Deserts

The last thing these places are is empty.

Dust storm.

Dust storm.

Walking through a dust storm. Any desert. Just don't plan on breathing or seeing.

San Andreas Fault.

San Andreas Fault.

This is one place where you can lay your life on the line. Wallace Creek, San Andreas Fault, California.

Stone cairn.

Stone cairn.

Most of the time you are supposed to have a permit to climb into 'The Zone of Devastation.' Not so if you are building a memorial. Mt. St. Hellens, Washington.

The Olgas, Australia.

The Olgas, Australia.

Near dawn, in The Great Red Center. The distant stones can even speak to white people. The Olgas (Kata Juta) Northern Territory, Australia.

Truck tracks on Searles lake.

Truck tracks on Searles lake.

Mineral mining makes some off road tracks on the playa lake. The tracks will be there for centuries. On the way to Death Valley, California.

Failed subdivision.

Failed subdivision.

At the edge of every Interstate is a developer's dream gone wrong. Just off the I-10. Someplace in Southeastern California.

The single track.

The single track.

You never really cross a desert, you just keep moving and hope whatever went before you knew more than you. Mojave, California.

A sand storm at the pyramids.

A sand storm at the pyramids.

عاصفة رملية easifat ramalia or sandstorm is the only kind of storm that ever happens at the edge of the Sahara. Giza, Egypt.

Nice indians.

Nice indians.

Pay attention or you might miss seeing the real people here. Navajo Nation, Arizona.

The Middle distance.

The Middle distance.

That rock on the Playa could be a mile away, it could be ten. California.

A stone pen for the sheep pen in the high Andes.

A stone pen for the sheep pen in the high Andes.

At this at over 15,000 feet altitude, raising sheep is either supreme folly or the only thing you can do. Peru.

Solo stone.

Solo stone.

Brahma and Santa Gertrudis cattle can survive out here but just barely. This is the land of the Coyote and the Tarantula. Carrizo Plain, California.

Dessicated and eroded bumps.

Dessicated and eroded bumps.

Just over the hills from the Naval Petroleum Reserve. Who would have known? Elkhorn Plain, California.

Monument Valley one bird.

Monument Valley one bird.

Now the trick is to know if this is a raven or a vulture. Iif he can soar here, it might not matter. Monument Valley, Arizona.

Snow on a volcano.

Snow on a volcano.

They call this kind of snow Penitentes because the points resemble people kneeling. Not much to ski on. Mauna Kea, Hawaii.

Salt works.

Salt works.

The people working these salt pans have been doing it for generations with one little trickle of volcanic water and sweat. Salinas, Peru.

Walled compound Argentina.

Walled compound Argentina.

When you come this far, this hard, you have to be running from something, and you have help. Lawyers, guns and money. Argentina

My best understanding of Nevada.

My best understanding of Nevada.

No one has ever understood rural Nevada.This is where 'fly over country' was invented. Beautiful and impossible.

Death Valley dunes.

Death Valley dunes.

No matter how many times this place is photographed it still has the power to retain freshness. Death Valley, California

Phoenix.

Phoenix.

Who would have thought it would come to this? Phoenix, AZ

Two migrating stones.

Two migrating stones.

In order to get here you need som Bach, Jack Daniels and a good set of shocks. Racetrack, California

Double wide.

Double wide.

What comes to the desert, stays in the desert. Even when things don't quite matchup. Trona, California

Tourist walking in dirt.  Chan Chan,  Peru

Tourist walking in dirt. Chan Chan, Peru

Thank goodness for those yellow rocks. Chan Chan, Peru

A great and vast nothing.

A great and vast nothing.

Aerial view of the driest part of the Peruvian Andes.

Deserts

Vast, arid and lonely. We are going to see a lot more of this in the future.