"What an incredible, horrible, scary, beautiful landscape… The wind picked up, my muscles gave up, I was out of water, and of all things it started to rain. I realized at that moment why this place really did deserve its name. When I finally (literally on all fours) made it back to my car, I had huge blisters that had developed from walking barefoot in the hot sand. Holy shit. Night 1 in Death Valley was here." Journal entry from my first night in Death Valley on a trip around the country.