Tag Archives: Death Valley

Harmony Borax Works Interpretive Trail at Death Valley, CA

07 Thursday Sep 2017

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This was part of the Twenty Mule Team display in Death Valley, CA. It was a short walk on the Harmony Borax Works Interpretive Trail. The Twenty Mule Team transported borax through Death Valley and beyond to the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad and the South Pacific Railroad in the late 1800’s. It was a very nice walk and was cool to see the Borax refining plant and the metal and wooden wagons. If I had more time, I would have spent the whole day photographing the refining plant and the wagons. The aged metal and wood had a lot of character and colors.

Two Different Views of Death Valley National Park, CA

20 Sunday Aug 2017

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These 2 photographs are fascinating views from one location at two different altitudes.  The view from the top looks like it could be from space.  The temperature is also much cooler up at Dante View compared to Badwater Basin.

We first went to walk at the Badwater Basin on the salt flats.  Some tourists cannot resist leaving a message or their names on the salt flats.  This is the lowest elevation in North America.

We then drove up above to Dantes View to look down at Badwater Basin.  I, of course, used my big zoom lens.  If you look at the narrow white path going down to the bottom of the photograph, this is the white path in the 2nd picture where people are walking.  They are both the same picture of the salt flats but from two different altitudes.

In the first photo, the white silhouette looks like a tree with branches spreading out.

We’re glad to visit the different terrains and scenery, since it refreshed our perspective.  It is nice for us to look back at these photographs to remind us what we saw.

Hope you can also appreciate this scenery and the real untouched views.

Is there a Nature’s Artist Palette?

19 Saturday Aug 2017

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Yes there is a Natural Artist’s Palette in the multi-colored badlands in Death Valley National Park.  We visited Death Valley, California this past June.  We drove on Artist’s Drive and enjoyed the multi-colored claystones from the ancient ashfalls.

The first photograph was shot with a wide angle lens.  The 2nd and 3rd photographs were shot with my zoom lens.

I really like the natural color combination in the 2nd photograph.  The shadow in the 3rd photograph resembles someone’s shadow hand puppet.  I don’t know where that shadow really came from.

As I was at one spot shooting these badlands, someone asked me to take his picture.  He noticed my camera equipment and assumed I was a photographer.  We enjoyed a nice time talking with “Eric”, from Phoenix, about the wonderful scenery, his camping vacation, and the various locations he visited.  We encountered Eric a couple of times later as we both stopped at different spots on Artist’s Drive.

It was fun to view the Artist’s Palette formations and share the experience with our family and another friendly outdoor enthusiast.

Eric – Hope you will be able to look at my website to enjoy the pictures the Artist’s Palette.

Please enjoy the true and untouched colors of my Artist’s Palette photographs!

Death Valley Badlands

30 Sunday Jul 2017

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Why is this area also called “Badlands”?  Badlands are a type of dry terrain where softer sedimentary rocks and soils are eroded by wind and water.

We enjoyed looking at the variations of the ridges in this area.  We were fortunate the temperature was not as hot as it could have been.  It was around 90 degrees where it could have been over 100 degrees, when we were there in June.

Zabriskie Point at Death Valley, CA.  The ridges were formed by a combination of volcanic activities, earthquakes, and rainstorms.  The ridges are more pronounced during the late afternoon as the sun is lower on the horizon creating more shadows.

This was a good time to photograph this area.  The shadows at this time of day in Death Valley will show off the dimensions of the ridges versus earlier in the day.  Some people are afraid of shadows in their pictures.  But shadows are important at the right time of day to show the light and dark in art work.  This is called chiaroscuro.

Seek contrast in your photographs to show off the scenic terrain.

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Looking Down from Dante’s View in Death Valley

07 Friday Jul 2017

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We went up around 7 pm to Dante’s View in Death Valley.  It is nice to photograph towards the end of the day while there is still daylight and the shadows begin to appear.  We were at 5,475 feet altitude, and the temperature was cooling down.  It was breezy at this view point.

I took this photograph since I noticed the big shadow of the hillside ridge.  There is also a shadow from the guard rail.  I love shadows in photographs since it adds dimension to the image.  I used my 400 mm lens to zoom to see this image close up.  I wanted to see the detail of the landscape with the variation of the light and dark in the shrubs, rocks and the earth.  This landscape shows an interesting pattern as we gaze from Dante’s View.

As always, I did not alter the photograph via software, but it is a lower resolution.  When you look at the photograph in a larger and higher resolution, the landscape pattern in the back is even more pronounced than this blog image.

It is nice to sit back and enjoy the scenery patterns.  It reminds me we also should sit back and ponder what are the patterns in our life.  Hopefully our life would reflect a beneficial pattern that others would respect.

How low can you go at Badwater Basin?

05 Wednesday Jul 2017

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If you go to ever go to Death Valley National Park in Death Valley, California, you have to go to the lowest point in North America which is Badwater Basin.  It is an endoheic basin or a closed drainage basin that retains water with no outflow to rivers or oceans.  The water converges into lakes or swamps with an equilibrium through evaporation.  The “Bad” water is a small spring-fed pool next to the road with accumulated salts.  So the water is bad to drink.

Note the path behind the Badwater Basin sign in the photograph – This is a open area to walk and explore this lowest point.  We walked on salt on this trail.  A few visitors wrote their names or messages in the salt.  We were also fortunate that the weather tempature was not over 100 degrees.  We lucked out that the temperature was around 93 degrees, a pleasant temperature for being out in a desert in mid June.

The 2nd photograph is the beginning of the trail before the sign.  Look at the midpoint of the mountain in where there is a rectagular white spot.  This is the sign on the mountain that designates sea level so we could see how low we were below sea level.

The elevation for this lowest point is 282 ft below sea level.  Did we feel any different being at the lowest point in North America?  Not really!  But it is fun to say we had a low point during our vacation and were happy to be there.

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