Racetrack Playa: The Sailing Stones of Death Valley — Solved at Last

Sailing stones and their tracks on Racetrack Playa, Death Valley, photographed 20 December 2013

About 4 min readFor decades, rocks at Racetrack Playa in Death Valley moved across the dry lake bed leaving long trails, and no one had ever seen them move. In the winter of 2013–14, scientists finally watched it happen — and the answer was thin ice and a light wind.