My buddy Scott was having a birthday weekend and invited me to Death Valley for a couple nights of camping. It was kinda fun to just be a tourist and sight-see, rather than exhaust ourselves with all the canyoneering options. We explored the Ubehebe Crater as well as the Race Track, the place where rocks leave tracks, appearing like they move on their own. It was interesting to learn that scientists had not really figured out how the rocks made the tracks until 2014. After utilizing GPS and timelapse they learned that when it rains and then gets very cold, an ice sheet forms and then breaks up and helps push along the rocks with an assist from the high winds. It was fun to walk around that vast and desolate playa and discover all sorts of rocks, big and small, and think about the journeys they have been on for hundreds or thousands of years. Deserts don’t always get the same love that mountains or beaches get, but they hold their own special kind of magic. The only downside for this area is the annoying buzzing of F-16 jets, one of which did a real close fly by when we were there.
