“Desert Gold and Desert Five-Spot” — Desert gold and desert five-spot flowers, Death Valley.

This photograph features two rather different Death Valley flowers. The bright yellow desert gold flowers cover gravel benches and fans after wet winter seasons. They were all over the place when we visited in late February this year. The desert five-sot is not an uncommon flower, though it isn’t seen in anything close to the numbers of the desert gold. It is also less obvious due to its smaller blossoms and darker color…more: https://gdanmitchell.com/2026/04/12/desert-gold-and-desert-five-spot/

#deathvalley #wildflowers #photo #photography #photoOfTheDay #lensCulture #landscapePhotography #photographyLovers #naturePhotography #fineArtPhotography #nature

“Badwater Basin to Telescope Peak” — Telescope Peak and the Panamint Range, seen from the shoreline of Lake Manly in Badwater Basin.
There are a few unusual things in this Death Valley photograph featuring Telescope Peak. Superficially, snow at Death Valley might seem unusual, but while it is at lower elevations that usual, these peaks are often snow-capped in winter. More unusual is the band of water at the bottom of the frame — that’s Lake Manly, which may temporarily form in Badwater Basin during wet years. The photograph includes the lowest elevation in the park (Badwater Basin) and its highest (Telescope Peak.)…more: https://gdanmitchell.com/2026/04/11/badwater-basin-to-telescope-peak/

#deathvalley #photo #photography #photoOfTheDay #lensCulture #landscapePhotography #photographyLovers #naturePhotography #fineArtPhotography #nature

“Fields of Desert Gold” — Fields of desert gold flowers and desert mountains, Death Valley.

Forgive me for sharing yet another photograph featuring fields of desert gold flowers, but they appeared in impressive numbers in Death Valley in late February. This is usually a dry and generally beige landscape (with some exceptions) but these flowers turned gravel fans and some hills yellow all over the valley…more: https://gdanmitchell.com/2026/04/10/fields-of-desert-gold/

#deathvalley #wildflowers #photo #photography #photoOfTheDay #lensCulture #landscapePhotography #photographyLovers #naturePhotography #fineArtPhotography #nature

“Salt Creek, Sunrise” — Salt Creek flows past low hills and toward salt flats, Death VAlley.

Salt Creek is a remarkable place, a perpetually flowing creek in the middle of the hottest place on earth and the home to thousands of endangered pupfish. But I’ve also found it to be a pretty difficult place to photograph. Light is challenging, especially late in the day, when tall mountains block the light. But I return and keep working at it!…more: https://gdanmitchell.com/2026/04/08/salt-creek-sunrise/

#deathvalley #photo #photography #photoOfTheDay #lensCulture #landscapePhotography #photographyLovers #naturePhotography #fineArtPhotography #nature

“Desert Gold, Snow-Capped Peaks” — Desert Gold flowers bloom with snow-capped desert mountains in the distance.

This photograph epitomizes the extraordinary diversity of Death Valley National Park. It includes two subjects that might surprise those unfamiliar with the place — wildflowers and snow. Because it is known as the place registering the world’s highest recorded temperature, many imagine it to be a place of sand dunes and barren salt playas. Those are part to its landscape, but they are far from the “all of it.”…https://gdanmitchell.com/2026/04/07/desert-gold-snow-capped-peaks/

#deathvalley #wildflowers #photo #photography #photoOfTheDay #lensCulture #landscapePhotography #photographyLovers #naturePhotography #fineArtPhotography #nature

So close you can reach out and touch them, those points of light that show the way, to "Where We're Going".

Captured one winter's night at Badwater Basin.

#art #photography #stars #nightsky #skyscape #sky #BadwaterBasin #DeathValley #desert #AmericanWest #California #DesertSouthwest #space

“Desert Gold Field” — Late afternoon light on field of desert gold wildflowers in southern Death Valley.

A day or two ago I thought that I was finished with the photographs from our late-February visit to Death Valley. But I decided to make another pass at the raw files from the trip, and I found a few more photographs that I think help fill out the story of this trip. (Update: Since I wrote that I have found even more!) The highlights — and my primary photographic targets — were the exceptional wildflower bloom and Lake Manly. Here’s another of the wildflower photographs, one which illustrates the extent of some of the larger fields of color…more: https://gdanmitchell.com/2026/04/06/desert-gold-field/

#deathvalley #wildflowers #photo #photography #photoOfTheDay #lensCulture #landscapePhotography #photographyLovers #naturePhotography #fineArtPhotography #nature

Ripple marks in Death Valley.
Furnace Creek formation. Golden Canyon just below Manly Beacon.

How did this form?

1) About 9 million years ago during the Miocene-Pliocene, there was a big deep lake here. It was dry, but mot as dry as current Death Valley.

2) Muds, silts, sands, and volcanic tuffs were deposited in the lake building up a thick sequence of layers.

3) Nearby rhyolite got altered by hrdrothermal activity.

And then...

#Geology
#DeathValley

A #botanist searches for the #seeds of the rare #DeathValleySage

April 2, 2026

"For more than 15 years, botanist Naomi Fraga of the #CaliforniaBotanicGarden has been trying to collect seeds from the rare Death Valley sage, for safekeeping in a vault of native California seeds. Each time, she's come home empty handed. But this year, with the desert in the midst of a big bloom, she's trying again.

" 'It's a little bit of a gamble,' she says. 'But, you know, the plant's having a really good year. I feel hopeful.' "

Read more:
https://www.npr.org/sections/the-picture-show/2026/04/01/nx-s1-5749446/botanist-search-seeds-rare-death-valley-sage

#SolarPunkSunday #California #RarePlants #SeedVaults #SeedSaving #RareSeeds #DesertBloom #DeathValley #SuperBloom #PlantPreservation

The most uninhabitable shirt-sleeve environment in the solar system...and you don't have to go as far as Artemis II to visit it. In fact, it's within a day's drive of Los Angeles. But beware: you might not come out the same as you went in.

Taken where the vibes begin, in the Panamint Valley: "Leave Behind Life".

#art #photography #landscape #sublimelandscape #DeathValley #AmericanWest #desert #California #road #roadway #highway #roadtrip