Mesquite Flat Dunes, Grapevine Mountains, Death Valley National Park

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Snow this low in the Grapevine Mountains is an unusual site, but then this was an unusual time in California's Death Valley National Park. When this image was captured flooding had closed all roads in the park in addition to knocking out electric and telephone lines. The lowest barometric pressure ever recorded in the region was recorded the previous day. But it was a great day for photography so being stranded in such a place was anything but a hardship.

Distances in this vast place are truly deceiving. The sand dunes are approximately two miles away and it is about seven miles to the first ridge beyond them. The large mountains are approximately fourteen miles distant.