Death_Valley_Eureka_Olancha

March 15, 2010

After enjoying the alpenglow illuminating the Sierra Nevada we again headed to the Eureka Dunes where we had finished-up the evening before. The early morning light gave an entirely different look to the dunes and we spent the next couple of hours taking advantage of this lighting. From the Eureka Dunes we headed south along highway 395 stopping on occasion to photograph the lava fields or alluvial fans spilling out of the Sierra Nevada range. Farther south we stopped at the Olancha Dunes, but these paled in comparison to the other dunes we had visited previously. By late afternoon we were roaming around the "Fossil Falls" in Rose Valley. About 10,000 years ago the ice-age Owens River cut a deep, narrow swath through the lava beds before it eventually dried up leaving behind a bizarre "fossilized waterfall". Rising to the immediate north of the falls is the 630' high Red Hill, a rusty-red cinder cone composed of porous volcanic rock. We then headed south to the Red Rock Canyon State Park and hung out there until well after sunset. After dinner Bill headed back to Los Angeles and Nancy and I headed for our hotel in Mojave.