In 2006 I began a quest to visit and hike all five of the major named sand dunes in Death Valley-- Eureka, Mesquite Flat, Ibex, Panamint, and Saline Valley. In past years, I had already made multiple visits to both the Eureka Dunes and the Mesquite Flat Dunes. During peak visitor season, there are enjoyable ranger slide programs which are held in the evenings at the Furnace Creek Visitor Center auditorium. These programs are very well put together, informative, and help teach you a lot about the park. Seeing the Ibex Sand Dunes on one of the programs inspired me to go there, so in the Spring of 2006 I took a group of seven out to see those. Then, this past January I got a chance to hike the Panamint Sand Dunes. That left only the Saline Valley Dunes left, and I finally got my chance to explore these during our recent trip. Having never been out to Saline Valley before, it was interesting taking the road out there and seeing some of the sights-- which included the Salt Lake Salt Lake and the Saline Valley Warm Springs. But as expected, I was most impressed with the Saline Valley Sand Dunes. These dunes of course are very different from the other dunes in the park, in the sense that they are smaller, whaleback dunes. They are set nearly right against the Inyo Mountain range, which makes for beautiful pictures. Also they are extremely isolated, which makes for an enjoyable, peaceful experience walking through them. After all, virtually anyone who is traveling out the Saline Valley Road this far is headed for the warm springs. We ended up camping one night near the dunes and spent a great morning there. Now that I have completed the five major named dunes, next up are the Hidden Sand Dunes northwest of the Eureka Dunes.
Finding a place to turn off the Saline Valley Sand Dunes spur road and camp for the night:
We camped at the far western end of the Saline Valley Dunes:
Somebody had vandalized this Wilderness Boundary sign, but we did our best to prop it back up:
We woke up the next morning and began the walk out to the dunes across some very easy terrain:
It isn't long before the plethora of small bushes gave way to the majestic sand dunes:
A majestic backdrop of the Inyo Mountains makes these dunes very special. Also visible is McElvoy Canyon cutting up the mountain:
What are whaleback sand dunes? One internet resource says that a whaleback dune is "a smooth, elongated mound or hill of desert sand shaped generally like a whale's back; formed by passage of a succession of longitudinal dunes along the same path. Also known as sand levee." The Saline Valley whaleback dunes are visible here:
These might be whaleback dunes, but some of the slopes are quite steep and high:
As we continued heading east across the sand dunes, we would get better views of the Inyos:
As you can see, there were no other human tracks out here:
View to the northwest. The Saline Valley Road continues driving past the dunes, as many people head for either North Pass or the warm springs:
A nice shady spot on a warm Spring morning on April 25, 2007:
Beautiful plant life coloring the landscape on the dunes:
Check out the nice patterns on the sand below this small tree:
Lowell resting on the dunes. Lowell was a big part of our Death Valley trips from 1998 to 2007. This was his first time in Saline Valley and final trip to Death Valley:
Far off in the distance you can see the Saline Valley Salt Lake in this picture, which was taken looking south:
Looking to the northeast from the Saline Valley dunes. If you look closely, in the middle of the picture you can actually see the warm springs area:
A great vantage point to see the vast dune fields looking to the southeast:
A perfect combination of beautiful sand patterns and plants:
In the next three pictures, you can see Steve in various places on the Saline Valley dunes. He had finally conquered his 5th set of sand dunes in the park:
Charlie and Lowell each conquering their second set of sand dunes (they had both done Mesquite Flat on previous trips):
To continue the hike, we had to climb this small vertical wall of sand:
Once again looking back towards the Inyos across a spectacular plateau of sand:
Lowell and Charlie calling it a day and heading back towards our camp:
The Saline Valley dunes actually had quite a few spectacular spots to get pictures:
One final picture before saying goodbye and heading on to the springs: