RHH's photos with the keyword: playa

We are home again after two weeks of traveling, 3675 miles (5914 km), of traveling and eight states, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, California and Oregon. We left Death Valley early yesterday morning and arrived home late last night after driving sixteen hours, stopping only for petrol and food. We were in three National Parks, Arches, Canyonlands and Death Valley, and numerous other places, Goblin Valley and Moonscape Overlook, Monument Valley, Navaho National Monument, Pipe Spring National Monument, Antelope Canyon and Rhyolite Ghost Town. The photo is of the Racetrack a playa (a lake bed that is dry most of the year) in Death Valley National Paek. The playa is noted for the stones that move across its surface when the playa is wet, leaving tracks behind. These tracks can be very long and often show that the stones have changed direction. For many years this was a mystery but was finally solved. The stones move through a combination of water, ice and wind. The photo shows one of these stones, about the size of my boot, and the track it has left behind in the dried and cracked mud of the playa. The Racetrack is reached by traveling twenty-seven miles over very rough and unpaved roads in a remote part of the park. We visited the Racetrack many years ago with our van, but a four-wheel drive vehicle with high clearance is really necessary, especially since the road is even rougher now than on our previous visit. We rented a 4WD Jeep for several days and after spending time at the Racetrack for photos, went on through Lippincott Pass, an even rougher road through the mountains south of the Racetrack. We were with our oldest daughter who had never been to DVNP.

This is the Racetrack in Death Valley. It is accessible only with a four wheel drive, high-clearance vehicle and is at the end of 27 miles of rough, unpaved road. It is a playa, a lakebed that is usually dry, and is known as the Racetrack because of the unusual movement of stones across the playa, the movement leaving tracks in the mud. The formation on the left of the photo is known as The Grandstand, for obvious reasons.

A playa is a desert basin that periodically fills with water to form a shallow lake. This playa lies nearly thirty miles off the beaten track in northern Death Valley. It is called the Racetrack because stones from the surrounding mountains mysteriously move across the playa when it is wet leaving the tracks of their movement visible in the photo. Someone figured out that it was the wind which moved the stones across the mud, but the track remain visible after the playa dries.

A playa is a desert basin that periodically fills with water to form a shallow lake. This playa lies nearly thirty miles off the beaten track in northern Death Valley. It is called the Racetrack because stones from the surrounding mountains mysteriously move across the playa when it is wet leaving the tracks of their movement (see inset). Actually it is no longer mysterious since someone figured out that it was the wind which moved the stones across the mud. Appropriately, the rocky formation out in the playa is known as the Grandstand. We arrived here on the evening of our first day in Death Valley National Park and spent the night there sleeping in the back of our minivan. Should add that we are home again after three weeks on the road. We visited four national parks, two national wildlife refuges and several state parks, put 4000 miles on the car, and spent sixteen nights sleeping in the back of the van.