This past Wednesday (March 31), I headed out to Zabriskie Point before sunrise expecting the usual gaggle of photogs jousting for space on the bluff. To begin with, I overshot the turnout by a mile before I realized I had to make a U-turn. The reason I missed it (other than the darkness) was that there was not a single car in the parking lot. I set up my tripod and waited. 5-7 minutes before the first rays lit up the top rim of the Panamints, one guy showed up. It was just the two of us on the bluff - this in what is supposed to be among the busiest weeks in Death Valley. Later that afternoon, we had a marvelous rainstorm.