Candice Burt: Trail Running in Death Valley

I always like to take a little time to do some yoga. i find it gives me a better feeling for the area. Sound odd? Try it!

Death Valley: definitely a must do trail running adventure for those that enjoy the heat. In late March it was perfect temps, 90 degrees with a slight breeze. I picked up the National Geographic Death Valley map (foreshadowing???) a few days before at a map-shopping spree in Las Vegas (that's about as exciting as my party-in-vegas gets). Glad I did because as far as I could tell from the trails I ran on, they were more of a rocky wash that followed the contours of the land toward the pass than actual trails. I was able to use the map to discover which contours and mountains to run around, over, and past.

I imagine that to a child who has never seen the desert, Death Valley would be a sort of low saturation, almost black-and-white dreamscape of the moon. I loved every minute of my adventure. A big thank you to my intuition for giving me the heads up! After leaving the park it was as though I was energized from head to toe with something powerful and deep, did I tap into the energy of the land? The rocks were really incredible. Truly the whole area had a kind of intense otherworldly feel and doing yoga on top of one of the highest points in the valley was cathartic.

If you watch the video I will explain how I happened to find myself in Death Valley on a side trip running some trails playing hooky from a day of rock climbing clinics at Red Rock Canyon, Las Vegas. In short, I was unable to resist the adventure when I saw the sign for the park. Sometimes adventure beckons and the best thing to do is to allow it to seduce you. Enjoy the pics and let the mountains, the desert, the forest all beckon you to explore their earthy bodies.

For more on the park, see the NPS website: Death Valley