Buttes, Evening Light. Death Valley National Park, California. April 3, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening light into Blackwater Wash illuminates buttes above Death Valley

These buttes or hills have fascinated me for a long time. They project out of the gigantic gravel fields of the alluvial fan at the base of the Panamint Mountains known as Blackwater Wash. They are visible from the floor of Death Valley, across its wide expanse to the west, often partially obscured by haze late in the day. From a few high points in the Panamint range they are also visible from above, often poking up above ridges or framed by v-shaped canyons.

I made this photograph from one of those higher positions, a location along the summit ridge of the Panamint Mountains that provides views in all directions, including down into Death Valley itself. This time I was there near the end of the day, as haze filled the valley and the last sunlight of the day came over the summit of the mountain range, casting beams of light down into the canyon and lighting these hills.

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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