Winter Desert Evening

Winter Desert Evening
Evening quiet comes to a wide desert valley in the northern reaches of Death Valley National Park.

Winter Desert Evening. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening quiet comes to a wide desert valley in the northern reaches of Death Valley National Park.

Mostly this scene brings back a memory of utter silence and solitude at the end of a day that had been quite full. I had started far away in a very different part of Death Valley National park, photographing in locations where there were quite a few other people. In the late morning I broke camp and headed north, eventually driving many miles on a long gravel road, over some hills, and out on another road across flats to arrive at this place. There were a few people there when I arrived, but they soon departed.

So I had this entire immense valley to myself for the evening, the night, and the following early morning. I wandered slowly, making photographs along the edge of dunes, until the sun set. I continued photographing as the light became soft and everything became utterly still.


G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

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