Camped At The End Of The Road
by Joe Schofield
Title
Camped At The End Of The Road
Artist
Joe Schofield
Medium
Photograph
Description
A solo red SUV camped at Homestake Dry Camp - The Racetrack Playa, Death Valley, CA.
March 2009. I shot this image of my rented SUV from the vantage point of the abandoned Lippincott mine, high above the playa. The Racetrack Playa is 3608 feet (1130 m) above sea level, and 2.8 miles (4.5 km) long (north-south) by 1.3 miles (2 km) wide (east-west). It is also exceptionally flat and level with the northern end being only 1.5 inches (4 cm) higher than the southern. The highest point surrounding it is 5,678 feet (1731 m) high Ubehebe Peak, rising 1970 feet (571 m) above the lakebed 0.85 mile (1.37 km) to the west.
The playa is in the small Racetrack Valley endorheic basin between the Cottonwood Mountains on the east and Nelson Range to the west. During periods of heavy rain, water washes down from the mountains into the playa, forming a shallow, short-lived endorheic lake. Under the hot desert sun the thin veneer of water quickly evaporates leaving behind a surface layer of soft slick mud. As the mud dries it shrinks and cracks into a mosaic pattern of interlocking polygons.
The shape of the shallow hydrocarbon lake Ontario Lacus on Saturn's moon Titan has been compared to that of Racetrack Playa.
Gosh …posted this 10 years ago. It flies. I’ve been back to that “racetrack” several times now, and in a better suited vehicle. The high desert. Vast.
Uploaded
May 7th, 2012
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