Panamint Valley, Wash. Death Valley National Park, California. April 7, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A large desert wash curves towards the Panamint Valley

I always associate this view, of this canyon and the valley and mountains beyond, with leaving Death Valley. For many years I always access the park via the road up from Ridgecrest that passes through the desolate town of Trona, coming up the Panamint Valley before entering the park, either over Towne Pass or via Emigrant Pass and Wildrose Canyon. At some point I decided to take what I later determined to be the route favored by many other visitors, route 190 across to highway 395 at Olancha near the dry desolation of Owens Lake.

This view lies along that route. Shortly after leaving Panamint Valley the road passes up a bit of a canyon, crosses a ridge, and then tracks along the slopes paralleling this wash that runs out into Panamint Valley. The wash itself has a beautiful quality, curving gracefully around toward its arrival in the larger valley between the two dark, rounded hills. Across the Panamint Valley, at the base of the far mountains, there are sandy stretches which develop into full-blown dunes just a bit to the left of the area shown in the photograph. On this morning a weather from was coming in, producing some dramatic clouds above the Panamint Range.

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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