with your shoes but if you happen to carelessly brush up against them you will pay. The expression concerning salt in a wound is never more apropos than here. Tim was very careful as he knelt down to take his shot.
Badwater, Death Valley - January 2010
As previously explained, Badwater is the lowest spot in the United States making this an obligatory shot. This is not, however, the best place to actually explore the salt flat. That is elsewhere…
Salt Polygons
Badwater Salt Flat, Death Valley - January 2010
The Final Shot
Badwater Salt Flat, Death Valley - January 2010It was now late Sunday afternoon and we’d managed to make it nearly two days without getting stranded or wet. It had been both warmer and sunnier than either of us had expected but the view to the west gave every indication that this would soon change. Badwater seemed like a fitting last stop on our whirlwind run through Death Valley. We returned to our vehicle, scraped as much of the salt off our shoes as we could, and headed off toward civilization.
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