This is The Racetrack in Death Valley. It is my favourite place because it is literally in the middle of nowhere!

It requires a three-hour journey down a dirt road to get to after you get to the end of one of the paved roads in Death Valley, California.

The Racetrack is a huge oval mudflat with an igneous inselberg sticking up out of the north end. These volcanic rocks that jut up above the flat plain are called The Grandstand. The picture is taken from The Grandstand looking southeast.

The playa is so flat and barren that I closed my eyes and walked for 60 seconds on it and didn't run into anything or trip over anything. That was a strange experience.

Needless to say, not many people get out there. Those who do come for only one of two reasons: to climb Mt. Ubehebe (I've seen one person do that), or to see The Rocks That Move.

All the people I saw who come to see The Rocks That Move park near The Grandstand, walk around The Grandstand, and never get to see what they just endured three hours of bone-jarring road to come and see.

To see The Rocks That Move, they would had to have to hiked all the way out to the end of the mudflat towards the right side of this photo.

© 1995  Hippotaur