The real Zabriskie Point, a pet peeve

It's a pet peeve of ours that we often see photos of the Zabriskie Badlands and Manly Beacon labeled as Zabriskie Point, which is the viewpoint that the photographer is standing on, not what the viewer is seeing in the photo.  In a way, we can understand why it happens.  You look out across the maze of ridges and gullies of these badlands with no apparent named peak and it can be hard to name what you're seeing.  Also, the general store in Furnace Creek sells souvenirs with images of Manly Beacon on them and they're labeled "Zabriskie Point," so, again, it's understandable.

But consider this.  As a photographer, would you go to Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park, take a photo of Half Dome and label that photo "Glacier Point."  You would likely name it Half Dome after the distinctive feature in the picture.  The Zabriskie Badlands have a distinctive feature, though admittedly not as distinctive as Half Dome, and it's Manly Beacon.  But if your photo from Zabriskie Point doesn't include Manly Beacon, then it's probably of Gower Gulch and the Zabriskie Badlands and should say so.

The above two photos show the actual Zabriskie Point.  Zabriskie Point is in the upper left atop a steeply sloped hill.  And then Gower Gulch and part of the Zabriskie Badlands make up the rest of the photos.

The panorama below is of the Zabriskie Badlands taken from Zabriskie Point.

 The final photo is a 30 second nighttime exposure showing Manly Beacon, the only widely-known named feature in the Zabriskie Badlands.  Many photos labeled Zabriskie Point feature Manly Beacon, named after William Manly, an early Death Valley guide.  This feature is the high point just left of center.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.

Titus Canyon Road in Death Valley, panorama leading to the pass

This is Rick's old Kia Sportage, during a December 2007 trip to Death Valley. The road is the one-way road that leads to Titus Canyon. It was taken as a panorama to show the road that leads up to the pass. On the other side, the road drops steeply down to the abandoned mining town of Leadville, then on to Titus Canyon. Passenger cars can make the trip when the road is in good condition, but other times make 4-wheel drive and high ground clearance much more desirable. We have seen people back out of this drive and go against the one-way designation of the road in order to get out.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Eye of the Needle, Death Valley National Park, California

This is a nighttime shot of a natural window in Death Valley National Park, California, called Eye of the Needle.  Seems self-explanatory how it got its name.  This arch is about one and a half miles up Echo Canyon on a dirt road.  The road appears to head straight toward this arch, but then wraps around the rock formation, so that you can see this arch from both sides while driving.

We camped near this feature and were taking starlight shots of it when someone drove by lighting up the rock formation with their headlights. This photo was taken with a zoom lens set at 28 mm and the exposure was 30 seconds at f/3.5 with the ISO set at 800.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.

Chuckwalla and rocky textures in Death Valley

This chuckwalla lizard was hanging out near the Dante's View scenic area in Death Valley National Park. It's interesting how the texture of the lizard's skin so closely blends with the textures in the rocks. Chuckwalla's are very comfortable moving around rocks and wedging themselves into the crevices between rocks. One method that chuckwallas use to keep away from predators is to flee into a crevice, then inflate their bodies to create enough pressure that they cannot be dislodged. This one, though, was out in the open for quite a while when people were walking past and looking at the view of Death Valley and the Badwater Basin and also noticing this large lizard sunning itself.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Death Valley coyote looking around

Coyotes are very adaptable animals. You'll find them in the high mountains and low deserts. This one was right along the road in Death Valley National Park. It seems that after he looked at us for a while, thinking we might throw some food out for him, he started to consider his options and was looking to move on.

This photo also shows the effects of a camera lens's depth of field, where the more distant part of the scene is out of focus. Even the back and hind legs of the coyote are out of focus, but the face is in focus, which is the main thing you want to get right when you're taking wildlife photos, particularly the eye or eyes.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Manly Beacon at the upper end of Golden Canyon, Death Valley National Park, March 2016

This feature in Death Valley National Park is called Manly Beacon. An early explorer in this area was a man named Horace Manly, after whom this feature is named. It's often confused with a feature called Zabriskie Point, which is actually a hilltop from which you can view Manly Beacon, but people think they're looking "at" Zabriskie Point from that hilltop when they're actually looking "from" that hilltop.

The trail we were on for this photo eventually leads to the south side of this huge feature where you traverse across a steep slope to reach the upper end of Golden Canyon. The last few times we've hiked this trail, we've had the impression that the Beacon is a very imposing feature up close and it should be more famous as an iconic figure of Death Valley.

This photo was taken with a camcorder that can also take 20 megapixel still images. The settings were f/4, 1/180 sec, the ISO is not recorded.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Telephone Arch in Telephone Canyon, Death Valley National Park

In one of Death Valley's many canyons is a natural arch. This canyon requires some driving on a dirt road to get to its mouth, then you can hike about 1/3 of a mile to see the arch. The canyon itself once had a telephone line and a road running through it, but time has obliterated most signs of them. This line gave the canyon its name of Telephone Canyon.  To us, this arch, appropriately enough, looks like an old style telephone.

The feature runs roughly north-south, so the western face is lit up during the afternoon, when this image was taken. The opening is roughly 15 feet tall (about 4.5 meters). There is a spring uphill of the arch but it appears to have dried up. The image was taken with ISO 50, 1/200 sec., f8, 6mm (35 mm equivalent).

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes in Death Valley National Park wind-caused rippling pattern

Death Valley National Park has 5 different sand dunes within its borders, including California's largest in Eureka Valley. The easiest dunes to reach are the Mesquite Flats Sand Dunes because they're right next to the main road through the park. These dunes were made famous by the 1970's TV series called Kung Fu, with David Carradine.

We got up early in the morning to get to the dunes before the crowds starting traipsing across it so that we could get undisturbed ripples in the sand. The wind blowing across the sand causes some grains to collide with other grains and knocking into the next crest.

Image taken at ISO 50, 1/40 sec., f8, 8mm (48 mm equivalent).

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Death Valley's Telescope Peak reflected in Badwater Basin on a winter day

Badwater Basin is the lowest elevation in the western hemisphere at 282 feet (86 meters) below sea level. The name comes from this year-round spring where the water comes out salty and is not good to drink. It's located in Death Valley National Park in the state of California. Only 20 miles (32km) from Badwater Basin is Telescope Peak at 11,049 feet (3368 meters) elevation. During the winter it gets covered in snow along with much of the Panamint Mountains.

The geological explanation for the low elevation is the mountain ranges on either side of Death Valley, Panamint to the west and Amargosa to the east, are tilting up and away from the valley, leading to less support for the land in between, resulting in sinking. Death Valley is technically not a valley, because, geologically, valleys form by flowing water. Death Valley formed by the land subsiding. This type of geologic feature is given a German name "graben" pronounced like the bird "robin". But no one will campaigning to the Park Service to have the name of the park changed to "Death Graben."

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Road Runner searching for a morning meal in Death Valley

While we were waiting at the entrance station for the Furnace Creek campground in Death Valley National Park, hoping to get a campsite for the night, 2 road runners came trotting by looking to have a breakfast. The first one just kept going, but the second one stopped and posed sometimes, before scurrying on. Rick managed to get this full framed image of the bird during one of his stops. Road runners eat lizards and snakes and aren't usually chased by coyotes. They are in the same bird family as cuckoos.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Sagebrush Lizard, Death Valley; America's Next Top Lizard's Closeup

This is the same lizard as the previous post.  Bob had his camera set to do closeup shots of the wildflowers in bloom, so he tried to get a closeup of this lizard, since he seemed to be very cooperative about letting us take photos of him.  Bob was able to get within an inch of his face to get this shot.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.

"America's Next Top Lizard", a sagebrush lizard at Dante's View, Death Valley National Park

While in Death Valley during this year's "superbloom", we went to Dante's View to look down on Death Valley from a high vantage point and managed to find a photogenic lizard. This little guy stayed on the top of this rock for over half an hour. We got closer and closer to it to get pictures and it didn't seem to mind at all. Eventually, we even put on close up lenses and got pictures of its face. The lenses came to within an inch of its face, but it still didn't move. Rick started calling it "America's Next Top Lizard", because it turned out to be such a good model for us. We pointed it out to people passing by and they were able to get their smartphones close to it for close up images, too. It finally left after we saw an insect land on the rock below it and the lizard dropped down quickly to snatch the bug in its mouth, then it scampered off to the ground and continued on its way. We wished we had a camcorder running to catch that action, but we missed it. This was the same cluster of rocks where we saw the chuckwalla shown in our earlier post.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Chuckwalla lizard in a rock crevice at Dante's View, Death Valley National Park

While visiting Death Valley to enjoy their "superbloom", we saw a chuckwalla lizard out in the open, near the Dante's View parking area. Then it moved into a rock crevice when it felt threatened. Some of the other visitors thought it was a pregnant lizard, but that's just how they look normally. This species is the largest lizard in Death Valley. It stores fat in its tail and along its sides. When threatened by a predator, a chuckwalla can work itself into a flat crevice and inflate itself in order to be completely wedged into the space such that the predator has no chance at pulling it out. You can also see that it blends in very well with the rock.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Mesquite Flats Sand Dunes, Death Valley National Park, California

A view of the Mesquite Flats Sand Dunes near Stovepipe Wells in Death Valley National Park.  These are the most visited of Death Valley's sand dunes since they're right next to the highway connecting Stovepipe Wells Village with the park's headquarters at Furnace Creek.

Death Valley is the lowest, hottest, and driest place in America.  These sand dunes are right about at sea level.  Two people are standing on the highest peak of the dunes in the upper right.

Remember.  It's not just a picture, it's a story.

Salt Creek pupfish, an endangered species in Death Valley National Park, Spring 2012

During the spring, the endangered Salt Creek pupfish males set up territories in Salt Creek as if flows from a spring south to the below sea level section of Death Valley National Park. The pupfish are considered the remnants of fish that once inhabited Lake Manly which filled what is now Death Valley during the last ice age. As the water level receded as the ice age ended, the water became saltier and now only a few springs persist and provide the only habitat for this species. Besides the saltiness, this creek experiences flash floods, nearly drying out, and temperatures from near freezing to over 40°C. (104°F.)

This image was taken by hiking along the boardwalk of the Salt Creek Interpretive Trail, a short turnoff from Highway 190, between Stovepipe Wells and Furnace Creek, the two main developed areas within Death Valley. Rick got down on his belly and waited for a male to swim near the shore to get this shot. You can tell it's a male because of how colorful the front is and by the bluish dorsal fin. Females are better camoflouged and blend in with the grainy creek bottom.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Trona Pinnacles in the Mojave Desert of California. Where the remake of "Planet of the Apes" was partially filmed.

The Trona Pinnacles are in the Mojave Desert of California. They were formed while underwater in the ancient Searles Lake, which is now completely dry. Where the towers form represents freshwater springs that spewed calcium-enriched waters into the carbonate-laden mineral waters of the ancient lake. Calcium and carbonate combine to form calcium carbonate, the same material that makes up sea shells and cave formations. Mono Lake is famous for its tufa towers that are still forming. The ones at Trona that formed under Searles Lake can't grow anymore.

A few years ago, the Planet of the Apes movie was remade and some of the scenes in that movie were filmed among the Trona Pinnacles. We've also seen some commercials  with these pinnacles in them, as well.

We often stop by the Trona Pinnacles on our way to Death Valley National Park. The small town of Trona is south south-west of Death Valley and along the route from Ridgecrest, Highway 178. The dirt road out to the Pinnacles comes off of Highway 178 and crosses railroad tracks. This area is not a National Park, but is Bureau of Land Management land. They don't have the restrictions that a park would have in effect, so people can drive right up to the features and hike around them. There have been mines here so a visitor should use caution when exploring. Camping isn't allowed, though.

The last time we drove through here, the full moon was about 4 days away, so the nearly full moon was rising well before sunset. We looked at the moon and the pinnacles from several angles. Rick liked this one with the moon between a couple of the pinnacles as a dramatic shot.

Remember it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Death Valley sunrise

Sunrise as seen from the Furnace Creek Campground in Death Valley National Park in California.  Some of the most spectacular sunrises we've ever seen have been at Death Valley.

Death Valley is famous for being the lowest, hottest, and driest place in America.  The lowest point in the park, the Badwater Basin, is also the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere at 282 feet below sea level.  We've seen tourists from Germany here during the summer take pictures of themselves next to a thermometer to show the folks back home what temperatures they got exposed to.  The thermometer showed 117 degrees F.  The record high temperature for Death Valley was 134 degrees Fahrenheit on July 10, 1913 and is considered to be the highest temperature ever recorded on Earth.  As for dryness, Death Valley averages just over 2 inches of rainfall annually.  We've visited the park during years when it got over 5 inches of rain and the wildflowers bust out all over thanks to the extra moisture.

We like to visit Death Valley during the winter, because of its relatively mild weather, but we have visited the park in every season.

Remember, it's not just a photo, it's a story.

Manly Beacon viewed from the south showing its cliff face and the trail leading to Golden Canyon with 2 hikers.

This is Manly Beacon as it appears from the south along the Badlands Trail. This is the first time we hiked the Badlands Trail together, in 2007, and we were impressed by Manly Beacon. Usually this feature is seen from the side when standing at Zabriskie Point, which is to the east. From this perspective, you can clearly see the imposing cliff face and what's also impressive is that the trail to Golden Canyon passes below the cliff, as you can see 2 hikers on the exposed slope to the left in this image. The Red Cathedral feature lies beyond Manly Beacon, you can see part of it at the extreme left. In a way, this cliff face reminds us of Half Dome in Yosemite, except it's made of sedimentary rock instead of granite and isn't nearly as high. From this angle, the outline of Manly Beacon is somewhat similar to Half Dome's outline, when viewed straight on at its cliff face.

This image was made with Rick's 6 megapixel camera, which he has since replaced with a 12 megapixel camera. He took 4 images and merged them to get this final product.This was taken on a very bright day in December. The settings were ISO 50, f8.0, and 1/500sec shutter speed for all 4 images, to make combining them easier.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Coyote posing for the camera in Death Valley National Park

While driving the many miles of roads in Death Valley National Park during a visit in 1993, Rick pulled off the road to double-check the map for his next destination. Along came a coyote probably expecting a hand-out, but when none was forthcoming, it started looking around at the terrain to decide where it wanted to go next. For this photo, Rick didn't even have to get out of the car, it was taken while he was still sitting in the driver's seat through the passenger window.

It always amazes us how hardy animals and plants can be in such harsh enviroments as Death Valley. During the summer, this coyote would probably only come out at night, but this image was taken in April, so he was out during the middle of the day. Unfortunately, these animals seem to have gotten accustomed to the idea of a stopped car meaning free food, but ironically it's how Rick was able to get such an easy photo of this one, even though we never feed wild animals..

Remeber, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Death Valley's Manly Beacon, often incorrectly called Zabriskie Point

This Death Valley feature is often incorrectly named, even among photographers, who should know better. You reach this feature by driving Highway 190 east from Furnace Creek, or west from the junction with Highway 127 into the park and reach it before Furnace Creek. The sign along the road tells you that you're turning off at Zabriskie Point, so many people assume that after they climb to the top of a hill with stone fencing around it that they're looking out at Zabriskie Point. Actually, that hill is Zabriskie Point and the feature on the horizon is called Manly Beacon. It's named after an early Death Valley explorer named Horace Manly. I've even seen posters with this feature in the photo and it's labeled Zabriskie Point, even though the point isn't in the photo, but instead it's showing the "Beacon". We hope to clear up this confusion.

Richard has been to Death Valley about 30 times, but we both feel there's a lot more to see. This is the largest National Park in the 48 states and has about 1000 miles of paved and dirt roads, not to mention the trails for hiking. This image of Manly Beacon was captured in January 2012. We hiked from the parking area to the top of the hill, Zabriskie Point, then came down hill a little bit from the top toward the badlands, so that Manly Beacon would be a little more prominent in the view and there would be a little more sky in the frame.There's actually a trail that goes by the shoulder of Manly Beacon and we did hike that trail, which crosses over into Golden Canyon. This trail forms a loop with Gower Gulch, the next canyon to the south, and we've done that hike a couple of times already.

Normally the sun around noon is not the best for taking photos, but since this was in January, the sun is naturally at a lower angle, making shadows a little longer and more noticeable. This one was taken around 1 PM.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.