Death Valley.

Golden Canyon, Death Valley.

Wagon brake.

Fire mountain, on the way to Death Valley.

Golden Canyon, Death Valley.

Artist’s Drive, Death Valley.

Bad Water, Death Valley.

Coyote crossing.

Dry.

There is a reason they call it the Mustard Canyon.

Sunrise, Death Valley.

First light near Death Valley.

Lone biker in Death Valley.

Well…. that is until a ran into a few more later. When I was there in December, the day time temperature was in the 70s, not the hellish  condition you would imagine.

There I was, driving fast trying to get to what I expected was some kind of gate or entrance to the National Park. But no, nothing. Instead, my GPS tells me I have just passed the Western Park entrance. Then the music came up on my iPod, I had left it on random play. It was the very ominous sounding Beethoven Symphony No.5. 

The roads starts to narrow, and all the sudden this view appears in front of me. It startled me. If you were there, you felt like you are looking at a view that is almost 100 miles wide, and it felt like I was about to descend into hell. It was both alluring and spine tingling. I had to get out of the car and admire this place, and I would end up doing this over and over for the rest of the day.

Is this what Mars would have looked like?