Work Hard, Play Hard

As Subaru/Leave No Trace Traveling Trainers, we live by the motto work hard, play hard. This week we put that idea to the test. After spending multiple working at the NAI National Conference in Las Vegas, we escaped the bright lights and big city as we traveled west to Death Valley National Park.

Long before we started working for Leave No Trace, we made it our personal mission to get to all of the 58 National Parks in this country. Death Valley marked park #44! This park is chock full of extraordinary features- from craters to castles, sand dunes to towering mountains, and the lowest point in The United States(282 ft below sea level!).

With the full moon as our guide, we took to the sand dunes for a night hike and it was surreal! We did not see another person as we walked around the majestic dunes, stopping to smell the creosote that grows abundantly in this vast landscape. This park is truly amazing, especially if you can get here in the fall or winter, when the weather is perfect!

We have two remaining National Parks to explore in the continental United States. Hopefully we will get to visit Voyaguers and Isle Royal in 2011. Until then…

Happy Adventuring- Kate & Tracy