Faces of DeVa

Picture a desert and the first vision that crops up is that of sand dunes stretching endlessly to the horizon. Undisturbed ripples of golden stand wiggle their way on the windward side, forming patterns akin to life-sized fingerprints. Mesquite Sand Dunes in Death Valley National Park is a classic example of this. But the park also features a vast low-level basin that are filled with white salt-flats. The salt flat is the remnant of an endorheic lake that dries out by late spring, leaving behind hexagonal patterns of crystallline salt.

Death Valley is more than just sand dunes and salt flats. But these are two key faces of this DeVa.

Death Valley National Park
CA USA

The high and the low

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The journey from the highest point in Death Valley to its lowest point spans ~11,300ft or ~3,450m. That journey takes one from the freezing snow-capped peak of the Panamint range to through rocky canyons down through the alluvial fans onto the lowest point in the lower 48 states - 250ft below sea level. And being able to witness this gradual transition of altitude, terrain, and climate, in one single glance is not possible anywhere else except at Dante's View in Death Valley National Park

I had arrived at the 5,500ft summit of Dante's view at sunrise, hoping to witness the first light on the mighty spine of the Panamint range. And after a colorful sunrise, pockets of warm light began to shine on the dynamic terrain of the Badwater basin and the stunning landscape all around. This was one such view capturing a well-lit alluvial fan that drained the Panamint range behind a hardy shrub that survives the harsh climate of Death Valley.

Death Valley National Park

CA USA