Death Valley

[kimberkit]

The impressive thing about trips with Neil is that he always manages to draw rain. It doesn't matter whether it's August in the desert, although January in the desert is less surprising. In another life, entropicangel would be a rain god. I mean, this is Death Valley, for crying out loud -- it's one of the only two true deserts in the United States. (And because it was raining, I was incredibly foolish during this run -- I only realized I hadn't drunk any water at all that day when I saw stars and the room spun around me. Why drink when it's raining? Oops.)

Death Valley in the rain is actually gorgeous, though, surprisingly -- the layers of sedimentary rock come out more deeply, and the various striations and mounded shapes of the alluvial fan are also somehow deeper.

Some of the mounds are pretty dramatic when you (by which I mean Neil's brother) climb them:




Here are some striations:







And here is a shot of some of the layers of rock there, again with Karl:



This is Neil -- take note, not wearing sunglasses! (Rain is his natural environment, even if it's not mine) -- in front of the odd mineral deposits in Artist's Palette:




But Death Valley is surprisingly not-rocky at points, too, especially once the rain starts coming:

Comments

[entropicangel.livejournal.com]

Wowzers! The shot of Karl quasi-praying is intense. And I particularly like the second shot, with striations in the background, the lighter almost dunelike fore-hills, and then the tiny people up front.

P.S. -- I guess my hair is getting messy. I stand by the shaggy description :)