Wandering Rock
The Race Track Playa in Death Valley National Park with the Milky Way in the background.
The Racetrack is locted in a remote area of the Death Valley National Park, requiring hours of driving at slow speeds along a rough dirt road while keeping an eye out for sharp rocks that may pop your tires.
The Racetrack is an extremely flat area with only a difference of 1.5 inches between the north and south ends of the dry lake bed. During just the right conditions a thin lake will form and then freeze, as the ice warms up and starts to break it will float on thin sheet of water and with just light winds the ice sheets will push rocks that fall from the surrounding mountains around and the rocks will leave tracks in the mud as they move.
Unfortunately not everyone respects the sanctity of the parks and will walk out or even drive out onto the playa when its wet leaving their own tracks which disrupt the natural progression of the rocks. Sometimes people will take the rocks ( its just a rock once you remove it, I just don't get that ), or even plant rocks to try and get certain types of photos.
If you are going to go through the trouble to get to this remote location, please respect it and leave it the way you found it.
Used the App "Plan-it for Photographers" to help plan the location of the Milky Way.
7 frames stacked in Starry landscape stacker for the sky and one long exposure around 3 min at 3200 ISO for the foreground.
Wandering Rock
The Race Track Playa in Death Valley National Park with the Milky Way in the background.
The Racetrack is locted in a remote area of the Death Valley National Park, requiring hours of driving at slow speeds along a rough dirt road while keeping an eye out for sharp rocks that may pop your tires.
The Racetrack is an extremely flat area with only a difference of 1.5 inches between the north and south ends of the dry lake bed. During just the right conditions a thin lake will form and then freeze, as the ice warms up and starts to break it will float on thin sheet of water and with just light winds the ice sheets will push rocks that fall from the surrounding mountains around and the rocks will leave tracks in the mud as they move.
Unfortunately not everyone respects the sanctity of the parks and will walk out or even drive out onto the playa when its wet leaving their own tracks which disrupt the natural progression of the rocks. Sometimes people will take the rocks ( its just a rock once you remove it, I just don't get that ), or even plant rocks to try and get certain types of photos.
If you are going to go through the trouble to get to this remote location, please respect it and leave it the way you found it.
Used the App "Plan-it for Photographers" to help plan the location of the Milky Way.
7 frames stacked in Starry landscape stacker for the sky and one long exposure around 3 min at 3200 ISO for the foreground.