Now that's why they call it the racetrack

Now that's why they call it the racetrack

And the winner is Carmen, the one on the left. :-)

The racetrack playa in a remote part of Death Valley is famous for it's sliding rocks. No one ever witnessed a rock move. Well here you can:
http://geosun.sjsu.edu/paula/rtp/index.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1hoiHvOeGc

So far science didn't offer an explanation for the phenomenon.
There are rumours about subterranean magnetism, wind, black ice in winter. And of course there was a theory about aliens, especially in the sixties and seventies: According to that theory, the traces in the loam were symbols created by aliens, which wanted to send us a message.

Some of these rock weigh about 300 kilos and have slided for as much as over 3 km. A number of them were monitored and given female names.
Probably because they move so gracefully. Well my that's my conclusion.

The southern part of the playa is about 5 cm lower then the northern part and it's here where most of the sliding rocks can be found.