Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes

Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes, Death Valley’s most visible, best known, and easiest to access dunes, lie between Towne Pass on the west and Daylight Pass to the east; there’s quite a sand-laden draft between the two passes. The 14-square mile field of dunes has long been a favorite of park visitors and of filmmakers.

And for good reason. The dunes rise and fall in elegant curves, highlighted at dawn and dusk when the low desert light sculpts them into waves of gold, bronze, and shadow. They’re a landscape photographer’s dream, a movie location scout’s standby, and – let’s be honest – a giant sandbox for everyone else. If you’ve seen Lawrence of Arabia or Star Wars, odds are you’ve glimpsed these very dunes standing in as exotic desert locales.

Death Valley’s dunes are formed in much the same way as those mega-dunes in the Middle East or North Africa. What nature needs to form dunes is simple: a source of sand, wind to separate the sand from gravel, more wind to roll the sand along into drifts, and still more wind, perhaps in the form of a backdraft, to keep the dunes in place. Supplying sand to the Mesquite Flat Dunes are the Cottonwood Mountains, located to the north and northwest of the dunes.

The dunes are named for the mesquite trees that grow in scattered thickets, roots deep enough to tap hidden water. The trees provide shade for kit foxes, kangaroo rats, and the occasional hiker pretending they’ve discovered an oasis. Many of the mesquite skeletons, bleached and twisted by the sun, look like natural desert sculptures.

The Mesquite Flat Dunes system includes three types of dunes: star-shaped, linear and crescent-shaped. The sand dunes are actually tiny pieces of rock, most of them fragments of quartz and feldspar. As you hike the dunes, notice blow sand (loose, very fine particles) piled on the leeward side of plants; these piles are known as sand shadows. Stands of creosote bush and the occasional mesquite cling to life on the dunes.

While the dunes only rise about 100 feet (mere foothills compared to the 700-foot Eureka Dunes), they stretch for miles across the valley floor. Their accessibility is what makes them irresistible: no long dirt road, no tough slog through the desert, just pull into the parking lot, step out, and you’re in a dreamscape of ridges and shadows. This is dune climbing for the everyman, which partly explains the parade of visitors hiking them in sneakers, flip-flops, and – on one memorable afternoon I observed – business shoes.

Hiking the dunes is most fun in the cooler morning and late afternoon hours. At these hours, the dunes are at their most photogenic, too; the light is softer, the shadows longer Despite the crowds, solitude can be had. The trick is simple: walk farther than half a mile. Most visitors won’t. Soon you’re surrounded by silence, the crunch of sand underfoot, and nothing but dunes marching to the horizon.