December 2018 Adventure - Death Valley

The next morning found us up and early driving down 20 Mule Team Canyon Road by moonlight.  Given that it was a full moon and the moon was out (unlike when we were driving around in the Alabama Hills), we could actually see where we were going and, more importantly, whether we wanted to make any stops before we hit our GPS pinned photo locations.  It was like driving through an alien landscape, simply incredible!

Our pinned location had as much to do with where we could safely park Beast (the road doesn’t have many . . . pull off areas, if you can call pulling up on the refuse gradings from the dirt road a pull-off) as it did an ideal spot for photography, so when we got out, we still had a bit of exploring to do to find photo opportunities.  That and the fact that a landscape under moonlight never quite looks like a landscape under sunlight meant we were scratching our heads for a bit before we really started getting to work.

I began with a rather simple composition that took advantage of a near-by feature lit by the moon and a star (or more likely a planet - Venus would be my guess) that dominated the sky.

I perhaps should have included more of the angled slope that points to the planet, but I was standing near the edge of a drop-off so I couldn’t move to the left or lower, and I wasn’t sure how stable the soil was.  I later found out that the soil was not very stable when some gave way, leading to a more embarrassing than painful spill.

There’s something magical about being in the landscape in the very early morning hours.  It’s enhanced even more so when the moon is illuminating everything and, while not totally clear, you can still see the features around you.  This morning there was, again, a veil of clouds in the sky, but unlike the previous morning it wasn’t heavy enough to block the moon.  Instead we had soft, filtered moonlight to work with.

Over time the sun started approaching and offering us very different types of light.  Clouds high in the stratosphere offered a very short-lived light show off to the west . . . 

. . . and then acted as a reflector to bring the first real daylight to the landscape. 

As is often the case on these quiet light mornings, once the sunlight comes, it comes like a hammer.  Fortunately, one of the reasons we decided to pick this location was because of the ability to move around the landscape and, as a result of our scouting the previous day and the use of iPhone apps to figure out where and when the sun was going to rise, we knew that there would be some very interesting shadowing effects on the landscape.  Which means photographic opportunities.

We climbed up onto a mound that gave us a nice vantage point looking back towards Death Valley.

As well as to the landscape to the south.

We made a couple of more stops to photograph on the 20 Mule Team Canyon Road, but we had quite a bit of driving to do, made worse due to poor planning on my part.  By the end of the day we hoped to be in the southernmost part of the park, but we had some errands to do along the way.  I’d forgotten to re-fill our supply of the Porta-Potty dissolving pouches (discovering that problem only after I emptied the Porta-Potty) and, after finding out that Sashone had little more than a gas station (needed by that point) and a small cafe, we had to make a detour to Pahrump for toilet drops.  Face it, we were heading out to areas where Beast’s accommodations were the only thing available and we wanted them to work.

So it took a while before we finally made it down to the Ibex Dunes.  It was a beautiful drive to Pahrump and back, and particularly down towards the Ibex Dunes turn off, but that was nothing compared to the beauty of driving off-road into the desert between mountain ranges and into canyons.  And soon enough, we’d made it, despite miles of washboard roads.

And the dunes were spectacular.

Our consultation with the rangers at the visitor’s center had informed us we could disperse camp along the road, so we pulled into an area that had clearly been used before to minimize our impact on the environment.  The Ibex Dunes form a long north-south formation, with some huge dunes towards the north and smaller dunes to the south.  We parked near the southern end because we weren’t the only ones there.  Despite our hopes of being all alone, there was another vehicle parked about a mile away (distances in such environments are quite deceiving, but it had to have been at least a mile).  There was no need to crowd the neighbors.

We immediately set off towards the dunes which didn’t look that far away.

Famous last words.  It’s strange how distances can not be what you expect.  On Google maps I mapped it to be about 1.5 miles from where we camped to the edge of the dunes . . . but it sure took a long time and a lot of effort to get there.  Part of it was that we would periodically stop to photograph, part of it was that the conditions under foot were constantly changing from soft sand, to crusted sand, to firm, to rocky.  At one point fairly early on Ann and I split up - she heading towards the southern-most features, me directly towards a feature a bit north on the dunes (the top image).  We would periodically keep in touch via walkie-talkies we carry (another great Ann idea).  The distances were very confusing because, even with my telephoto zoom lens, I kept underestimating how close I was for framing images.

Eventually though, we made it and our efforts turned into more photographing than hiking.

And as time wore on, we started climbing the dunes.

Unfortunately, we were not the first to do so, which meant we had to try and exclude footprints from our images.  For me, that was a bit easier because of my penchant for tight, often abstract, compositions.  For Ann it was much more difficult with her broader landscape views.  We really do need to return right after a wind storm wipes away all the footprints!

I have a lot of images from the dunes that will likely appear in their own blog post.  Simply put, the place was amazing and I had a blast!  Did I ever say that photography is not only enriching, but fun?

Anyway, as the sun made its way towards the horizon, the shadows became deeper and deeper and everything took on a yellow glow.

While we’d packed clothes to keep warm if needed, we were both exhausted from the hike and climbing on the sand (now talk about exhausting . . .).  So we decided to head back to Beast before it got totally dark.  But as we were on our way back, the sun wanted to give us one last present, so we had to stop to show our appreciation and take one last photograph.

My land navigation skills came in handy because, once we got off the dunes we could no longer see Beast.  We should have taken a GPS coordinate so we could backtrack to it, but it was just as easy for me to note the geographic feature on the ridge line to the immediate north (behind) of Beast, and make our way to that feature.  Sure enough, once we were a couple of hundred yards from Beast, we could see her through the bushes.  

We’d thought that we might get up early and hike out for a moon/early morning shoot, but we were exhausted (can it be we’re aging?). We didn’t think totally wiping ourselves out was a great idea, so we by-passed the opportunity to photograph in the morning (just another excuse to come here again and stay a few days) and instead enjoyed the early morning lit dunes from a distance.

Then we headed up north . . . and another necessary side-trip.  Since Beast runs on diesel, every 3,000 to 4,000 miles we have to fill her up with DEF to help protect the environment.  Well, the DEF light went on . . . of course.  So as we were passing through Furnace Creek in Death Valley we stopped off at the gas station.  Nope - they usually had it but were out.  So we made a detour to Stove Pipe Wells’s gas station.  The guy at the counter looked at me like I was crazy when I asked if they had DEF.  The lady at the other end of the counter said, “We keep it in the back.  There should be 2-3 of them.”  Well the guy came out and said we got the last one (thank goodness).  So we filled Beast with DEF, grabbed lunch because we could (which took way too long) and returned to our northward trek.

We drove up, and around, and down from Ubehebe Crater without stopping because there were no parking spaces available.  Oh well, I guess it was a weekend now (Tip one:  Visit Death Valley in the Off-Season, Tip two: Go during the week, the weekends are still pretty packed).  It made us recall that when we drove by Badwater, that parking lot (and the roads leading to and from it) was packed too.  

North of Ubehebe Crater was unpaved road and a lot of serious washboard.  I guess that’s why we got the improved shocks for Beast, but she was a shaking!

Eventually we made it to Eureka Dunes, our destination for the day.  But like all the days in Death Valley, sunset seemed to come all too quickly and we pulled off well before we arrived because we saw we were going to lose the light for the day.  Minutes after this shot (only one of three) the dunes were in shadow.

So we headed past and around the dunes to find a campsite.  Since the route around the dunes was a mix of rutted trail, hard soil and deep sand, there weren’t many who seemed adventurous enough to venture that far.  Beast, of course had no issues.

Once again, we were out by ourselves with our closest neighbors a mile or so away.

The next morning we were up at our usual insane hour and hiked about half a mile towards the main dune.  Oh yeah, and it was cold.  Very cold.  Very very cold.  The moon didn’t offer nearly as interesting shadows on the dune as we’d hoped, so we waited around  until the sun started making its way towards the horizon.  Eventually Ann went back to Beast to warm up, and I periodically made images to see if conditions had changed since the last photograph.

Eventually, a soft, colorful glow began to fall on the dunes.

While I waited for more dramatic light changes, I of course looked around for other images.  It should come as no surprise my excitement over cracked mud.  That would probably make a good name for a rock band.

Eventually the sun worked its way across the valley (yes, watching the sun move across a valley is a lot like watching a pot of water, waiting for it to boil - agonizing).  And then I started photographing in earnest.  I’d make one image, and then move farther down the dune and work on another image.  Ann by then had joined me and we played leap-frog in a quest for images.

There was no way I was going to be able to make it the whole length of it, but the entirety of the dune still was incredible to look at.  

At one point I turned around to photograph Beast.  You can see, we pretty much had the place to ourselves.  We eventually hiked about a mile away from Beast in our photographic meanderings.

Like at the Ibex Dunes, I made a lot of images focused on the details of the dune.  Unfortunately, we didn’t hike out and into the dunes.  Yup, another reason to come back here for a couple of days!

And of course, the ground gave me no shortage of images to make.

I eventually hiked back to Beast, packed her up and drove down the road towards Ann so she wouldn’t have as long a hike to Beast.  Ann made some really lovely images of an area I didn’t get to (which is another reason to go back!), though by then the sun was rising and the dunes were becoming flat, losing their photographic appeal.  

Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay another day.  We had a long haul back home and were hoping to be photographing at Mono Lake that evening.

The drive out of Death Valley was superb.  At one point as Beast was approaching a rise I saw a mine off to the right and then realized there might be a lovely view from it, so I pulled over and up to the sealed mine.  Sure enough the quartz mine overlooked a lovely canyon.

Then, as we descended down into a valley, we hit another field of Joshua Trees.  So we stopped again because the sight of a hill side of Joshua Trees is just so amazing.

Finally, as if to offer us one last present, while we were heading down the road that led to our Mis-Adventure with Beast, we were gifted a beautiful view of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.  Oh what a drive it was!

We should have known that the clouds were a warning of things to come.  When we hit Bishop and stopped for a late lunch/early Christmas Eve dinner it was overcast and very cold.  By the time we hit Lee Vining and Mono Lake it was raining/snowing with a blanket of very threatening skies overhead.  

We realized that our plans were shot and didn’t even bother checking the weather forecast.  We would have no Christmas Eve/Christmas Morning photo shoot at Mono Lake.  We continued driving northward to shorten our Christmas Day’s drive, through rain and snow the entire time.  Eventually, we stopped for the night in Carson City with the bad weather continuing.

The weather had pretty much stopped by Christmas morning, but road conditions were spotty in areas, with snow and ice on the road whenever Highway 395 hit the higher elevations.  Several beautiful locations covered in snow tempted us to stop, but since things were slow going we pressed on, not wanting to be driving in the dark over the Willamette Pass.  We succeeded in that endeavor, arriving home about a half-hour before the sun set after a very long and tiring day of driving on Christmas Day.

We’ve been to a lot of truly beautiful places.  I must admit that Death Valley offered much more than I’d ever imagined.  Much of it I’m sure was due to it being winter - I wouldn’t want to be there in the summer, because I’m sure that the colors are greatly muted then, plus the heat!  But Death Valley was one of the biggest surprises (ranking almost as high as the Lamar Valley or Snow Canyon) that we’ve encountered on our journeys.  Great choice Ann!