After our poor weather at Badwater on Saturday morning, we recovered, and headed to the extreme southeast corner of Death Valley to visit Ibex Dunes.  I’ve wanted to visit Ibex for nearly a year, and was happy to get the chance to make it down there.  I like Ibex for several reasons: it is secluded so solitude is nearly a guarantee, the dunes are taller than those at Stovepipe Wells, so they give some alternative choices for composition, and they are on the way home, so stopping there to camp makes the drive home a little shorter.

As I said in my last post, bad weather can either make for stubborn or amazing light.   The latter was definitely the case on our visit to Ibex.  When we arrived, the sun was behind a thick cloud bank, and I was afraid that would be telling of our entire visit.  However, in the final 15 minutes before sunset, the sun peeked out and lit the dunes and the mountains behind them brilliantly.  The warm tones of the earth contrasted amazingly well with the stormy skies, thus making it one of the best sunset shoots I’ve had in quite some time…possibly ever.  However, the light only lasted about 15 minutes, and we made the 1 mile walk back to the car.

Ibex Dunes and the Saddle Peak Hills, Death Valley National Park, February 2010

The great thing about Death Valley is that you never know what the day has in store for you!

"Self Portrait", Death Valley National Park, February 2010

To see all of my Death Valley photos, click here.