Racetrack Playa, Death Valley

I was fortunate to visit the Racetrack Playa in Death Valley November of last year.  This is where rocks mysteriously slide around, leaving tracks in their wake.  Many slide for hundreds of feet and more.  Some move with seeming purpose in pretty much a straight line while others meander about, changing directions on a seeming whim.

The journies of these rocks are illustrated by the following photographs.

Or consider the meanderings of these two rocks.

If you trace back the path of the rock on the right you will be amazed.

It’s a joy to wander over the playa for literally miles in search of these often whimsical rocks.  However, when I was last out there I saw some very disturbing signs of greed and total disregard for others and the wonders of our earth.  Scores of tracks had no rocks – at either end.  People were carting them off.  You might not be surprised to see one or two tracks without the rocks that made them.  But to see scores was both upsetting and heart breaking.  And to top it off, there were car tracks on the playa.  Some idiots drove their vehicle out there for, what could only be to make off with even more rocks.

It’s callous ignorance like this that makes one feel the need even more urgently to redouble our efforts to preserve treasures like these.  I’ve said in this blog before that it just takes one.  You only cut a virgin forest once, build a highway through a pristine wilderness area once, wipe out a species once, remove racetrack rocks once and they are gone forever.

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Author: doinlight

Ralph Nordstrom is an award-winning fine art landscape photographer and educator. He lives in Southern California and leads photography workshops throughout the Western United States. View all posts by doinlight