Death Valley Photo Shoot
On a Wednesday October 16th I noticed a post from my good friend and incredible race director Luis Escobar asking for a couple suckers, I mean volunteers to drive out to Death Valley a few days later on the 18th for a photo shoot for some upcoming projects he’s working on. I quickly checked my schedule and realized I was available and managed to talk my wife into letting me take my year and a half old daughter Kalea with me for the trip to the desert. I reached out to Luis and asked if he could also take some photos of me on the bike and he said that would work out so we were set to go!
Friday morning I woke up just after 2am and got our stuff together, loaded up my Bacchetta Peslo on the rack and packed Kalea as quickly as possible into her car seat, gave her a bottle and a blanket and she was quickly back to sleep for the 3+ hour ride to Death Valley. I brought two cups of coffee with me for the trip and listened to some audio books and music to pass the time. The drive was pretty uneventful except for the wind as we passed through Mohave on the way to Death Valley on the way out.
We arrived in the valley just before sunrise and I took a few minutes to pull over to the side of the road and look up at the countless stars above so vivid and say “wow” over and over with Kalea who had just woken up. We then headed to Golden Canyon Zabriskie point where we had our first camera shoot with the group. We spent about 2 hours there walking the canyon and capturing the beauty and textures of the Death Valley terrain.
From there we drove to the low point of the Valley at Badwater Basin 282 feet below sea level. Kalea fell asleep in the car so I packed her in the trusty BOB stroller, and we went out to take photos on the ridged lines of the salty flats with the group of just over half a dozen of us fellow runners. There was quite a bit of humor attempting to run across the varied terrain and you quickly realize how deceptive it is and treacherous it could turn, especially in the summer. From there we drove to lunch at Stovepipe Wells and took some cycling photos in the valley between the two major climbs.
After lunch we went onto a location near the Mt. Whitney Portal. It was about an hour in a half drive which Kalea slept through almost the entirety of it. We had the blessing of running into Badwater Ben Jones in Lone Pine and got to hear a few stories and take some photos. Up near the portal we took some additional cycling photos and set up camp in the hills. It was a great time catching up with the small group of friends and Kalea and I stayed around the camp until just before dark and then hit the road back to Los Angeles.
The drive went as smoothly as possible filled with coffee a sleeping baby in the back and I even took a quick break to grab a soft serve cone at a fast food restaurant to get me through the journey. We returned home the same day we had left with some incredible stories, good photos and a very successful father daughter outing!
