After a week break for the July 4 holiday, our newest Name That Photo challenge is here and goes out to all our fans and followers in southern California. Do you know where the above photo was taken? [See the photo full screen]

Email your best guesses to photo@hikerly.com by Tuesday, July 17 July 24. I’ll post a few more hints between now and then if you aren’t sure.

The first hint: It’s a national park in southern California.

Second hint added 7/16: It’s located within the Mojave Desert.

Third hint added 7/17: The hottest, driest and lowest spot in North America is within this park.

The prize: Hikerly fame. I’ll be keeping a very unscientific leaderboard with points awarded for accuracy, sense of humor and anything else I think deserves credit, and when we’re all done, the person who has the most points will be honored on hikerly.com and get my personal adoration. What more could you want? Here’s the latest leaderboard.

Check out previous “Name That Photo” challenges.

The Answer (posted July 17, 2012) Hyker Girl got the answer right this time (10 points earned), although our fan kEN tried to trick us with the made up “Cucamonga National Park.” We thought he might have meant Cucamonga Peak in SoCal; giving him a point creative response.

The photo is from Death Valley National Park, taken at the end of a backpacking trip into Gold Valley. Despite its name, Death Valley can be amazingly full of life. This wildflower photo on Facebook was actually taken on the very same trip. Congrats to Hyker Girl!

Here’s the latest leaderboard.