When you think of the desert, the last thing you think of is mud! But sometimes there is rain and runoff in the spring and then you get mud. With some time and a bit of drying, you get mud cracks! So what is so great about mud cracks? They can be large (see...
On the last morning in Death Valley, we finally were hitting one of the most popular areas in the park, Artist Drive. I had visited this area on my last visit but like most of the other locations, the time of day we visited was all wrong! This visit was definitely showing me that!...
After spending several hours actually on the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes (see Part 2), I was surprised that our next shooting location was back at these dunes! This time our instructors were William Neill and Alex Noriega. Our goal was to get a view of the sand dunes from a different perspective. This change-up...
Very early on our third day, we met our instructors in the resort parking lot and headed out along Badwater Rd. We stopped along the road not far from the exit from Artist’s Drive. The “playa mudflats” can be anywhere on the playa of Death Valley depending on the time of year and the...
Our late-afternoon destination was not far from The Ranch in Death Valley. Zabriskie Point is one of the more popular locations, partly because it has a relatively large parking lot and even a restroom! It has been used as background in many movies and TV shows. Our two instructors for this location, Colleen Miniuk,...
Very early in the morning, before sunrise, with our headlamps on, we hiked the Salt Creek Trail. There is a boardwalk through the more soggy, yes, soggy parts of this area. I could hear water running along the boardwalk but I could not see it! I wondered if it would taste salty! In the...
During my last visit to Death Valley, we did not have time to visit any of the sand dune areas so I was very excited to learn that the instructors for our late afternoon session (see Part 1 for Out of Chicago’s Out of Death Valley conference info) would be to the Mesquite Dunes...
I had visited Death Valley National Park once before for about 12 hours so when I saw that Out of Chicago was putting on a 4-day conference there, I signed up! I arrived in Furnace Creek, CA in Death Valley National Park just at check-in time at The Ranch at Death Valley. I had...
It was just a unpaved road that took us out into the salt flats of Death Valley but West Side Road was my favorite stop as we made our way around this strange and beautiful environment! We passed this road on our way south to other points of interest but when we returned...
