Zimbreski Point & Badwater, Death Valley

An early wake up this morning to drive to Zimbreski Point to capture some additional images of the sunrise from slightly different locations to yesterday. The point was better today than yesterday as there were less people about – no doubt because of the cool conditions and chilly wind. The purples and pinks of sunrise were spectacular over the point with the moon going down behind the snow capped mountains. As the sun peaked over the horizon the morning light bathed the craggy peaks and gullies creating ideal contrast and colour.

From Zimbreski Point a short drive was made to Badwater with a stop to photograph a pair of desert ravens which were hanging just off the road on the salt pan. Initially the ravens were careful not to approach too close, but after some time getting used to me they became quite interactive. One fellow actually posed several times on a rock with a clear background. I could
have spent longer with these two birds as it was obvious they were intelligent and social animals, however, I wanted to reach Badwater while the light was still relatively low on the horizon to capture the texture and delicate and patterns of the salt crystals in the area.

There are several textual styles produced by salt in the Death Valley region depending upon wind movement, local temperatures, and water/alt content. The salt can form trails that mimic strand lines produced as flood waters recede and evaporate. The colour of the salt can alter dramatically depending upon the mineral and biological content. Often the white salt is tinged with pink indicating that algae was once present when the water was shallow. By the way, I did taste the salt; the taste was very strong; much stronger than usual table salt.

After catching a quick bite to eat (dehydrated food) which was not exactly tasty I headed out of Death Valley traveling south east toward Trona Pinnacles via an old ghost town that was signposted. Unfortunately the ghost town was nothing more than a few jumbled buildings from yesterday year and not really worth capturing on film, but as it was just off the road not much time was wasted making the detour.

Death Valley, California

The drive from Alabama Hills to Death Valley was extremely interesting. The highway runs parallel between two crumple zones that make the Sierra Ranges before slowing gaining altitude to cross the Sierras roughly at 5000 feet. After reaching the alpine desert pass a drop is made into Death Valley.

The most imposing thought on my mind as we descended into Death Valley from the pass is that it is HUGE. The terrain is so expansive that it's very difficult to determine scale. That is until you see a very tiny speck of a car on the valley floor and say "Geez, this place is massive".

Alluvial fans flow from the snow capped Sierra Mountains and prograde into Piedmont fans before transgressing into playa terrain. There's only a few access points to the Death Valley National Park and the road I used passed though a small settlement (post office, gas station and RV park) before crossing the playa to climb another crumple zone before entering Death Valley proper.

Half way across the valley floor I heard a huge roar! Expecting an earthquake or some other large geological event I glanced toward the sky to see a US Airforce F18 (or similar) buzzing the car at only a few hundred feet. The aircraft then banked, turned over and made another run! I was to learn that Death Valley is a training and testing ground for the US Airforce based at Edwards Airforce Base. During the next few days the occasional roar could be heard as a test pilot flew his/her machine close to the valley floor banking and arching like a highly maneuverable insect.

Death Valley is supposed to be - well - very dry. But, on this visit it was raining and much of the park was closed to traffic; before I arrived it had rained heavily and torrential rains had flooded many areas; rock slides and debris covered many of the access tracks and roads. It was unfortunate, but many of the outstanding areas such the "Racetrack" were closed due to heavy rain, flooding and road washouts.

Playa lakes (the area between the mountains which are usually dry) were small shallow lakes and vegetation was surrounded by shallow water. As there was cloud cover, much of the afternoon was spent photographing the snow capped mountains and desert areas inundated with water. At one stage a storm came though and the clouds turned black and ominous looking, however, the rain fell elsewhere.

Despite the damp conditions, much of the area is covered in salt and low lying vegetation. In some areas exquisite salt formations can be seen such as at the Devil's Golf Course. Of cause the whole region is at or below sea level and has the lowest elevation within the United States.

Death Valley has three major dune systems (wind blown sand) and initially when I first saw the dunes I thought they were piles of dirt set aside for road crews to maintain the road. I was shocked when I saw the scale of these dunes - as with everything in this area the dunes were HUGE and expansive. The dune morphology was very fine sand shaped by unidirectional winds to form barcan dune systems.

Initially I thought it would be best to hike to the dunes (only a mile or so from the road), however, on careful observation I noted that many of the dunes were imprinted with marks from the recent rain, and from some careless visitors who had climbed several of the dunes. As it was almost sunset and the light was low I decided to use my 500/4 telephoto in landscape mode rather than hike out and maybe miss the golden light.

I spent two nights in Death Valley (I would have spent more if rain had not closed off several sections of the park). Road crews were busy repairing sections of tracks that had been made impassable, however, I doubted their task when I observed a tractor sweeping dust from the highway!

Sunsets were spent on the playa photographing the changing vista with salt and salt puddle formations in the foreground while the two sunrises were spent at Zabriskie Point, an area noted for it colourful rock formations and back dropped by the massive snow capped Sierra Range.

Sunrise in Death Valley is cold, however, due to cloud cover the temperatures were not as severe as they could have been. Still, an icy wind seemed to permeate every layer I wore and my hands stung - especially when manipulating a carbon fiber tripod. Zabriskie Point was not disappointing and many images could be created at this location due to the changing colours and formations; leading lines and s curves can be seen everywhere!

The final morning was spent photography two desert ravens. Ravens are very intelligent and it was interesting to note the behavior between these two birds. At one stage one bird collected some food and keeping the food in its crop hopped toward the other bird. The raven then offered the morsel to its partner. I have never seen this behavior before, despite spending many hours observing ravens.