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Spring in Death Valley by James Morrissey

This article is Copyright 2007, James Morrissey, and may not, in part or in whole, be reproduced in any electronic or printed medium without prior permission from the author. The images in this article are the property of James Morrissey and my not be used without written permission from James Morrissey.

Day 1

Driving into the edges of Death Valley at around 4 PM, I was struck by how barren the landscape was even in Spring. The sun was still very high, and the light was hitting in such a fashion that made the earth seem bleak and inhospitable. Having spent 4 days in Death Valley the year prior with Steve Kossack and his work group, I am very aware with how quickly the landscape changes from something harsh and barren to something remarkably beautiful. I sped up hoping that we could make the dunes before sunset.

We arrived at Stovepipe Wells at about 5:45 PM. We decided to check into the hotel as the Dunes were only about a mile away from where we were staying, and sunset was not occuring until about 7:30 PM. I figured that we have 20 minutes to check in, drop off our stuff and get out onto the Dunes.

We were quickly out on the sands. As I was mentioning earlier, the sun was still quite high, and it was bright walking out towards the large dunes - about 1/2 an hour away by foot. Distances on the dunes are very deceiving, and it takes much longer to trek them than you would first guess. The trick to walking the dunes is to walk along the ridges, and not walk up the sides of the dune - even if it seems that it may be a shorter distance to do so.

James on the Dunes

Unfortunately, a large group of photographers had beaten us to the punch and were out about 1/2 mile out in front of us. All of the beautiful sands had been quite well tracked up, and there had not been enough time for them to re-settle. In the morning, the entire area will be beautiful and pristine again. Amazing. Not to be easily dissuaded, Chanthee and I got to work, making the best of the situation. We started photographing along the edges - mostly going towards the sun (exactly opposite of what I had planned). I love back-lighting in certain situations. I believe that this photograph of the young man sitting on the edge of the dune is rather different, and I like it a lot. Not everyone's cup of tea, I am sure - but I found it rather pleasing. Looking back in retrospect, I think I would have photographed the man more tightly so that he would be more discernable in the photograph.

Reading on the Dunes

We finished photographing as sun had set, and the light was beginning to fail. Prior to heading out on the trip, Chanthee and I had purchased a pair of walkie-talkies and brought our LED flashlights. It may sound over-done to have all of these things, but it really is not. I learned the importance of these the year prior when I went on the group with Steve. When it gets dark, it gets really dark. There are all sorts of items to trip over around the dunes - including bushes, sand moguls and other trip hazards. There are also a lot of snakes and other such critters that I am wary of when walking in the darkness. The walkie-talkies are also helpful in the event that you become separated from the other people with you on your trip. It is easy to become separated if you are not being alert - particularly if you get called off to photograph something interesting. We are all photographers, right?

Anyway, as I was mentioning, it had gotten quite dark and I was not sure that we were going the exact direction towards our truck. We were scanning the area with our flashlights, but we had gone much further than we had initially thought, and the truck was nowhere to be seen. However, we knew that we were going the right basic direction - as there is a mountain line and highway out to the South. We kept plodding towards this direction knowing that we may have a half mile or so walk to the truck (in either direction). We lucked out though - as we came out of the bushes within 100 feet of our truck.

We got back to Stovepipe Wells at about 9 PM and had a quick dinner. After dinner, I ran into Steve Kossack, who was with a workgroup. Did I mention the sand dunes being tracked up earlier, LOL? Of course it was Steve who beat us to the punch. They had gotten out on the sand dunes about 1/2 hour earlier. It was a reminder to me to allow plenty of time to make sure that I was able to get where I needed to. I made a mental note that we were going to get up and out earlier the next morning.

Day 2

Chanthee and I were up early - at about 4:45 AM. We left the hotel at about 5:20 AM, moving towards the dunes in our Ford Escape SUV that we rented from Hertz. The year earlier, I had learned the 'perfect' spot for hitting the dunes from Steve. Basically, I followed the car's odometer for 1 mile, and turned the car into the shoulder of the road after the first major bend.

It was still quite dark out, though at the edges of the horizon, twilight was starting to occur. We hiked out across the desert, arching our flashlights in about 8 foot sweeps to make sure that we were not going to encounter any snakes. While it is unlikely that you will encounter anything, it is good to be cautious.

About 10 minutes after Chanthee and I had left, we saw 3 trucks pulling over about by where our truck was located. My guess was that Steve and his crew was coming out to do the Dunes that morning. I felt good that we were soundly ahead of them this time. The dunes are large, and I was not very concerned that we would impede on their photographic opportunities, however, we did pull out and go down another set of dunes (making a bit more work for us) to make sure that they did not get too many shots of our feet in the sand.

After we got far enough out on one of the highest sand dunes, Chanthee and I sat and unpacked our equipment. There were tons of snake and other animal prints criss crossing the dunes. Some of the prints were quite fat and definitely from a snake, making me wonder if any of them were Sidewinders. Note that the following photograph was taken in complete shade and as a result, the color balance is different from the photographs we took once the sun had popped up. I had read that the dunes are absolutely full of them during the summer months - though I had found no one who worked there who had ever seen a rattler in recent memory. Two words always come to mind though, 'Caveat Emptor.'

Snake Prints

The sunrise that came was marvelous. It was the most fun that we had while in Death Valley, and I believe that the photographs show this. We had great fun working with light, lines, shadow and textures. This is a bit of a new thing for me. Most of the photography I do is portait work - whether it be human or pet. Photographing landscapes is a whole other type of art, and I felt very much out of my league when I came out with Steve and his crew the year earlier. Having had that immersion class, I found that I was much more appreciative of these other subtle things.

The Dunes in the Morning

Sun Rising on the Dunes

We photographed until the sun had fully risen announcing that the photographic opportunity was now done. We then trucked back to the road, still having time to play when the opportunity presented itself. We then decided to head up to Beatty, Nevada to pick up a few things that we could not get in the Park. On our way to Beatty, I saw the road that leads to Titus Canyon. We almost decided to stop, but we had a long list of things to do in 'civilization.' The road to Titus is long and bumpy, and I was concerned that we may not get the opportunity to get to Beatty otherwise.

Beatty is a small town NW of Stovepipe Wells. The road to Beatty, from Stovepipe Wells, will give you the opportunity to go towards Scottie's Castle and Rhyolite as well. Instead of stopping at either of these places, we took opportunities to photograph cacti on the side of the road. We glimpsed a couple out about 150 yards from the highway...a bright bush of pink in the bleak landscape.

Cactus Flower

We photographed while we could - but light was starting to get harder and harder, and I found my self squinting to look in any direction. I also noticed that by 10 AM that I was starting to get a bit of a burn on my face. I had not put on any sun block that morning after I showered, even though my wife had told me twice to do it. I was starting to regret that decision quickly. Sunblock is an absolute must if you are in the desert - particularly if you are fair skinned like I am. I generally don't like the feel of sun block on my skin, but Alba Botanicals makes a nice one with tea tree oil that is not uncomfortable to wear.

The town of Beatty was a bit of a surprise. It was smaller than I had expected, consisting mostly of trailer homes. One of the most interesting things about the town was the library. The library was basically a 'dome home' and the librarian told us proudly that it was the only geodesic library in the State of Nevada. Go figure. It is also one of the only spots that you can get an Internet connection around the Park, though the kiosks were all full when we got there and we decided not to wait. We stopped at the gas station and picked up the supplies that we needed. The one thing that I want to draw your attention to in Beatty is the Death Valley Nut and Candy Company. They sell phenominal ice cream - and it is not expensive. Having just paid 3 for a scoop in Pasadena with my brother earlier in the week, I found the $1.50 scoop to be a total steal. Chanthee got the strawberry and I got the cherry vanilla - both were excellent.

On the way back to our cabin to take a nap for a couple of hours, we passed by Steve and his crew doing Rhyolite. We decided to keep moving and go back to Stovepipe Wells. We napped for about 2 hours until about 4 PM. It is amazing the restorative powers that a nap can provide. We awoke ready for the road to Aguereberry Point

The trip up to Aguereberry Point is a tough one. While the drive is not as difficult as the one to the Racetrack, it is still rough, and I was glad that I had a 4WD vehicle. There are periods where the 'improved road' is very bumpy, and you are required to move quite slowly. There are also periods, particularly at the end of the drive, where you are forced into a one lane road. Fortunately, we did not encounter any vehicles coming the other direction.

Aguereberry Point was the campground of Pete Aguereberry. He was known for working the Eurkea Mine shaft a short distance away. While doing research for this article, I read on a website www.ubehebe.com/aguerebe.htm that you can actually explore the mine shaft as it has been stabilized. Please do me a favor and check with the Parks Department to make sure that it is real information before you go down there.:)

The views from the ridge, at about 6433 feet above sea level, are spectacular. From this point, one can see many different sites, including the Panamint Mountains, Mount Charleston, Mount Whitney and the salt flats at bad water. Oddly, while Bad Water is the lowest point on the continent at 282 feet below sea level, Mount Whitney is the highest point - only 76 miles away. We were photographing for about 1/2 hour prior to seeing Steve and the three trucks in his group pull up. This would be the last time that our groups would converge during the trip to Death Valley.

Dusk at Aguereberry Point

View from Aguereberry Point

Day 3

We awoke early to go photograph at Dante's View. Unfortunately, the car's navigation system put us out about 10 miles away from our target (bringing us to Dante's View Road...some distance from the point). As a result, we were running about 10 minutes later than we wanted to be, and sunrise was well in progress by the time we got there. It was still wonderful light to be working in, but I was still very disappointed. The navigation system had been a real winner up until this point, bringing us everywhere we needed to go with time to spare. However, we should have double checked. I had thought it seemed too close when I calculated the distance the night before.

After we did Dante's View, we took a break and had breakfast at Furnace Creek. Furnace Creek's restaurant is much fancier than Stovepipe wells - but the prices are also much higher. I had an omelette and my wife had pancakes. The omelette was out of this world. The pancakes tasted like they had been mined out of one of the old shafts.

We then made our way back to Rhyolite Ghost Town. I wrote extensively about Rhyolite in last year's journal. By the time we made it to Rhyolite, the sun was quite high and it was hard to see without squinting.

The unfortunate part of vacations is that they are by definition time limited. I would really like to photograph Rhyolite at sunset or during other ideal light....however, it is just not going to happen when there are so many amazing things and time is limited. This meant that we needed to spend time there at other than optimal light. Having said that, this does not mean that the photographic day needs to end. Trying to be creative and having fun with the structures, I feel is very possible - even though you are not getting that beautiful warm 'magic hour' light.

Rhyolite Ghost Town

As Rhyolite is very close to Beatty (about 6 miles), we decided to go back and pick up a few more items before going back to the hotel and napping for a couple of hours. We were going to the Race Track for sunset, and we wanted to be ready. It was hopefully going to be the highlight of the trip. Chanthee had seen and conquered the Dunes, but this was going to be something all together different.

The trip to the Racetrack is exhausting - about 2.5 hours on each side. Unfortunately, doing the racetrack means that we were going to be getting in way too late to do dinner. We were prepared though, and purchased some provisions at the local store at Stovepipe Wells. The trip to the Race Track was also the primary reason why we rented a SUV for the trip. The Ford Escape that we rented exceeded our expectations in every way.

We were ultimately very glad that we made that decision. On the way up to the racetrack, we were being followed by a Mazda MPV van. The van was driving much faster than it probably should have. The occupants would periodically get out and photograph something that struck their fancy and then be right behind us again. The last time they stopped, they did not catch up. It was only on the way back that we saw the long slick of oil from what we assume is the bottom of their minivan.

For those who want to know more about the Race Track, you can check out this interesting link www.subversiveelement.com/DancingRocksoftheRacetrackPlaya.html. At this time of year, the light gets poor about 1/2 hour before sunset because it falls below a mountain range to the West. We timed getting out to the Racetrack perfectly. The problem was that there was a huge cloud sitting over the mountain range, meaning that the racetrack was mostly in shade 45 minutes prior to that. The other thing was that there was nice light at the far end of horizon. This created quite a problem for us as it meant that the camera was going to have to cover an area of dynamic range that is greater than I believe the camera can comfortably capture.

We had recently purchased some Singh Ray ND filters on Ebay, but had to return them because they were scratched. Not wanting to let the problems of light interfere from a cool experience, we did the best that we could - and I think some of the images came out quite nice. The following photograph is an HDR image that was processed using Roman Johnston's Image Editing process.

The Race Track at Twilight

As the sun tucked itself down below the mountains to the West, we started heading back to the car. Chanthee then pointed out the beautiful moonrise that was occuring to the East. We snapped several photographs and started the long ride back to Stovepipe Wells. We got in about 9:30 PM, and hit the sack for what was going to be our last morning in Death Valley.

Day 4:

We awoke early to go photograph at Zabriskie Point on our last day in Death Valley. Zabriskie Point is a place that had escaped me in the past - not because I did not go photograph there - but just because I had a hard time photographing it. This time, I was determined to 'see the light' and make beautiful photographs.

Chanthee and I got there about 20 minutes before sunrise began. There is a small, worn path that leads off to the right of the outlook area where everyone else stands. This path leads off below to a much better view of the Point. The path looks a little bit difficult at first glance, but we found it to be very navigatable.

We sat there and photographed until the light began to touch portions of the bottom 1/3 of the rock formations. We then moved up about 20 feet to another plateau where I saw a person working with a 4x5 view camera of the area. It was during this period that I finally was 'hit' by it all. There are some beautiful lines and shadows throughout the rocks - I just had not seen it before in a way that I could photograph. I left the area feeling amazed that I had not been able to see it all prior to this.

Zabriskie Point at Sunrise

With a very light heart, and my mouth talking 20 miles per minute, we headed down to the Devil's Golf Course for what will be our last photographic opportunity before leaving for a business meeting in Las Vegas. The salty formations seen below are the residue of Death Valley’s last large lake, which had evaporated about 2000 years ago.

Devil's Golf Course

Wrapping up at the Golf Course led to the 2 hour drive back to Las Vegas. It had been a wonderful time - though I realize that we barely scratched the surface of this rough environment. Perhaps next year.

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