Superimposed Waves by courtney_meier

Ripple patterns at small scales appear etched onto the surface of much larger standing waves amid the long shadows cast by the rising sun, Mesquite Dunes, Death Valley National Park, California. The Grapevine Mountains rise off along the parched horizon. As can be seen in the middle distance, the dunes are punctuated by bright white pans of cracked, dried clay. The presence of these deposits suggests water is not far beneath the dunes, or at least was relatively close to the surface at one point in time. I delved into a USGS hydrology report on Death Valley to find out, but ran out of steam so will have to settle for speculation. I left my tent at 3:30 in the morning and wandered out to the middle of the dunes with a college friend by moonlight. When the moon finally set in the west, there was a brief window of time during which the Milky Way shone incredibly brightly. In a previous post I used some low-level lighting to try some nightscape dune compositions. Here the bright light of morning creeps over the warm folds of sand and the tracks that the night critters have left are discoverable for us diurnal folks. Though still fairly early in the morning the temperature was already rapidly climbing. Thanks for stopping by! https://flic.kr/p/27QQq1b