As soon as I saw this lonely vegetation on the dark colored rippled sand, it reminded me of being alone in the wilderness. I read a book many years ago titled One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey; based on the journals and photography of Richard Proenneke. Proenneke left his life behind and retreated to the wilderness of Twin Lakes, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska. There he built a cabin by hand using only small tools when he was 51 years old. He lived there until he was 83 years old and then willed the cabin to the National Park Service. I always loved the book and documentary style DVD. He was a self-educated naturalist, conservationist, writer, and wildlife photographer. His love of Alaska and the natural world really inspired me.
My friend and I wanted to photograph at Death Valley but with all the Covid issues we decided to avoid the usual shooting locations and hike out to Panamint Dunes. Because of the 7 mile round trip hike at Panamint, the dunes don’t get nearly as many visitors. We hiked out there alone and had the dunes completely to ourselves. It was a beautiful day. That does not mean that others don’t go there, there were lots of footprints. We chose to go on a 90 degree day and that helped to keep folks away<wink>.
We also chose to make the hairy drive out to Ibex Dunes to avoid other people. It was also deserted. We saw no one there all day. We enjoyed our time alone in nature and we were both incredibly happy with our time in Death Valley. And now we are back on the road…
Photographed at Panamint Dunes in Death Valley, NP.
Photographed at Panamint Dunes in Death Valley, NP.