Sunrise from the Zabriskie viewpoint, 180 degrees in the "wrong" direction
Last day in Death Valley, a sunrise shoot from the classic Zabriskie viewpoint. The temp at sunrise at the Racetrack had measured 24 degF, the sunrise at the sand dunes was blah, and we drove up to Z point in the rain! As I set up, looking east there was only a tiny slot that the sun could shoot through before the weather socked in. At least the wind wasn't blowing 30 mph, like out on the salt flats the evening before.
West from Zabriskie point
One other shooter and me, and a rainbow. The sun rose above the aperture in the clouds, and we were done, back to the motel for breakfast. The whole trip was like that, wildly off my expectation, and big surprises. 11,000 foot mountains rising from a valley below sea level are impossibly tall. I knew about the moving rocks at the Racetrack, but not the volcanic crater on the route to the playa. And my best photos may in fact be of some junked cars up a gully, not the subject matter I had in mind. We drove 2 days for that? A good recon trip, with a few breaks and some heart-breaking misses.
Charcoal kilns in the Panamint Mountains
I wanted to go back to the charcoal kilns the last day - it had snowed down to about 6,000' the night before, they would have been lovely. Alas, the road was closed at the first wash and we didn't risk it. Since it was still snowing at Dante's View (5,500') several hours later, this was a good decision. We'll go back to the park again. Maybe it will break 75 degF next time.
