No, you’re not seeing images from my recent voyage to Mars (There is a Mars Research Station nearby).
These are the mostly abstract scenes around Factory Butte which is a ubiquitous landform in the area.
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The lines and shapes of the sand dunes at Eureka Valley at Death Valley National Park make for some good abstract images. The contrast between shadows and highlights also accentuate the abstractness.
This is probably the eight time I’ve visited Eureka Dunes at Death Valley National Park and I still get a thrill from the experience. Once again I was buzzed by fighter jets but these jets from nearby China Lake Naval Base. I spent a couple of days here so I’ll have 2 or 3 posts from here. What’s great about sand dunes is that they are always shifting so you may see something you hadn’t seen before including your own shadow!(See Below) Is that my shadow or someone else standing down there?
There is no paved parking lot. No signs. No shuttle buses. No entrance booth. No park rangers. No rails along the canyon rim. No guides. No hot dog stands. No mules to take you into the canyon. No Visitor Center. No visitors! Edward Abbey would approve of this place. In fact, it’s hard to find Coal Mine Canyon listed on any map. You’re suppose to look for the windmill near a farmhouse and water tank south of Tuba City. And that’s the way it should be.
Coal Mine Canyon could easily be its own National Park. It is in a remote part of Northern Arizona on the border of the Navajo and Hopi Indian Reservations. There are remnants of coal deposits in the canyon that the Hopis mined in the past. But hues of orange, magenta, gold, cyan and yellow dominate the canyon walls. Abstract shapes, patterns, and warped lines grab your attention.
My next post will be of the canyon next door to Coal Mine, Ha Ho No Geh Canyon. These images and more are available as downloadable files or signed prints at Dawn2Dawn Photography
After my visit to Racetrack Playa, I motored over more rough roads for 45 miles to Eureka Dunes. It’s in a remote part of Death Valley National Park so not many people go there. The dunes are 700 feet tall, amongst the tallest in North America. Low hanging clouds, a few sprinkles and a beautiful rainbow made for good photos.
The unusual is the usual at this place. Grotesque shapes of rock cast by millions of years of weathering have produced a carnival of oddities that Barnum & Bailey would be proud of. I half expected a woman with a beard to come walking around the corner. The rock in the foreground is called half and half because it possesses a split personality. Equal parts of red and gold make up its whole but how and why? A fellow I met at the trail head said he came to this location just to photograph this rock. And for 4 1/2 hours, that’s all he did. While I went out and explored ( See Previous Post) the area beyond this oddity, he patiently waited for the sun to cast the perfect light on the subject. He also mentioned that the rock moves over time, following the line you see etched in the soft sandstone. Maybe it does but I suspect it would take a million years or two for anyone to notice. I didn’t really have that much time to find out.