Person Atop the Grandstand, Racetrack Playa. Death Valley National Park, California. March 28, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
A climber stands atop “The Grandstand” formation in the middle of the Racetrack Playa, Death Valley National Park, California.
I got a short period of good light when I visited the Racetrack Playa in late March… followed by an evening, a night, and a morning of mediocre light. Win some – lose some! When I first arrived at the playa it was still relatively clear, with only the thin high clouds seen in this photograph. My first stop was at “The Grandstand,” this interesting rocky hill in the middle of the otherwise perfectly flat playa. As I wandered around looking for good angles from which to photograph the formation, a succession of visitors climbed to the highest point of the formation. I had never thought to do this, even though I had climbed over part of the Grandstand to get to the other side on a previous visit. After waiting some time for the climbers to get out of “my shot,” I finally figured out that the lone figure atop this large rock made an interesting subject.
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Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L USM at 200mm
ISO 200, f/11, 1/320 second
keywords: death valley, national, park, california, usa, north america, racetrack, playa, moving, rocks, the, grandstand, formation, man, person, climber, top, summit, atop, stand, brush, plant, sky, cloud, mountain, range, scenic, travel, nature, landscape, sport, active, adventure, drive, stock, blue
David, you are right about the mysterious and “spooky” nature of the place – it is not just another playa.
The mystery around my first visit was heightened by a couple of factors. First, I had known of the place for many years by reputation and through photographs, though the actual details were not really known to me. In their absence I had invented, I realized later, an image of the place that was quite amazing. (In my mind the playa was even larger, it was located in a different place, and it was even further into the back-country that it actually is.)
Heightening this was the fact that I had actually gotten very close to the Racetrack on one previous occasion. I was a chaperone for a large group of high school and middle school kids (who were quite experienced at this sort of thing) who were embarking on a backpack trip though from the Teakettle Junction area to (IRRC) Cottonwood Canyon. We had moved everyone up as far as Teakettle and were spending a night there before setting out on foot. But what a night! It had snowed in the surrounding mountains that day, and at night the winds were so strong that half the tents blew down. The weather was so awful that the next morning we got up and canceled the pack trip! During this time I kept thinking about the fact that out there, in a place more remote than the one in which we experienced this amazing weather, was this place called the Racetrack.
So, I had built up quite an internal myth about the place before I finally got there for the first time a few years back.
Dan
Dan… I have been enjoying your most recent trip to Death Valley – thanks for sharing. The person atop the Grandstand does indeed add some scale to this scene, and it brings back memories of the first time I witnessed this place… when alone there it is truly spooky, spectacular and a sight to behold.