Racetrack Valley: Enigma of Land and Sky

摘要

Tiny, isolated, and guarded by nigged terrain and limited access routes, the California desert's Racetrack Valley has drawn tremendous interest for decades, due primarily to an incredibly rare natural phenomenon on display there. Those few who attempt the journey travel over 20 miles from paved road to the north of the desert alcove at the head of Racetrack Valley Road, a winding, often "washboard"-surfaced, single-lane trail that traverses stands of animated Joshua trees, grants views into the "bones" of the planet's geology through windows of bare rock slopes, and provides a jostling ride with few, if any, other visitors. After sometimes hours of travel, the opening vista of the valley emerges. Towered over by the dark, fang-like Ubehebe Peak (pronounced "oo-bee-hee-bee") and ringed by tortuous geologic strata, a pale-ocher dry lake bed, or playa-the Racetrack itself-visually anchors the scene, its view often rippled by the quivering effects of a mirage.