The Racetrack

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
Ralph Waldo Emerson


Racetrack, Death Valley, CA

In the middle of nowhere, not too far from this place is a mysterious and desolate playa called The Racetrack. In the barren "wasteland" of Death Valley National Park, lies features that only the forces of nature themselves could conjure.



One theory explains that once in a great while, during a summer thunderstorm or a windy winter storm, the conditions are just right for the sliding of rocks across a slick, slimy film of lake bed clay. The rocks are pushed along by wind in sometimes shifting directions, leaving a smoothed path etched in the earth behind them. No human has ever witnessed the phenomenon, thus creating controversy as to how it could happen.



A visitor to this playa may sense a feeling of isolation resulting purely from the challenge of getting there.