Borax Mines

Thought I should change the theme from Scotland to something else from my last few pics. I picked one from archives, this one is of mid June2009. A lonely trip to Death Valley is not a good idea. Death Valley though formidable in this hot season is a landscape with so much variety and beauty that I did 3 trips totally this place. This view is of Borax mines from CA190, close to Furnace Creek Campground. I remember the heat, no people, miles of open road and dry landscape but with variety of colors.  


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Sand Dunes Abstract

Same location and time as this one. So many patterns of sand dunes ...

Desert Lane

Visited Scotty's Castle during the fast paced trip of Death Valley. It was in peak summer and I was looking for a picnic area with some shade to have my lunch. I had given up hope of getting any shade after wandering around Furnace Creek, Stove Pipe etc during the morning. Had planned to visit this place and head back to store at Stove Pipe for quick lunch. It was quite pleasant to see an oasis at this place and with picnic tables with shade provided by huge palm trees. Had a peaceful lunch of sandwich and orange juice, then took a stroll around the place.

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Sand Teeth?

So many patterns of sand - big and small. This is the close-up version of the sand dune ridge.

Artist’s Palettes

The color version:


The monochrome version:


More abstracts from Death Valley. Well, there is actually an Artist's drive where you can see colorful hills like these. We had started very early (3 am) from LA to visit Death Valley and unfortunately I fell asleep on Artist's drive. I caught the above on the 20 Mule Team Canyon drive.

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The Crossing

I perched on top of the sand dune and was looking around for some shots. I think I took a long time there and my other friends had already started to walk back to the trail-head. Each seemed to be engrossed in their own interpretation of the nature around.

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Sand Dunes of Death Valley

Same location as the previous post. The low saturated version with tint gives a better impact than the original color one I have. And yes, the speck you see on the dune ridge near the dune top is the human element :-)

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Sand Dunes - Abstract

Last time I visited Death Valley - did not spend time at the sand dunes and regretted for quite some time. So during this trip, I made sure I spend good amount of time getting onto the Sand Dunes. Early morning - well not so early - but by 9:00am we started our hike onto the dunes. From the highest dune in the valley, caught some formations. Reading an article sometime back, I had decided to use my 100-400mm lens for abstract photography of the landscapes. Experimented on this thought and this shot was the result of one of the experiments. I will post some more shots of this trip.

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Devil's Golfcourse

Death Valley trip ... This area is actually below sea level and the land is in constant motion. This low lying area has mountains on both sides. The mountains sink into the basin, and lower mass then comes up again - causing cyclic churning of land mass. The white spots you see is salt deposits and are in form of sharp crystal shapes, so sharp as to cut if someone falls on it.

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Charcoal Kilns

Charcoal Kilns, Death Valley: It was the day of my return back from this trip and towards the South, this was the last point on my list. Driving on this road alone and high noon was kind of scary - with the last 3mi stretch on unpaved road. As the road passes through the trees, at one point these bee-hives pop-out.

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Death Valley Landscapes - 5

Death Valley - Road to Stovepipe village from Scotty's castle. Reminds of Forrest Gump running on long lone road.

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Death Valley Landscapes-4

Mosaic Canyon, Death Valley: It was peak afternoon as I was driving back to LA from my Death Valley 2 day trip. This was my third last point to visit. The temperature at Stovepipe village showed 100F in shade ... This was quite an interesting canyon with great natural patterns. In some ways I got reminded of Coyote Buttes.

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Death Valley Landscapes-3

Mosaic Canyon, Death Valley: The canyon walls at Mosaic Canyon. It was peak afternoon as I was driving back to LA from my Death Valley 2 day trip. This was my third last point to visit. The temperature at Stovepipe village showed 100F in shade ... This was quite an interesting canyon which great natural patterns. Will post some more snaps ...

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Death Valley Landscapes-2

Golden Canyon, Death Valley: One of the days when planning was not correct. I had got up early by 5:30am to do the drive to Badwater assuming the morning light to be great. However Badwater being in the valley - the morning light did not reach down and had hard luck getting some good snaps. So decided to take a de-route to Golden Canyon. Proved to be good as it was pleasant in the morning.

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Death Valley Landscapes - 1

Location: 20 Mule Team Canyon. It was a very hot day of Jun'09 when i visited Death Valley, CA. This was Day 1 and I was totally exhausted after lots of driving and visiting places around the park in the 100F heat. Towards evening as I was going back to the campground where I was to hit the sack (after visiting Dante's viewpoint) I took a detour to the interesting named canyon - 20 Mule Team canyon. The evening light provided perfect light on the dunes of this clay-like canyon. The blue sky with clouds just provided the icing.

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