Death Valley Sand Dunes/January

Howdy,

 

I'll be in Death Valley in mid Jan. Does anyone have

recommendations regarding the Sand Dunes at Stovepipe Wells? i.e.

best time of day (I hear sunsets). Are there any other SAnd Dunes I

should check out while there? I'll be at The Conservancy's Oasis

Valley and Death Valley for three days before heading to NANPA

Odyssey.

 

Ross

The dunes at Stovepipe Wells are great at sunrise and sunset. I almost hate to mention this on this forum, but here goes. . .

Avoid the temptation to go to the parking area along the road on the SW edge of the dunes. Instead, park along the road directly south of the main dunes mass and walk the mile or so to the dunes. It's farther, but easy walking, and you're more likely to get dunes sans footprints, and the formations are nicer, with less of the dead bushes and such sticking out of them.

 

Also, there are several other, yet less accessible dunes in the park. Eureka Dunes come to mind, for example. I've not been to any of them, but I've seen some awesome and wild photos of them. Some require 4WD to get to.<div></div>

Plan on driving North from Ubehebe Crater to the Eureka dunes. Depending on the latest windstorm, either they or the Colorado Dunes are the highest in the continental USA. These go over 700 feet high and see a lot less visitation than the Stovepipe area. The road to them isn't bad, take an Audi 400 without any problems. Just carry extra water & make sure the spare tire is OK. Take a sleeping bag & get evening and next morning both as these dunes will do well either way. With their height you can shoot often till late morning and get good images from late afternoon on. Nice shadows & good patterns, especially after recent winds re-sculpt them.

Todd. There's always a debate about whether the Stovepipe Wells dunes are best morning or evening and truth to tell I don't think there's much difference light-wise. But by late in the day there are often a lot of footprints which can be eliminated by overnight breezes. What you really need is calm weather after a breeze. Best of luck.

The Eureka Valley Sand Dunes are quite impressive and not widely visited.

 

One of my favorite hikes is from the Eureka Valley Sand Dunes over the ridge into Death Valley. I did it as part of a four- or five-day Death Valley backpacking trip once and hope to do it again someday. We planned our trip carefully and drove out in advance to cache water in the desert. As I recall, the area between the valleys also involved a short distance that happened to be just slightly off the edge of our topo maps, so there were interesting surprises. The area behind the dunes involved lots of strenuous hiking laterally across shallow washes then up to a flat region that led into a slot canyon. The canyon seemed impassable, but impressive, and we were ahead of schedule, so we tried it. We would go in until we saw a high stone rock face thinking we'd have to turn back, then we'd get to the rock and discover a way around. At the top of the ridge the canyon narrows to about five feet wide and opens out onto a broad flat field of Joshua trees overlooking Death Valley.

 

I don't recall taking any pictures--might have left the camera at home in favor of the necessary two gallons of water. Maybe I never printed them. Better check those old negs.