Photos of
Death Valley National Park
The desert of Death Valley is the hottest, driest, and lowest place in the United States. During the spring of 2005, after a fall and winter of unusually high rainfall for this desert landscape, Death Valley National Park had the most spectacular bloom of desert wildflowers seen there in an estimated fifty years. In addition to being unique for its desert conditions, Death Valley also has many minerals in abundance. Borax was discovered here, mined and refined and hauled out by twenty-mule team trains, one of which is still on display in Death Valley. There are also desert sand dunes here that stretch for miles. Also unique to Death Valley is the Playa – a flat, dried lakebed famous for its moving rocks. Here, rocks that have slid down the face of the surrounding hills have mysteriously moved across the Playa, leaving the evidence of their movement in the furrows left behind. No one has ever witnessed these movements, but it is now believed that the high winds that are common here are able to move these large stones during the rare times when the Playa is wet from rain. The desert landscape of Death Valley is unique in the United States. It is another example of many diverse types of California scenery. My gallery has photos of Death Valley's sand dunes, the Racetrack Playa and its mysterious moving rocks, the 2005 desert wildflower bloom, and the Twenty Mule Team Borax Wagon.

For information on Death Valley National Park, visit their website at: Death Valley.


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Desert Gold
In the spring of 2005, Death Valley had the most profuse bloom of desert wildflowers seen there in more than fifty years.




Desert Bloom
This is a photograph of Death Valley National Park taken during the desert wildflower bloom of 2005.




Rippling Sand
Distances are deceiving in the desert. These sand dunes were several miles from the nearest road.




Death Valley 2005
The desert landscape of Death Valley is the lowest, hottest, and driest place in North America. It is typically a stark place with little life revealing itself. In the spring of 2005, Death Valley had more desert wildflowers blooming than had been seen there in fifty years.




Sand Dune Sunset
The setting sun cast an orange glow across these sand dunes in Death Valley National Park in California.




Mysterious Rocks
These are the mysterious moving rocks of Death Valley that are found on the Racetrack Playa. The Playa is an ancient dried lakebed that is almost perfectly flat for several miles. These rocks tumble down the slopes of surrounding hills and then apparently move across the lakebed when the Playa is wet. The evidence for this is that the pattern of cracks in the mud in the wakes of these rocks is different from the pattern of cracks in the surrounding mud. Also, when dry, the mud here is too hard to leave such ruts. No one has ever seen these rocks move, but it's thought that they are blown by very strong winds racing across the Playa.




Twenty Mule Team
This is the twenty-mule team borax train, used to haul precious processed borax out of Death Valley in the 1800's.




Dunes at Sunset
The sand dunes at Death Valley National Park are at their most beautiful when the sun is low, either at sunrise or at sunset.




Sensuous Sand
The windblown sand dunes at Death Valley sometimes take on smooth sensuous curves.




Sand #494




Moonrise Over Death Valley
While hiking out of the desert after sunset, I saw this large glow behind the mountains. It was a beautiful moonrise over Death Valley.




Mysterious Rocks #47
This photograph shows the mysterious moving rocks of Death Valley. These rocks, which clearly move and leave deep ruts in their wake, are located in a remote region known as the Racetrack Playa, accessible via a long drive on a 4-wheel drive road. The rocks are thought to move due to very strong winds when this ancient dried lakebed is wet from very rare periods of rain.



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Robert Stephens
TheWorldinLight Photographic Gallery
P.O. Box 893
Sterling Heights, MI 48311


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All photographs are the property of Robert Stephens and TheWorldinLight Photographic Gallery. Unauthorized reproduction or use is prohibited by US copyright law.