Here is an image from our trip to Death Valley in October. This one was from the Mesquite Sand Dunes, which is near Stovepipe Wells, In Death Valley.

Mesquite Dunes Near Sunset, Death Valley National Park

The Mesquite Dunes dominate the area just East of Stovepipe Wells. We stayed at the Hotel in Stovepipe Wells Village on the evening of October 18th. Late in the afternoon, Pam and I drove out to the dunes and hiked about 1/2 mile into them. The Sun was just beginning to set and I wanted to try and get some decent shots if I could. There were a lot of people wandering around on the dunes so it was hard to find a section that was free of either people and/or footprints.

We wandered a little North and West on the dunes until we came upon an area that seemed untouched. The Sun was quickly dropping below the horizon and the shadows were getting pretty long. With this being the 1st time at the dunes I was really trying to find a good shot, one that would really be memorable. I wanted to try and catch the long afternoon shadows on the dunes. I stopped walking and turned around to look at the mountains off to the West of us and I saw this section of dune. The sand had some nice ripples in it and the shadows/setting Sun was starting to cast a slightly golden color to the sand. I st up my tripod and tried to compose the best shot that I could. I finally settled on this one which has some nice lines in the sand leading off to the mountains in the distance. There is some greenery off to the right that seems to keep you focused on following the dunes. There were some nice shadows, and most importantly “NO FOOTPRINTS!

Pam and I sat out there for a little while until it started getting a little too dark for our tastes. We didn’t want to wander around out there in the dark so we headed back to the car, getting there just as the twilight faded. It was a great finish to a fun day in Death Valley. We went to bed after a nice dinner and a couple of Moose Drool’s (a great Craft Beer) hoping to get some good shots on the dunes at the next morning’s sunrise.