Inferno Hike 2025

June 16, 2025

 

I pick the hottest day of the year to hike in the dunes where it is several degrees hotter than town. On this hike I returned to the area near the playa lakes. I saw formations, plants, wreckage, tracks, dunes, flats, and playa lakes.

A typical Inferno Hike is above 110F degrees (43.3C). The humidity in June is very low so it is dry desert heat. Sweat evaporates immediately providing efficient cooling. Here is an infographic about the limits of human survival in high temperatures. (link)

The sand is white because it is gypsum.

Click an image to enlarge it. Panoramas have links under them to see a full size image. Click the link then the image to enlarge it. It may appear in a new window. The image is larger than your screen. Use the scroll bars to pan.

 

Visitors Center

 

 

Playa Lake and Basin Floor

A playa lake is a shallow intermittent pond that fills when there is rain. Then the water evaporates leaving a flat surface of crusty dirt.

The floor of the basin is vast expanse of sparse desert plants. Near the dunes it is mostly flat with low shrubs and grasses. The dunes drift slowly advancing to cover more of the basin floor.

Full size panorama: Basin Panorama

Animal tracks and a den on the playa. The basin floor.

 

Full size panorama: 360 playa panorama

 

 

Entering the Dunes

The pure sand you've seen from some other hikes is deep in the dune field. Near the edges are animals, dens, plant life, and different formations. I wandered around near the edge then crossed a large flat toward the sandier places. I rested under a plant. 108F degrees (42.2C).

 

 

Formations

There are different formations near the edges of the field.

Sand castles of a darker material. Up to one foot tall (30cm).

Full size panorama: Sand Castles

A pedestal of the darker material. A pedestal that is very layered. A formation of roots.

 

This resembles coral.

 

I rested in the shade of this familiar type of pedestal. 113F degrees (45C).

 

I explored the sandy zone and found wreckage and pedestals.

Pedestals are often stabilized by roots in them. This one is within a shell of branches.

 

This big pedestal provided shade for another break. 110F degrees (43.3C).

 

 

Tracks

 The steep parts of dunes sometimes have many tracks. I think these are from lizards. 

Full size panorama: Tracks

 

 Tracks with brush strokes. A fox or squirrel? A bushy tail could have brushed the sand. A trail of oryx (gemsbok) prints has streaks. Dragging its feet? Then indistinct tracks in soft sand.

 

Tracks tell stories. Wind makes tracks too.

 

 

Wreckage

I usually find wreckage or instruments. Missiles and aircraft are tested here and pilots are trained. Pieces of things that crashed are here.

I found this group of things. Bent sheets of metal, a rail, a device with a gear, and something encrusted with sand. The sheet is a little over 2 feet long (0.6m). I wonder why one object is encrusted while the others aren't.

 

Here are detail views.

 

I found these small items nearby and piece of metal farther away.

 

Not wreckage but trash. It looks old. I wonder if this is from the time before it was government land. Ranchers may have camped here.

 

 

 

Return

 

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