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February 14 // 5:18PM
Kelso Dunes // Mojave Desert⠀
I drove in from the western side of the Sierras to see if I could make a few photos in the Mojave Preserve before I had to fly back to New Orleans.⠀
In the southwestern corner of the preserve the land stretches into a bowl against the mountains and over millions of years have caught the dust and sand that have blown across this stretch of desert. The dune field covers about 50 square miles and in the southeastern corner is a long, tall dune that rises above all the rest. I thought the sunset view from the top would make a great image as the colors of the desert really come out at dusk.⠀
So I set out. Hiking in sand is torturous on the calves. It wasn’t far, maybe a mile and a half, but when hiking up the great dune itself, it’s quite steep, and every step will only gain you inches once your footstep slides back down along the edge of the dune. I’m not in great shape, and my legs were burning. There was a time when I thought it might not be worth it. I stopped to assess the remaining distance. When I looked up the side of the dune, there was no vegetation, no patterns or textures. No way for me to gauge how much higher the summit might be. Just a sharp line separating the top of the dune from the sky.⠀
I almost turned back, as it was almost too late to get a shot. But, I thought about how I might feel about that decision later on, and pushed myself to keep going. Turns out, there was only about 10 or 12 feet left. About a minute later, I was standing on the top just in time to grab this shot of the beautiful dune field at dusk.⠀
There was a lesson in there somewhere.⠀
Going down was much, much easier.⠀