Death Valley National Park - May ‘24

I took a Death Valley tour from Las Vegas a few years ago. I was struck by how different some of the landscapes were as all I knew before going is that it’s a desert and can get extremely hot. I went in early May which was hot but not yet unbearable for me. It can get sweltering where I live so that wasn’t a huge concern. The dryness of the desert was actually a welcome change of pace for me than the swamp feeling of Midwest summers. However, I was more than a little horrified to learn they ran the tour through the later parts of the summer as well.

I fell in love with the wildflowers I came across, the colors so vibrant against the stark goldens of the desert. Walking the salt flats, I understood how you can get lost in the desert. It’s disorienting to see how little progress you’ve made when things in the distance seem in reach. The soft pastels of Artists Palette looked like the rock had been colored with chalk and I wish I could have lingered there.

Death Valley National Park in California, United States

Season: Early May

Notable locations: Dante's View, Badwater, Artists Palette, Zabriskie Point

Kit: Images from this trip were taken with an iPhone