Badwater Basin - II

It is clear why this place got the name of badwater since it is it is filled with only salty water. This view across the valley is a good reminder of what those in the gold rush saw as they tried to cross into the California gold fields this way. Just imagine how awful it would be to try to walk across this without water.

Badwater Basin

Into Badwater Basin we head next. This is the location of the much advertised lowest point in North America.

Dante's View

As the sun moved up in the sky, we headed for Dante's peak to catch the panorama from there.

Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes at Sunrise - V

As the run breaches the horizon and crests the hills to the east, the tops of the local hills are lit and the mood on the sand begins to change.

Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes at Sunrise - IV

Think of it as environmental portraiture. There are actually a couple people in most of today's photos. Once you find them, you can't not see them.

Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes at Sunrise - III

That this vast expanse of sand has any plants in it is remarkable. Yet, life finds a what. Clearly, the little rain that falls here (usually this is the case but 2022 saw flooding) seems to be enough to satisfy these drought resistant plants.

In fact, they seem to be spreading with the small fronds reaching the top of the local dune.

But not all are so lucky. Some expansion attempts don't work out well and we just get bare stems in places.

 

Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes at Sunrise - II

By carefully picking the directions to shoot, I could, in spite of the footprints everywhere, make it feel quite empty.

Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes at Sunrise

One of the things that the photo workshop offered that inspired this visit to Death Valley was sunrise here on the dunes at Mesquite Flat. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to do it on my own.

Death Valley - Devil's Golf Course

As we end our excursion along Artist's Drive, I found a place where it seemed as if gold was just lying on the ground everywhere. Rest assured, it is not gold.

Death Valley - Artist Palette - II

We stopped at the parking are and I ventured up among the boulders to see what I could see.

Death Valley - Artist's Palette

The Artist's Palette is aptly named. This is place filled with color. Not all of it is a rich, saturated color, but it is varied and draws one into the scene.

With more of a watercolor kind of intensity, the colors sometimes seem to be pained in. Parts remind me of neapolitan ice cream.

Other times, I am convinced that this is an other worldly place and that I've been transported to another planet.

With the deep blue sky overhead though, I am reminded that I am, indeed, still on the mother planet where grooves are formed by flowing water and colored hills are the result of chemical compostion.

 

Death Valley - Zabriskie Point - III

In the image above, you can clearly see how different the nearby rocks are from the ones across the valley. This place is filled with contrasts, not just with heat and dry alternating with cold and flood, but with materials and composition.

Death Valley - Zabriskie Point - II

Death Valley was historically important for two main reasons: borax mining and killing people trying to find their way to California during the 1849 gold rush.

Death Valley - On to Zabriskie Point

Mesquite flat is fun place for photos. It was easy to pick a place to stand and turn in different directions for photos.

Death Valley - Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes

After Hoover Dam, I stopped in Las Vega to pick up Elizabeth from the airport and we headed out for Death Valley. We arrived well after dark. The ride through the desert in the dark was eerie. It felt like there was a forest closing in all around us when, in fact, it was all open desert. the lack of anything to reflect the headlights back was mistaken for something absorbing all the light.