TRIP REPORT PHOTOS
A brand new parking area and set of interpretive signs were installed for the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes in 2010. Here is the main new sign:
One of the new signs features a snake out on the Mesquite Dunes. Yes, we have come across snakes while hiking out there in the past:
Heading out the beginning path on our hike to the highest sand peak in March 2011:
The new parking lot is off the road and safer. It has an excellent design and was nicely done:
On our hike, we found it virtually impossible to avoid getting either tourists or evidence of tourists in our pictures:
A young couple hiking back from visiting the Mesquite Dunes:
A group of tourists taking a picture with Death Valley Buttes in the background:
The heavy amount of foot traffic these dunes receive guarantees that footprints will litter any pictures that you take:
You will frequently pass designs and names drawn into the sand by children:
A youngster running through the sand to catch up with her family:
The tracks are lesser in extent the farther you get out into the dunes:
Jeremy plotting a path in between the tracks of two previous hikers:
A couple taking pictures with the parking lot in the background:
A tourist following the ridge of sand which was one over from where we were hiking:
In the next two pictures, a random tourist who was hiking caught up to us and hiked with us for a while:
A couple resting on top of the mountain of sand. Perhaps they will take the quick way down later by sliding off the edge:
Following more tracks as we headed towards the highest sand peak:
The closest we could get to seeing pure untouched sand on our journey:
Even less evidence of people, as there were only two sets of tracks visible heading for the main summit:
In the next two pictures, you can see how the main ridge heading for the summit has been trampled down by tourists. This is a standard feature of hiking out to the summit of the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes. Other dune systems in the park don't usually have this issue, which detracts from the natural beauty and destroys pictures:
The only picture I got on our hike which had no evidence of tourists. To get it, I had to zoom in on a small portion of sand patterns:
In the next two pictures, we passed by one final tourist before reaching the summit:
Jeremy and Jordan on the final path to the summit:
View from the summit of the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes looking to the east:
Looking south towards the northeastern edge of Tucki Mountain:
And one more view looking back towards the parking area and the sand hills we traversed:
Steve on the MFSD highest peak for the first time in like 8 years:
In the next three pictures, we wanted to show you some of the designs that children had made in the sand during our visit. The first picture shows Jordan inside a smiley face:
The second picture shows Steve inside a heart design:
And the third picture shows Jeremy inside a peace sign:
Here some children made a message for their mom in the sand:
And in our final picture from our March 2011 hike, we show you an interesting fort replica that some children had made from sand and twigs:
On March 8, 2012 we did a Star Wars costumes photo shoot out on the dunes. The next two pictures show outtakes from that shoot. For more information on how Star Wars is a historical part of the Mesquite Dunes, check out our Star Wars in Death Valley special page:
This picture was taken on Daria's first trip to Death Valley and first visit to the Mesquite Dunes on March 27, 2008:
Stefan on his fourth trip to Death Valley at 18 months of age on the Mesquite Dunes. This picture was taken on February 22, 2014:
My Hiking Death Valley guidebook suggested checking out a detached section of the Mesquite Dunes on Cottonwood Road:
I stopped by and took these photographs on March 24, 2008 to see if I could get some pictures without tourist tracks in the sand:
Sure enough, there was pure untouched sand here with nobody around and no tracks:
A picture of Steve on the detached section of the Mesquite Dunes:
As my goal was to get pictures of sand ripples and patterns without footprints, take note of my success in the next six pictures:
The one drawback to exploring this area of sand was that there really weren't any dunes of significant size:
But these detached dunes were still worth checking out for a short while:
The first of my classic family and friends pictures shows Dave and Alisha, two friends who were dating on this trip and are now married and living in Nebraska:
John Leidel hiking out to the high summit of the Mesquite Dunes:
In this picture, Anthony, Rob, Tiffany, and John can be spotted near the high point of the dunes:
My brother Lowell relaxing on the dunes in the early 2000s:
And finally we have my sister Annie standing on the dunes in the early 2000s:
