First time visitors to Death Valley come away impressed with its sand dunes, the salt flats at Badwater, and the badlands at Zabriskie, to which I say: fair. But seasoned visitors to Death Valley know that the real magic is in the canyons. Sarah and I have hiked 90-something canyons, in all ranges in the park, and find them endlessly fascinating. They are little jewels waiting to be discovered and explored. If you drive along the highway and spot a canyon 1, 2, 5, or even 15 miles in the distance, there's nothing stopping you from heading out and exploring it (well maybe 120 degree temperatures and some of the worst hiking terrain imaginable - and only one of those things can be mitigated by visiting when we do, in the winter and early spring). Many of the photos in my rock abstracts gallery were also taken in the canyons of Death Valley.
