Eureka Sand Dunes

The first time i visited Death Valley, in my sucky Nissan Sentra station wagon, i was turned back on the road that eventually leads to Eureka Sand Dunes. The washboard road was too much for the suspension and after only a mile i turned around. This time Jeep Cherokee handled the washboard pretty well, with speed more limited by the constant but unpredictable arrival of dry wash crossings than by the jarring bumps or skipping. Along the way i had a delicious can of ice cold peaches.


An explorer is dwarfed. He stood here a long time, probably trying to decide if it was worth it to go on.

The northern portion of Death Valley is remarkably boring and monotonous. Numerous dirt roads spurred from the route i was on but i couldn't imagine taking the time to drive off into the directions they led off too. The area is not distinguishable from any other generic area of the Mojave Desert, and because of this i'm not sure that Death Valley National Monument should have been upgraded to a national park, or at least the park should not be as big as it is (it is one of the largest).

OK, there they are, now pick an easy route to that big one in the back...

After 73 miles of dirt road i made it to the dunes right after being spit out from a massive descent through a geologically impressive gorge. I ate a can and a half of ice cold speghettio's, until i couldn't stomach anymore. I hadn't brought any camping gear to avoid extra luggage charges, so i was stuck with canned food for the day. The grocery store in Beaty had a very poor selection to choose from.


Color


Black and White


Infrared

The sand dunes come into view in a stark, inhospitable valley and they sit right in the back, a giant pile of sand. It seems bizarre that they don't blow away. To be fair, the ground for miles around is covered in sand and on the distant hills you can spot other, less dramatic dunes.Approaching 11 am, i had arrived at pretty much the worst portion of the day to be taking pictures of sand dunes. I should probably have come to the dunes the previous afternoon and then driven in the dark to thelakebed. It was clear that i wasn't going to have the patience to wait around all day.


Footprints


Ocean


Mountain


Surreal

Getting out of the car i noticed that it was extremely dirty both inside and out. The winds from the dust storm had apparently made it through the ventsand deposited dust all over every surface. I hadn't noticed in the dark, but now that the sun was up i understood why i couldn't seem to touch anything without getting my hands filthy.


The top of this dune has been blown off, momentarily revealing a beautiful underlying structure tracing a dynamic history of deposition.

I picked out a route, which was actually a complicated matter, and set off for the topmost dune. It's exhausting trying to make it up that high, 700 feet of sand. A comparison for anyone who had climbed up the mountain at the Walls of Jericho (the old way); that was a 700 foot climb to get out of the valley and back to the car. So imagine if that steep mountain was deep sand the whole way up.

I tried traversing a slope as a short cut, to avoid climbing over a steep dune almost as tall as my goal, but i began to trigger large sand slides that would immediately bury my legs up to my knees. I'd never been on such a massive sand slope and actually began to wonder if a person could be buried alive by sand slide. I was probably getting paranoid just as an excuse to stop trying. I ended up lying down and taking a nap only a short distance from the top. It was beautifully quiet up there, with a cool 64 degree breeze that perfectly countered the sunlight.


The dunes from the east side.

Simmering heat on the surface creates the illusion of serrated edges along the tops of the dunes.

By the time i came back down the sun had seriously heated the surface of the sand on the lower areas (and seriously burned my face). The sand also seemed to be incredibly abrasive, being made up of broken down pumice. Those two factors resulted in me tearing up my feet to the point they were raw on the bottom. No longer interested in walking, i decided to try and drive behind the dunes to where the Saline Valley road came out of a narrow canyon and joined up with this wide valley. The Jeep soon proved not to have enough clearance for deep sand, just like every factory SUV. I almost got it stuck several times before i found a place where i could turn around. I made sure to get a whole bunch of sand kicked up into the hydraulics and gears of the drive train whenever it bottomed out. Never buy a rental car.

These neat little plants must have to grow awfully fast to avoid being buried by the ever shifting dunes. I've never seen them before. It was already scorching hot here, in a sand bowl, at noon, in April. Very Very hardy plants.


Tea Kettle Junction.


Although the Mojave is harsh there are actually many plants and flowers when you aren't in a salt pan, dunes, dry lake bed, toxic soil... OK it's harsh.

In an upper valley not far from the dunes is a neat Joshua Tree forest.


A nice tree.


A large panorama.