I left my family behind to go through the road through the Valley of Death with Foreigners

It was 3 in the morning and I was awake not only because of the cold weather, but because of a delight that stuck to me like pop rock candy.

Outside of my tent, which was thrown on the floor of the California desert Death Valley National ParkI heard a weak blow in the country. Wild horses. I grabbed the lighthouse, discouraged my tent and pulled my head outside, waiting fully to marvel at the stallion.

This is the thing about silent spaces, distant venues with so little Noise pollution That you almost feel like you have a superhero hearing.

The horses have already passed by him, so I looked at an expansive sky full of stars and planets, bright enough that I abandoned my light.

This is the feeling I was looking for – the apparently contrasting awareness of feeling that it is bitten in a great, vulnerable and exposed to the elements, at the same time, strong and at the helm of my life full of adventures.

Adventuring it on my own

Many of my own Past family holidays involved hiking and backpack. But mine Three sons are now teenagersAnd they do not have the same enthusiasm for challenging outdoor pages like me.

When I am not with my children, as an adventure writer, I travel along with other writers on media travel. This is why, during my visit to Death Valley, earlier this month, I was pleased to travel with everyday people, philosophers of simple clothes who chose and paid to go on this adventure. An adventure company, Wildland Trekking, covered the costs of my trip.

to Death Valley National ParkI made a backpack for three nights on the Canyon Cottonwood loop-a 30-mile road through steep climbs, bushes with bushes in painted canyons, rocky streams, almost invisible paths and landscapes similar to the most authentic ways.

When the day broke in that first morning in the park, the shades of massive boulders covered in a diagonal model. I shook and wrapped my objects – everything I needed and nothing I did – and I took a look.

And there they were. With raised in the mountain With horses and cowboy culture, witnessing the Equine that has lost free in the most inospitable medium-west, drier and smallest national park was a moment of grip in the throat. How rare to find the time suspended.

I found my voice and beat: “horses!” For the others, my new backpack friends who were camp nearby.

Connecting with foreigners

As a song in the country or configuration to a riddle: “A farmer from Nebraska, a assistant from Georgia and a NEST NEW NIST The couple in Colorado is walking in the country of extremes … “Foreigners from all over the country, with various environments, perspectives and lifestyles, have gathered to play in one of the most Substitute national parks in the US – together with a capable guide to drive the road.

Each decision that each of us has made in our lives until then – every path that flowed to outbursts, career changes, dramatic births, painful losses, marriages and love relationships – have joined our travels for this experience.

“Nebraska has the best tourist slogan,” I said at a camp in a morning, reminding that the parties in Nebraska join Death Valley in designating the Dark Sky Park. Knowing, my colleague Nebraskan and I submitted: “Nebraska, it is not for everyone.”

Later I learned that Nebraska’s tourist director announced the end Five -year -old tagline last yearbut clearly left an impression on both.

In the land of imposing contrasts, we protected our packs with rain covers, we provided our jackets during the wild wind over the peaks and we pulled our sun glues over our lids during the long treking stretches through infertile lands, where we were completely exposed to the sun.

Death Valley has few -maintained trails and has not been established Campsites in the wild. I saw only a few other people on the route.

After a few days of hiking on a formidable land, full of inspired wonders, such as rock walls with zebra stripes and theatrical canyons, we arrived at the end, which was also the beginning and we did it together.

I celebrated taking the longest and loughest shower in my bathroom to The Han at Death Valley. I booked the hotel for the last night before I was heading home, an old oasis from Hollywood in the desert, which once offered refuge for Marlon Brando, Clark Gable and Carole Lombard.

My phone vibrated and I saw more messages, photos with the farmer’s family, pets loved in front of a fireplace, the assistant who bandages a blister on her foot and group photos of everyone with tents in the background.

It was worth it Leave my family behind And solo backpack in the desert with a foreigner party? Honestly, it’s not for everyone.