TRIP REPORT PHOTOS
This first picture shows the Saline Valley Sand Dunes spur road where we camped for the night:
We camped at the far western end of the Saline Valley Dunes:
Somebody had vandalized this Wilderness Boundary sign, but we did our best to prop it back up:
We woke up the next morning and began the walk out to the dunes across some very easy terrain:
It wasn't long before the plethora of small bushes gave way to the majestic sand dunes:
A majestic backdrop of the Inyo Mountains makes these dunes very special. Also visible is a small portion of McElvoy Canyon:
These might be whaleback dunes, but some of the slopes are quite steep and high:
As we continued heading east across the sand dunes, we would get better views of the Inyos:
As you can see, there were no other human tracks out here:
View to the northwest. The Saline Valley Road continues driving past the dunes, as many people head for either North Pass or the warm springs:
As our visit was in late April, it was already getting hot in the park and we appreciated shady spots:
What are whaleback sand dunes? One dictionary says that a whaleback dune is "a smooth, elongated mound or hill of desert sand shaped generally like a whale's back; formed by passage of a succession of longitudinal dunes along the same path." The Saline Valley whaleback dunes are visible here:
Beautiful plant life coloring the landscape on the dunes:
Check out the nice patterns on the sand below this small tree:
Lowell resting on the dunes. Lowell was a big part of our Death Valley trips from 1998 to 2007. This was his first time in Saline Valley and final trip to Death Valley:
Far off in the distance you can see the Saline Valley Salt Lake in this picture, which was taken looking south:
Looking to the northeast from the Saline Valley dunes. If you look closely, in the middle of the picture you can actually see the warm springs area:
A great vantage point to see the vast dune fields looking to the southeast:
A perfect combination of beautiful sand patterns and plants:
In the next three pictures, you can see Steve in various places on the Saline Valley dunes. He had finally conquered his 5th set of sand dunes in the park:
Charlie and Lowell each conquering their second set of sand dunes (they had both done Mesquite Flat on previous trips):
To continue the hike, we had to climb this small vertical wall of sand:
Once again looking back towards the Inyos across a spectacular plateau of sand:
Lowell and Charlie calling it a day and heading back towards our camp:
The Saline Valley dunes actually had quite a few spectacular spots to get pictures:
One final picture before saying goodbye and heading on to explore more of Saline Valley:
