The Racetrack, Death Valley, Ca

THE RACETRACK

During my roadtrip through Death Valley, one of the places I had never heard of was The Racetrack or  Racetrack Playa, nor had I heard of the Sailing Rocks. As mentioned in a previous post, these rocks sail along the ground. When the ground gets wet, the water freezes, then the wind pushes the rocks along the ground. Set inside some awesome mountains this ended up being a great place to take pictures. I captured the first couple of pictures during the day, but I must confess I had more fun at night. 

At night we could see all of the awesome stars. Not a cloud in the sky. One weird thing about this place, when the moon is just right, and your facing away from the sun, it looks like there is fog in the valley - weird - but there wasn't a cloud/fog at all. 

Here I caught a shooting star in the photo! I was pretty excited about that! :)

And one of my favorites from the whole trip - The Moon! 

All in all this was an awesome place to stay. If you pass The Racetrack, and continue own the road, there are some great campgrounds to stay at. Just beware, we had some coyotes take off with a spatula and empty can. WE WANT THAT BACK!!!! (lol)

Wes

Zabriskie Point, Death Valley, Ca

Today I want to share a post on Zabriskie Point in Death Valley, Ca. This was an awesome vista point/ interpretive hike. We spent about 2 hours hiking around, and it was a blast. We started to the right of the parking lot, made a full circle, and came up through a cave to the right of the parking lot. It was pretty awesome. Also, there are restrooms here - so that helps.

In this last picture you can see the hug hill we hiked over. We started on the opposite side of the darker part (right), and hike across to the left, down the ridge, and back up the hill I am standing on. It was pretty tough, I was huffing and puffing but made it! 

Zabriskie is definitely a place to visit. Have fun! Let me know what you think! :)

Wes

Abandoned Towns - Death Valley, Ca

One thing I noticed on our trip to Death Valley, Ca was the amount of abandonment. They don't call it Death Valley for nothin. I will walk you through a couple of places we saw - some planned, some not. The first pictures show the town of Rhyolite.  Rhyolite is 35 miles from the Furnace Creek Visitor Center on a paved road heading north (left) from Hwy. 374. It was definitely interesting to see, including the shacks in the background, rattlesnake signs, and the abandoned mine on the hillside that I desperately tried to talk my friends into stopping for.

Rhyolite - Death Valley, Ca

Rhyolite - Death Valley, Ca

Rhyolite - Death Valley, Ca

Leadfield was also another interesting town. It is located in Titus Canyon, with an abandoned mine. It is little bit off of a hike off of the road, but worth it. 

Leadfield, Death Valley, Ca

Abandoned Quarry, Death Valley, Ca

Last, we found this random abandoned quarry. We don't know what it is called, but it was pretty cool. A ton of equipment was left here, along with a huge hole in the ground. It's always interesting to see these things. It's also great for pictures & photo shoots. 

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Have an awesome day!

Wes