~ In Pursuit of Wildness: Death Valley National Park ~

After retiring from the National Park Service following a 36-year career—one that took me to many of our nation’s crown jewels, including Yellowstone, Rocky Mountain, Mount Rainier, Joshua Tree, Pinnacles, Bighorn Canyon, and Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks—I set out in search of a new kind of adventure: one found on two wheels.

Traveling light, camping along the way, and taking the backroads whenever possible, I chased wildness across Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and California.

This is one of those journeys: In Pursuit of Wildness: Death Valley National Park.

Denise Griego in a sea of wildflowers.

"Death Valley National Park is the hottest, driest, and lowest national park in America.

It's a summer day and I'm filling up my motorcycle gas tank in Baker, CA, when I asked the gas station attendant how hot it is. I'm a bit surprised when he points upwards and says, "The thermometer reads 112 degrees. It's 134 feet high, the tallest thermometer in the world." After a dramatic pause, he added, "Death Valley National Park is just that way, and it's likely to be hotter there, but so worthwhile..."

"Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt." 

- JOHN MUIR

Wildflowers lined the highway.

Wildflower touch the White Mountains.