Framedlight

We had now been away for half our holiday time. I do not like it when you are counting down to the end of the holiday rather than counting up. It was Sunday and another 5.30am start as we took the car to the 'parking lot' at the Mesquite dunes. It was still dark when we got there and we spent some time bumbling about at the edge of the dunes trying to get our bearings as the sun came up. I set the tripod down to face the Panamint range of hills to our west with the highest point of Telescope Peak rising to over 11,000ft. The storm the previous evening had deposited a layer of snow over the tops, and the peaks looked good against the reddening sky with the sand bleached white by the early dawn light. In the easterly direction lay the Amargosa range. There was a high dune jutting out in front of the mountains. As I took photographs in this direction a group of about 10 people struck out in front of me and proceeded to ascend the dune and sit around the top to fac...

The white fluffy clouds that had been present all day started to accumulate over the mountains surrounding Death Valley and blackened into proper storm clouds which we could see were depositing snow over the higher peaks. I felt very privileged to experience these conditions. We drove the short distance to Mesquite Flat and walked into the dunes. Fortunately we were a little out of season and there were not too may footprints over them. As the sun started to set we moved over the other side of the road to the Devil's Cornfield to capture some evening photos. As I photographed Mairi ran back to the campsite for the exercise and I met her there when I had finished, for tea and bed.

We drove back down to Lone Pine and took the 136 across a bare, windwept, dusty plain passing Owens Lake. At this level there was no glint of water in it but just sand stretching as far as the distant hills. In the early part of the 20th century Los Angeles built an aqueduct from the lake and pumped all the water out of it so by 1920 the lake, which was once 900ft deep, was completely dry. The Owens Valley had been an area of farms and pasture but now the sandy bowl has to be watered in order to damp down the dust storms. Driving on for about an hour and a half, the ground rose past strange coloured hills. We came through Panamint Springs where there is an area of green and saw two coyotes sunning themselves on the side of the road. Unfortunately we had been caught up by some other cars by that stage and could not stop. We arrived in the small community of Stovepipe Wells where there is a campsite. I had actually booked a pitch in Furnace Springs, about 20...