The California Rocks That Move on Their Own

If you’re looking for a location that’s supposed to look like a giant puzzle, you’ll want to look at Racetrack Playa. It’s located in a very remote area of Death Valley National Park in California.

The Racetrack Playa contains a massive area of dry lakebed and mud.  The feature that draws people to this location is the rocks of various sizes that sit on the playa’s dirt. Trailing behind each of these rocks are tracks that vary in size and depth, but each appears to have been formed as the rocks journeyed across the playa.  That’s why they are also referred to as sailing stones.

A Long-Standing Mystery

For many years, people struggled to understand how these rocks created these tracks. People who went to observe the location often found tracks measuring hundreds of feet in length. The tracks could be perfectly straight or turn in another direction. No one ever saw the rocks move, yet people regularly found tracks in these locations.

The Science Of The Movement

In 2014, scientists finally discovered the reason behind the movement of these rocks. Using GPS trackers placed within rocks in the Racetrack Playa area, and by setting up a series of time-lapse cameras, scientists discovered the steps that must occur for these rocks to move across the playa.

When it rains enough to fill the playa to a depth of an inch of water, and the area freezes overnight, the ice melts the following morning. When the ice melts, it breaks into panels that move in a light breeze. These panels of ice act like a bulldozer and push the heavy rocks across the playa’s mud. Once the playa dries out, the rocks permanently etch their tracks into the mud.

The Journey Out There

Getting to Racetrack Playa requires a few hours of driving on a rough dirt road. The park recommends that vehicles have four-wheel drive. Standard rental cars have often succumbed to flat tires on this dirt road. There is no cell phone signal in the area. Thus, people must bring their own water and supplies. However, witnessing this natural phenomenon once in a lifetime is a great experience. It helps remind people that even the most bizarre natural phenomena have a brilliant scientific explanation behind them.