The Racetrack

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.