Looking down on the lowest place in the western world is like seeing a frozen lake. It lies flat in the bottom of Death Valley, shimmering in sunlight as shadows of the eastern range retract. I go down near it in my car and park after the shadows expose its brilliance. I walk out on salty rocks and earth to where there is no more earth. From here on there is only salt. The air is already over one hundred degrees and seems hotter in the white reflection of sun. Salt crystals crunch under my boots.
I set up the tripod and begin recording me in this white expanse. It’s hard to get a grip on how vast it is and how long it would take to walk across it, like those gold-rush travelers did and lost so many of their numbers and gave the place its name of death.
I kneel down to see the tiny growths of salt that rise up as from seed, and spread their tiny tendrils that I only saw later on close examination of my pictures.
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I walked a mile or two onto the salt flat of Badwater, looked back at the shore, took a long drink of water, and headed back to the real world.
Is this really planet Earth??? It's almost unbelievable. What strikes me most... is the isolation. No people in sight anywhere. Are there times of year when the salt flats are covered with human observers? Or when the flocks of humans come, do the salts hide their tiny branching bodies and go away?? What a strange world and there you are the lone observer again, except for us, looking over your shoulder! Rick looked at you out there salt-flat-walking and said... "where is it, I can't see the rip in her pants?"... hee hee...ah your reputation precedes you... the dangerous crossings and the "wounds"... you must be getting up very early
ReplyDeleteto go out on these escapades... and tired early too... you'll get home and find yourself on a very odd schedule in the normal world. Stunning photographs again, we definitely should plan a Sharon's Summer Salon before you leave for the next step??? This is too good not to share with all! Let's plan for it!
Kind of looks like the Altiplano in Bolivia, only instead of being at 12,000 feet you are below sea level. The formation is probably caused by the same geo forces, only in the opposite direction, more research on this topic. Keep on with amazing shots of austere beauty.
ReplyDeleteKathabela, it is more like Titan, or one of the sixty moons of Saturn, than earth. I feel transported at warp speed in going there and then beamed back in just a few miles of walking. Even the air feels out-of-this-world—salty, humid, hot and still, with a portent of impending impact by some random asteroid.
ReplyDeleteIn the winter, when most people visit Badwater, they cannot walk where I walked. It is either flooded by rainwater settling here from mountain gullies or it is too mushy to walk on. So flocks of people never come.
Yes I get up early to do this; I don’t think I could bear the afternoon heat long enough to walk out very far onto the salt. And I go to bed very early. Tomorrow will be different; I will drive to Dante’s View, 5,000 feet up on the east side, and hike the ridge in cooler air. I don’t need to get up early for this.
Good to hear from you Michael. How’s everything at the Casa Rosada?
All is very fine, check out my blog if you have a chance.
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