Sunrise. I began my morning in El Valle Del Muerte with a cup of tea and a relaxing meditation on my fold up chair. The desert air was still, but the sky indicated that soon the winds would pick up as they had the previous day. Weather forecasts for the weekend were, well weather forecasts: i.e. rarely accurate. There was a "chance" of rain for President's Day, but it didn't sound too serious. The winds seemed somewhat ominous.




Wow, nothing sneaks up on a person in the desert. The night before a jeep had approached the dirt road off which we were camped. You could hear it coming seemingly forever. For miles the low rumble of the engine and the squeak of the suspension of the off road vehicle could be perceived. If a crow cawed, no matter how far up the canyon, the sound seemed to travel to my ears.

In order to make it out to our big destination, we had to pack up early and get back on the road, fully testing the durability of the Cross Country Volvo. After a couple hour circumvention of the Valley, we were poised on the turn off to . . . drum roll, please! The Racetrack! A quirky phenomena in nature, for many years I had been wanting to go see this geological effect, and I was finally on my way. Unfortunately it was still another 27 miles on a washboard-filled four wheel drive road.

The topography of death valley is an ancient story of colliding continental plates and tectonic uplift; eons of torrential rain followed by eons of extreme aridity; wind and water erosion on multi-layered sedentary rocks. It is a place where scientists of various genres have come to study and observe the inconceivably slow rate of change in the natural world that leaves equally mesmerizing vistas.

ER Harris