Layers - Death Valley National Park, California

Zabriskie Point, Death Valley National Park, California

Last week was my first visit to Death Valley National Park. It has long been on my bucket list, and it being a National Park is always a bonus. The one thing that surprised me was the presence of lots of mountains. There are two mountain ranges that create the valley -- The Amargosa Range to the east and the Panamint Range to the west. Both ranges are quite long in length, measuring 100-110 miles. That makes a mountain-loving visitor like me very happy. Perhaps the most famous viewpoint of the Amargosa Mountains is the view from Zabriskie Point. Every sunrise you can find lots of photographers lined up waiting to see the rising sun gradually lighting up the landscape. 

The viewpoint is often photographed from above, which is what I did on both mornings that I visited. The second morning, I decided to hike down lower to get a different perspective of the rock formations. This is where I captured this photo. I really liked this composition as it showed different layers, including the shadowed foreground and the Amargosa Range in the background. The formation that looks like a shark's fin is named Manly Beacon after the man who searched for help to save his fellow prospectors during the Gold Rush of 1849.