The entrance to Death Valley National Park is quite unceremonious. Unlike most other national parks, there is no toll booth. Instead, visitors are required to purchase a pass prior to going or at the visitor center and display a tag on their dashboard throughout the trip. I entered from the eastern side of the park but didn't make it to the western entrance as it's several hours away.
Full Moon Badlands • Zabrieski Point
On my way to a sunrise location in death valley, I passed Zabrieski Point around 4 am and decided to stop and take some star photos. I’m glad I did because the setting full moon illuminated the foreground just enough to make everything visible. There were some clouds in the sky but other than that the conditions were perfect for astrophotography.
The Dunes • Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes
The Sand Dunes in Death Valley are vast yet easy to navigate. I had to walk about 1.5 miles into the dunes to find sand without footprints in it. Finding compositions was hard because I had to face a certain direction to get the contrast of the crest of this dune, but it ended up working out.
There's an opportunity for creativity in the sand dunes, there are lots of different types of photos that can be taken. I was hoping for a dune that had a fairly straight centerline, with harsh shadows from one side to another. I had a couple of different front runners for my favorite image from this location that I included below. I didn't fine-tune color and contrast as much in the images below because it is very time-consuming, and I already preferred the picture above.
Badwater Basin is probably one of the most popular spots at Death Valley as it is the lowest elevation in the USA. It's cool to stand here and think how much water could be above you if it were to fill.
Salt Flats • Badwater Basin
Salt Flats • Badwater Basin
I actually found Badwater Basin hard to photograph because there are so many possible compositions. If I had an extra day I would've loved to come here at sunset because the glowing mountains would've been a remarkable sight to see with the shadows cast by the wander salt.
The hike to the natural bridge is uphill and about a 1-mile round trip. There are some really cool water carvings along the route uphill that really showcase the power water has in shaping a landscape.
The Artist's Palette
The artist's palette drive is a remarkable stretch of road. It's pretty tight in some spots so certain vehicle are restricted but the twists and turns are really fun to drive through. The colorful rocks is how this place got it's name, reds, greens, purple, yellow, orange, blue all make up this palette. It's really fun to walk through and see the stones up close.
Ridgeline • Mosaic Canyon
This ridgeline caught my eye as I was hiking down the mosaic canyon. I loved the leading line in this image as it makes the viewer wonder what happens at the end.
The Mosaic Canyon
The Mosaic Canyon was not something that I anticipated seeing, although earlier morning activities moved quicker than expected which gave me the shot to try this location out. A long, uphill dirt road leads to the trailhead of the mosaic canyon. Large potholes and big rocks had me worried as I drove up in a rental 2020 Toyota Corolla, but keeping it to about 5 mph and gripping the steering wheel with gladiator-like strength I made it to the top only to find a Mercedes Benz had made it, I felt better after that.
The hike through the Canyon is fairly shady at the beginning, then quickly becomes vastly open and wide. It was really cool to see the stark difference between the tighter quarters you see above and a huge canyon. I took this same photo twice, once going up, and once going down the canyon. I preferred my second image because the light had just slightly moved further up the rocks (since the sun was setting). I did this hike around 4 pm which is the hottest part of the day, I think it was about 98F which was not as bad as it sounds, but I was sweating for sure.
Zabrieski Point
Zabriskie Point was awesome to see during the day. as until this point, I had only seen it at night under the moonlight. It's about 100 yards from the parking lot to this point, and while it's pretty steep, it's very accessible since it is paved. I really enjoy looking out into the badlands because every now and then I'd see a hiker and realized the scale of it all.
Dante's View
Dante's View is the most easterly attraction in the park. It's about 5000 ft in elevation and a fairly navigable 13-mile road leads to the viewpoint. Unfortunately, it was fairly hazy the day this photo was taken so the full beauty of Death Valley was not captured but it was really cool to be up at Dante's View.
Zabriskie Point
I guess a lot of my final images came from Zabriskie Point, although all of them have something special and unique that makes them important to me. I really like the leading lines from this image, especially as the sun kisses the distant mountains, and an orange glow starts to form on the badlands.