My race on Racetrack Playa

During my visit to Racetrack Playa, I scored a personal best of 500 steps with my eyes closed. The gps track between the last two waypoints is the proof. I walked for so long that I officially completed a circle while having no idea that I was walking in circle. Sweet! It is extremely weird to walk that many steps with closed eyes...try it! Note: works best on playas.

For more on this see:

http://froth.posterous.com/1102080

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Large desiccation polygons, Winnemucca (dry) Lake, Nevada

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A lot of great desert geomorph in this shot I took while flying to the
Owyhee. The cracks are the scene stealer, but the shorelines and fresh
fan-spewage are also cool.

This playa was actually a lake as recently as 1912. It was the right
arm of Pyramid Lake in a sense. Before the urgent national need for
growing stuff in the desert took hold, the Truckee River bifurcated
and filled two basins at its terminus. Ahh, manifest destiny. Once the
river was diverted to grow melons and such, the smaller lake dried up.