Dune Top - Death Valley National Park, California

Mesquite Dunes, Death Valley National Park, California

Last week I posted a photo of the highest dune in Mesquite Dunes at sunrise. I knew as soon as I saw it that I wanted to climb to the very top of the dune before I left that morning. So off I went toward that dune very slowly (slow is the key word as walking in the sand is never fast). Along the way, I ran into fellow photographer and great friend, Jaki Good Miller. She asked where I was going and I told here that as soon as I saw the height of that dune, I was going to stand on top of it. Of course, Jaki said she had that same thought, so off we went trudging though the sand. 

Let me tell you, climbing to the top of that dune was no easy feat. Every step you would take up the steep incline, you seemed to sink backwards three quarters of a step. I even tried running up (I must have looked like one of those cartoon characters) but it did not really make any difference. I was determined to make it and, if I didn't walk five miles a day, I am not sure I would have. Jaki, on the other hand, was an All-American athlete, but she was hampered with a bad foot. I made it up first and her first words after taking my photo was, I don't think I can make it. I knew that she would not let me stand there alone (she is quite competitive) and allow the old guy to beat her there. Minutes later she was standing next to me.

This photo shows the view looking down along the dune's ridge line. The photo below was taken by Rad Alzyoud with his very long lens of Jaki capturing my photo before her climb to the top,