Photos of Death Valley Flooded with a 10-Mile Lake

I was out in Death Valley last week and was fortunate to photograph some unique scenes of the floods. A rare 10-mile-long lake formed in Death Valley after heavy rains.

From the road, one can see water, but due to the general vastness of Death Valley and the scale of the mountains and all, the body of water looks relatively small from the road even though it spans around 10 miles or so.

It was breathtaking, though! In between shooting photographs, we always steal a few seconds for ourselves and take some deep breaths out there, allowing the scene to wash over us in all its ephemeral beauty. And then we get back to taking photos, striving to make the fleeting beauty eternal, knowing that we can only ever fall short.

It took me a lot longer to hike to the edge of the lake than I had originally estimated, as again, things are often far larger and distances greater than they at first appear in Death Valley due to the vast expanses and scales we are not normally used to. Even a lake spanning ten miles can appear rather small and close. But try hiking to its edge and you will find it to be far away and vast.

About the author: Dr. Elliot McGucken is a fine art landscape and seascape photographer. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. You can find more of McGucken’s work on his website, Facebook, and Instagram.