desert views

dear diary,

we really did it, got up at 4am, and drove to death valley to catch the sunrise in the desert. and it was well worth it. part of it was that we didn’t want to get grilled in the sometimes 130-degree (55 celsius) heat that takes over most of the place that is a few hundred feet below sea level. the views we caught were amazing. the valley is this piece of land between two ranges of mountains, that trap the heat. all that is left is sand dunes and salty planes.

on both sides, the road climbes through these ranges, and allow for a numbing views down into the valley. we hit the famous zabriskie point, then put the car to a brutal test, and drove it through the 20 mule team canyon on a dirt road, and finally drove it up to dante’s view, a 5475 foot (1600m) elevation, which ended in a 15% climb. i thought the drive was amazing, but the car didn’t, based on the sounds in made.



the valley deserves its name. when you’re there, you wonder when your car is going to break down, and you survive that moment only by a few hours thanks to dehydration and the crazy heat. but it is exactly these feelings that give the valley a haunting characteristic. it makes you shut up and just gaze. for example, we’ve never experienced silence in this form before. the moments before the sun came up, there was NO sound to be heard.










later that day, when we thought we’ve seen enough canyons, rocks and valleys, we crossed zion national park, where we didn’t have any time for hanging out, just passed through. this brief visit made us reconsider our earlier judgment on canyons, rocks and valleys. in the southwest, every time you arrive into another desert, it has a totally different characteristic. the plants, the texture of the soil, the light and also the colors keep changing. so we are looking forward to the upcoming days, which will include plenty of more desert to be explored.