Big Sur to Death Valley California Road Trip in 4K | Part I

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All of the musical compositions or arrangements and footage in this video are original, and were composed, recorded, and captured by Andrew Lin, Bryan Lin, Robby Huang, and Thomas Sinard

Featuring drums by Nate Laguzza

Original content and music is copyright Adventure Archives (c) 2018

Tags: bushcraft,backpacking,hiking,camping,wilderness,survival,outdoors,travel,outdoor recreation,prepping,nature,4k,wild,survival skills,ray mears,les stroud

Video Transcription

there is great value in traveling a few miles on your own feet taking in the subtle oft overlooked details not seen from a car but too much of this and you lose sight of the bigger picture sometimes you have to traverse vast distances to remember just how many different landscapes ecosystems cultures and experiences make up this world and with Thomas moving back to the Midwest there was no better time for us to take a road trip across the u.s. and what better place to start the trip than in California the nation's most culturally and biologically diverse state in the first of three special episodes we're taking you across California to the coasts mountains and deserts sit back and get ready to join us on the beginning of our adventure [Music]

[Music]

our journey started here at a motel in Paso Robles about an hour and a half out from Big Sur we woke up early in the morning and got ready for the start of a backpacking trip after we were packed up we headed out and made our way towards the coast

we entered camp Roberts an old National Guard post that led to the Santa Lucia Mountains and eventually Big Sur the hills were lush with vibrant green grass a far cry from the arid hills of Southern California all around us the sky was overcast which gave us a bit of trepidation about our backpacking trip [Music]

still the scenery around us was beautiful with rock formations open Medes lakes and wildlife [Music]

[Music]

finally we crested the Santa Lucia Mountains and drove back down the western side of the range as we drove we caught a glimpse of the distant blue void that was the Pacific Ocean we had made it to the coast we were at Big Sur [Music]

[Music]

we arrived at our trailhead a small pull off along Highway one and sorted our gear app then we started out on the trail through the verdant hillsides [Music]

to our left we could see the coast everywhere we stepped life was flourishing the floral fragrance filled the air around us thanks to the many shrubs and herbs that surrounded us some of them were new to us others more familiar the edible Indian Paintbrush medicinal rib leaf plantain and of course wood sorrel [Music]

flowers sprouted from the ground tangled vines hung from the tree limbs internet grasses swayed in the wind everywhere we looked there was a richness of life [Music]

we climbed higher into the foggy mountains but behind us we could still make out the ocean coast [Music]

[Music]

everything about this landscape felt primordial our prehistoric the dramatic Hills the rugged coastline and the occasional patch of towering Pines [Music]

this branch is so weird it's like pinecone just started taking over the branch or something like in a video game when something gets textured wrong it looks like some sort of a primitive tree that you'd see like a fossil embedded in rock or something [Music]

we continued hiking continually in awe at all the wildflowers and vegetation around us

[Music]

[Music]

as we gained elevation a thick fog started rolling over us and rain drizzled down from above now we were hiking among the clouds the quiet ambience and the mysterious haze evokes familiar imagery of distant lands I was thinking this in a weird way it reminds me of Japan the fogginess and the open hills yeah it does seem like very Asian like the Asian mountains like in China yeah and the mists the rocky like faces of the hills I think we're like smack dab in the middle of a giant cloud yeah the ocean is right out there but it just kind of disappears into a void yeah it's amazing that it's just tiny little rain droplets that's preventing us from be able to see yeah yeah it's not a sunny day that'd be like clear blue it's funny you can actually tell the difference between like Lake Michigan and the ocean the ocean is just so vastly bigger yeah yeah somehow doesn't seem possible that it is

[Music]

the rain continue pouring down as we hiked higher and higher into the clouds and we were still surrounded on all sides by vegetation so something that's always interesting to me is that if you learn botany in any region if you go to another region you won't be able to know what species something is but you can tell what family it is so for example with this just because I can see that the flowers are irregular and I can see how the leaves are growing the pattern that they're growing and I know that this is in the P or legume family so then there's also these trumpet shaped flowers we've been seeing this growing everywhere growing on a vine and it's got these sort of heart-shaped leaves big open flower and it really resembles Morning Glory and again I don't know what species it is but just because I can see the similarities I can tell that it's related to that [Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

one bad thing about weather like this two Joran glasses is can't see any anything which is a shame because it's really beautiful everywhere I look [Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

we came to a gully in the mountain where the environment changed completely coniferous trees towered above their limbs covered in lichen and plants resembling those found in the temperate rainforest grew everywhere [Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

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[Applause]

we merge from the gully back to the exposed surfaces of the hill here the clouds created a blank void and some desert plants grew nearby so as I was hiking I noticed some yucca growing out from the slope these big brown stalks with seeds and I think that's the only thing that's keeping me a little bit grounded because we're going on this trail and all below there's just clouds and you can't really even tell how high up we are it just feels like we're really in some completely otherworldly heavenly realm just like there's these big jagged rocks out there it's super surreal Thomas looks like a ghost in the distance the strange rocks the colorful wildflowers

the ancient gnarled trees it really felt like we had traveled to a higher plane of existence but even if it felt like our spirits had transcended we still had our mortal need for food Andrew found some edible plants so I'm looking under some spring greens popping up that you can eat this one is called miner's lettuce which is a really distinctive plant because it's portfolio which means that it's stem or stalk goes directly through the leaf so basically it's surrounded on all sides by the leaf and this is a spring edible that you can just eat raw it's related to spring beauty out in the ec and nearby we've also got this gallium at burring which is a pot herb that you can cook in a pan and it's better when it's tender but it's really good it's like got sort of a interesting rough texture because it's actually got little barbs on it that will stick to your clothes if you throw it at somebody but yeah both really cool signs of spring [Music]

and it's literally like stepping into a painting it's so it's especially like a painting because I got splatters on my that's just crazy like it looks like that's like the old man's Hut and then that's where his sheep roam over there and that's where he had an accident broke his leg at any minute I could see like a dragon flying through the oh yeah yeah not even be surprised all vehicles traveling through the wilderness like this it's not hard to see how various cultures developed intricate mythologies and legends if you're looking for another worldly experience the mountains are a great place to find one [Music]

we hiked onto an open Ridge and found a previous hikers camp some firewood that is definitely completely soaked and unusable I'm sure at one time it was dry firewood that was excellent for this amazing view you could walk all the way down that Ridge well not all the way but you know what I mean it's just so clear [Music]

[Music]

we continued on hiking unto another gully full of flora amid bird calls a Douglas iris group adding a flash of color to the green plants and maiden hair ferns around it it's so fascinating this environment earlier we're out on the hills where there's desert flora you know we see some some of the bayonets from the yucca plants now we're just in this mossy ferny rain forest area and it it just seems to be these crevices in the hills where these big tall redwoods are growing and all this lush greenery California in many places is owed dry and arid State but we are definitely not experiencing the dry or the arid we had built up an appetite and found another more secluded campsite just off the trail where we decided to stop for lunch looks likely

we found something well this is like a half of a respite it's like nice to find this open area doesn't rain as much when it rains it's a clunky yeah falling from the branches of a lot more this vegan turkey from can we climb Whitney that's all it is right yeah it's so good though oh yeah you know me I have no standards definitely had that bad pun I won't call it jerky by any means but more about meaty chunk butter snap fretful am actually a pen hmm hot soft salty pretzels are the best as we ate we debated whether or not to keep hiking to our intended campsite or to stop and stay here for the night so I think we're deciding that we want to stay here because the rains picking up there's not really any advantage to hike like maybe two two and a half more miles to our intended campsite and I feel like if the weather is good tomorrow we can just make it to tomorrow night's site like we don't have to change the plan that's just it'll be easier to hike in good weather we set up in the rain struggling to cover our tents before they got too soaked on the inside and after we were done setting up right now I'm thinking like what do we do it's like you get in the tent and just stay in the tent for the rest of the day are you just staying here hoping that the Sun yeah I'm just standing here doing nothing I'm like I don't want to get my quest up in the tent I don't really want to move the way we feel is kind of summed up by this ahead visit back it's like you desperately hope that the bread isn't getting soggy okay I know what we should do we should cook up some hot water hot water you can go far we should cook up some we got we should heat up some desiccation packets and rub them over don't tell me that's not working it is not working I have another propane tank though oh look like Power Rangers we waited for the water to boil standing silently in the rain don't spoil that that's our only hope lord knows the soil doesn't need anymore honor that's too hot to drink right now but it feels good ambient warmth yeah yeah put your face over is quite nice though oh yeah it's like a sauna it's like yeah it's catching in the hood well once the warmth feels like the inside of my coat right now precious wasps demian huh how is it it's bland but warm just the way I don't like it yep that's hot water may have another I don't trust your chopsticks ddoddo Caliente why are you blowing on it I need all the warm but I mean it does help to have more food right now small SEP just a small I don't want you guys to think I'm telling about rain never seems as big of a nuisance when you're like prepping for a trip and the minute you would like hiking and it's raining it's got the worst no I'm telling you after our Smokies trip rain and civilization doesn't bother me at all

you've got a space to stand in and be dry oh yeah it is literally nothing after our light meal we retreated to our tents to avoid the rain just for a little while so earlier I saying you know we're late but at least it's not freezing cold out but I'm quickly realizing that I would actually almost prefer it to be cold because then when it's cold you don't really mind how claustrophobic and cramped everything at this but now it's just humid and cramped and awful yeah when it's cold you want it to be a little cramped one of the warming each other up but when everything's just moist and wet you just don't want to touch anything I feel like we're inside of a tauntaun or something everything's wet sticky and kind of gross but at least we're warm how you guys doing over there you're managing yeah we're barely fitting to it Robbie's got one leg over mine my food is outside the tent we're not doing too well so this tent I think most of the time has only been used by Robbie to sleep in alone and we're starting to see why I've got that like extra wide or the wide sleeping mat so it's taking up 80% of its kind of like crammed to one side okay so you can't read here Thomas has the tuna and we're gonna make some tuna sandwiches

really cramped over crap this is really struggle

are you actually cramped in there yeah my tents the exact same size so I exactly know exactly what kind of space you're working with yeah I don't believe I don't believe you at all was so quick to volunteer we've got some prosciutto over here and I don't think we're gonna let them have any tomorrow what's prosciutto without a space to eat it I feel like meat on a charcuterie platter this is yours I just imagine them lying next to each other like this putting on the softest cushion sprawling with like silver platters laughing like [Laughter]

an extra steak but I just don't do it usually because it's not worth it [Music]

delectable the only once again its sustenance I couldn't eat another bite [Laughter]

you've probably been in this tent way too long then this tent probably 17 hours now everything is soaked beyond all recognition

the rain has not abated even a little bit I brought my jacket in to dry but the rain fly doesn't cover this part of the tent and the material is so thin that my jacket is completely soaked as is everything else within a eight inch margin around the tent and the tents only about 16 inches wide it's like I've never experienced rain like this before where it just continues and continues and continues all my nuts are wet - I have absolutely no desire tune into the text the rain has just gotten harder there's definitely water droplets falling in here and they're all this close hung to dry it's still soap not even a little bit dry look at this condensation just water everywhere so it ends in because it's getting ridiculous I don't want to go back to sleep eventually we had to call it we couldn't keep going on this backpacking trip we were soaked our gear was soaked our cameras were soaked it was an untenable situation no no it's impossible there's not not feasible I think the batteries are all wet too so I don't even know if they work I'm at the point where I'm like you know I don't care anymore let's just keep filming and when Robby tells me no we can't keep filming there's a limitation here pool of water dirt mound soaked we're in a cloud it's over the rain never really abated but we got up anyway and immediately Andrew saw some wild edibles on the trail there's some wild strawberries here and I think these might actually be in a tasty kind because they're not white flowers it's a little like maybe under ripe but mmm and one else want one yeah probably a little bit not right here there's a little less ripe than mine hmmm very seedy like a very ripe strawberry but very good yeah definitely more so than anywhere else we've been this feels like a rainforest got like these fronds and stuff we hiked back out into the open hills and today the fog was just as mystical as yesterday I've been known to be hyperbolic but this is magical like this is absolutely magical right now

[Music]

[Music]

Wow this is it guys this is the afterlife the moment we've been waiting for sweet relief release from this prison of wetness but of course this wasn't quite the end just yet

in fact our journey was just beginning [Music]

we hiked into densely forested gullies and back out into the open hazy hillsides where grasses grew and rocky cliffs loomed above [Music]

it was a shame that we had to cut our trip short but we were seen filled with hope when we came upon an amazing ocean view yeah this place is beautiful and out Oh wet something's really warm beautiful we didn't see the other day today the sky had cleared a bit and now we could see a deep rich blue of the ocean from the trail [Music]

[Applause]

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before long we were back at the trailhead heading out on the road we stopped by a little store by the sea where we bought some beer whose an abrupt ending to our backpacking trip but this wasn't so bad to the road trip through the road now let us dine on fancy meat some cheese's we were hoping to eat this fancy charcuterie meal while backpacking but admittedly the ocean coast made it even more enjoyable I love charcuterie or antipasto or whatever you want to call it and none of this requires refrigeration before opening so it would have been perfect for the trail any moment in life spent eating fancy meats cheeses stuffed grape leaves and drinking beer on the ocean coast with the wind in your hair you can't get much better than me we might have felt a twinge of disappointment and not completing the backpacking trip but sometimes it's better to enjoy the here and now then worry about what could have been [Music]

[Applause]

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and so we headed back south to Los Angeles where we would stay one last night at my place before beginning the road trip dry sunny civilized it was a far cry from the past couple of days Brian I'm going to the other car inside Thomas's apartment we got everything packed up our gear Thomas's things and we tested out our walkie talkies so the road trip begins and you and I are stuck in the car together yet again I guess our fates are intertwined whether or not we want it hey at least we both smell a lot better so we've got two cars me and Brian are taking the SUV Thomas and Andrew take another car first stop eating want to say a big thank you goodbye to my two roommates Zach and Dakota honestly the two of you have been the best roommates I have ever had and I've had nothing but fantastic roommates my whole life I'm gonna miss you guys so much you guys have been so important to me you've helped me grow as a person I really feel like I'm I'm leaving two brothers behind I know I'm stuck with the now you're stuck with the smelly the hooligan cousins who have no respect for me to be very you had no respect for me either

you know what's pretty great is you don't even have to experience in LA traffic on the way out I always find that the saddest days are always the sunniest I'm happy at least we're not stuck in rush hour I'm curious how much traffic we're gonna run into on the road trip as a whole because obviously Los Angeles like some of the worst in the country foot

we shall see this might look like bad traffic but for LA it's actually pretty smooth this is ringo-san bengis come in Pincus and Angus looks like communication we continue driving to the burger joint and Andrew and Thomas came through the radio Angus ant Inga's we're here okay I think we see it up ahead we're gonna be there momentarily we stopped for a tasty bite I got a burger with pineapple and deep fried green beans and then we headed back on the road yes next stop Lone Pine now the journey was truly beginning we headed northeast to Lone Pine the town where we had stayed at prior to climbing Mount Whitney the previous year Kathy from the consulate right Thomas that's a nice beard you got there looks like you haven't shaved in a little while

your bumper looks a little messed up though what happened your bumper [Music]

[Music]

we soon passed by the open desert filled with funky-looking Joshua trees and we drove past some barren Brown mountains [Music]

as we drove past some wind farms we approached a town that Thomas was familiar with so this is actually no hobby one of the things I really like about Mojave is that there's this Denny's right there and every time I go on an adventure this way towards the Sierras towards death valley I'd always stop at Denny's because I always do that that place was the beginning of an adventure so cool it's just like a random small town and it's like nothing now there's no meeting tough to hear okay so me Robbie and Thomas have all been through here on the way to Whitney but Brian I think this might be your first time really driving through the desert what do you think it's funny because the one thing I really like in this too is Grand Theft Auto 5 because I thought it was based off it me and Robbie were just talking about like how dynamic landscape is in this area and how much it can change suddenly like we were felt like we were going through mountains and that was just suddenly in the desert we were just driving through this small little area in Mojave and it just made me think like who in their right mind would want to come out here and live here like it's it's beautiful to drive through but man living out here must be too harsh such a small town it seems like so insignificant but Thomas was just talking about how he thinks that this town is like this portal to adventure in the desert because he always stops here for food I think it's kind of funny that like we haven't run into any town that's sort of like be the touristy town they usually see well that's kind of like Lone Pine we're just where we're going I mean there's not a whole lot of hiking here because look around you I mean I can look for miles and miles and miles without seeing anything but Lone Pine that's that's a little bit of the touristy place I kind of call it like a dirtbag version of Jackson Hole a dirtbag version of Jackson Hole sounds like our type of place I think look how desolate that is I can just see from miles and miles and miles then there's just nothing between me and they're like you're in the middle of the ocean kind of but land but nothing here we drove further north and decided to make a stop at Red Rock Canyon State Park a beautiful place where I had gone camping with my roommate Dakota we pulled in and were greeted by the surreal cathedral a scruffy walls the forces of nature had shaped the Red Rocks in the bizarre shape with unsettling textures especially for someone with trip a phobia like me the rain and then like sand blowing on what is it made out of [Music]

[Applause]

it's always astounding to me just how many natural treasures you can find within a few hours of each other here in California lush coastal hills tall granite cliffs and vast arid deserts the towering red rocks it's amazing to think of how all these landscapes coexist and interact the Sierras block rain from the ocean creating a desert on the eastern side while the western side is home to the Fertile San Joaquin Valley [Music]

with that we were off again to Lone Pine [Music]

well I think our car name should definitely be road 1 I walk out like that yeah like Darth Vader's TIE Interceptor [Laughter]

we must consult the beam brain we continue driving passing a sign pointing to the current River Valley where we had gone whitewater rafting the previous year

here the landscape seemed a tad bit greener

we pass by more rocky mountains and hills and old dusty pit stops [Music]

and as we passed Owens Lake to our right we saw the majestic Eastern Sierras to our left so this is Brian's first time in this area but for us it's actually kind of nostalgic right now looking at it like

because when we first came in here we were looking at it or like man we're gonna like that tomorrow I was pretty thankful I didn't have to climb any mountains anytime soon but as we pass through the rustic town I could see why so many people were drawn here it was definitely good to be back [Music]

O'Brien welcome to lone pine welcome Lone Pine offenses excited we stopped in one of the local gear stores elevation to reminisce a bit that's more Alpine hair it's just don't get too breathable you're not don't get the burrito bowls everything else is fun huh

I'm just saying burrito bowls with oh yeah no stay away from those Alpine air amazingly Matt the same person we had talked to before climbing Mount Whitney was back at the store after taking some time off he suggested a restaurant for dinner tonight the merry-go-round a quaint Chinese restaurant this place at both Western American and distinctly Chinese decor and the interior was laid out in a big circle like the name implied we were just at elevation and Matt was telling us that the best place to eat is merry-go-round we passed this place like every time I've been here eight times and I've never come here we should probably eat here it's like a Chinese restaurant and Mount Whitney we're kind of Chinese it's funny because you come out to the American West and this is not the typical food you think of but it's actually totally appropriate because Chinese food came about when you know Chinese immigrants came over built the Transcontinental Railroad which runs through the series and that's really where American Chinese cuisine came from so in a sense this is the most appropriate sort of food you could be eating out west now to give the food a taste

ya know you can tell it's like homey that might be shurochka software's fantastic it's great to have like real vegetables in a food in the meal this is like the precious food we've had since we got to California and along with some tasty food the service was overwhelming to the owner of the restaurant kept bringing us more and more making sure we were well fed and happy

[Music]

kung pao chicken gets a lot of flack for being like an American Chinese zoo when I lived in China I had it coming out chicken more than even if it is American Chinese food that's so appropriate for this place ya know I mean this tastes just like when I was in China when I become so cheating it was just like that and then we were given some amazing green tea ice cream Wow even the ice cream tastes homemade I mean I don't know if it is but it definitely doesn't taste like your typical store-bought ice cream it's too late that's too late you had your chance man is sweet and delicious and creamy and smooth this is what dreams are made of to be wow I've had green tea ice cream I've never had it like this before so done with the strawberry too it's like that's like the softest consistency I think this is already a pretty good sign it's gonna go well soon you will receive pleasant news I think this is good it's good starting ah I can be trusted to keep a secret isn't that right Thomas you are always welcome in any gathering there's appropriate this one I don't get a fortune cookie

after dinner we made our way to the Alabama hills recessed beneath the shadow of Mount Whitney although we were on the southern end of the Sierras after our meal we thought about the history that happened further north in the mountain range it was Chinese laborers in the 19th century who first introduced America to Chinese cuisine when they weren't toiling away on the railroads yet despite the cultural and economic contributions of these workers a growing fear developed of Chinese people they were often a scapegoat used to explain other workers declining wages and they often faced violence from those outside of their communities and in 1882 the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed barring Chinese immigrants from entering the US it wasn't repealed until the 1940s

[Music]

when you're in the wild surrounded by solitude it's easy to feel detached from history and how it repeats itself today but we boys seen the wilderness as a place to reflect on society and our place in it and we see the history of people and society as intricately intertwined with the land and our relationship to it that's why we get out into nature not just to enjoy the feeling it gives us but to imagine a world where everybody feels as free as we do in the wild dusk turn tonight and mount whitney became a silhouette against the lavender sky and with the night i wanted to start a fire though the tools in the wood we had were of questionable quality not exactly sure what caliber of acts were working with or I mean this would also looks like it might be tough to split so I'm just gonna kind of baton it feeling it be this like piney wood that's possible to split the dullness of the hatchet and the tight grained wood may splitting these logs a two-man job [Music]

[Applause]

despite the hard work it was oddly satisfying to split the wood dust and sand rows into the air as we continued chopping the wood eventually we got it down to some more manageable pieces [Music]

after we had some kindling it was time to split the wood into finer pieces for tinder

[Music]

as Andrew worked at the fire the stars came out by the thousands and we lied in peace and serenity beneath the night sky [Music]

[Applause]

I never did get that fire going though so all these stars kind of kind of puts it in perspective that doesn't matter that we didn't get a fire all right am i right

it doesn't matter that somebody sold us damn wood

[Applause]

[Laughter]

guys this is the first night of a long journey as it is journey across the whole yeah - good start really good start

[Music]

this was something I was going to miss dearly about California vast open deserts towering mountains and alpine forests some of the most incredible displays of stars I'd ever seen as a milky way drifted above us who closed our eyes and fell asleep from the east the first slide of dawn illuminated Whitney in an orange glow [Applause]

we watched as dawn turned into morning [Music]

as we looked at the mountain peaks around us we were filled with both a sense of peace and a wistful sentimentality I'd spent so many days out here hiking in these mountains and exploring the towns but now it was time to say goodbye to the Sierras [Music]

we packed up our things and headed out [Music]

we had just camp beneath the highest point in the contiguous us now who has time to go to the lowest we left the Alabama hills and headed east across the sprawling deserts to one of the most forsaken places on earth [Music]

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[Applause]

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we approach the father Crowley over look at rainbow Canyon [Music]

there we saw fighter jets screaming through the canyon [Music]

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[Applause]

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we descended into the mountains and went down into the scorching hot Panamint Valley okay so we were on top of that mountain here now we're actually in the valley itself I'm looking at the thermometer and there's actually a 10 degrees difference it was 70 degrees up there now it's 80 degrees down here so last time we were here it was over a hundred near Mount Whitney so out here in Death Valley what type of temperatures was it Oh easily in the teens 115 or so and so is this Death Valley itself right here is this the lowest point that we're coming to you right now oh no we're still at 2,000 feet above sea level we're gonna go about 200 feet below sea level so we have to go up that mountain up there which is probably going to be over 5,000 feet and then we have to go down another 5,000 feet to the lowest point in the US the mountains that we're looking at now are what we saw from way high up on Whitney like that mountain range way in the distance right I think so yes so this is where the Sun rises basically for all intents and purposes yeah I think but if you look ahead that's a big mountain that we have to go straight up now we again ascend another set of mountains and at the top the temperature dropped to a breezy 64 degrees Fahrenheit then we made our way down into Death Valley as we drove along it the temperature rose to 87 degrees the incredibly low elevation causes air to be heated by pressure as the hot air rises it becomes trapped by the surrounding mountains and circulates back down to the valley where it is heated even more like a giant convection oven and now like a couple of rotisserie chickens we were roasting in that oven [Music]

death of Ali it's glaringly obvious where it gets its name but for such a hot and foreboding place there's a surprising amount of variety our first stop here was the mesquite dunes [Music]

sparsely growing creosote bushes popped out of the waves of sand that surrounded us as we trudged through the heat it almost looks like a two-dimensional painting with just like layers of paper stacked on each other it's hot but it's also really funny how it's like this is just so random it's like someone just dumped a pile fan here one thing that's actually really cool about this is there's no trail so you can just walk into any direction as far as you want on the sand is walking across these dunes gave you a sense of freedom a taste of the sort of rugged lawless lifestyle made legendary and tales of the Old West but if any outlaws hid out here they'd have a tougher time surviving than this desert iguana

[Music]

amid the sand dunes were patches of dry cracked dirt and we occasionally found the tracks of a lizard now we drove on through the devil's cornfield we came across some out of place palm trees located near the visitor center it was only springtime and already it was 96 degrees then we drove past the fake Oasis before coming to a halt on the road it's one of the problems with Death Valley is the roads are constantly flooding and so we actually just saw some trucks going by probably to help with the excavation process of something going on here we waited in our cars as construction vehicles and equipment patched the road up for about half an hour [Music]

[Music]

and then we arrived at the devil's golf course then we had a feeling that the real devil's golf course was somewhere in the fake oasis we had passed earlier jagged formations of hail eight salt were scattered across the ground for miles the salt gave this part of the valley an otherworldly look you could walk around and explore here but you don't want to trip and fall you

and now we were headed to the artist palette an area full of surprisingly colorful rocks

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here the hills had subtle reds purples and blues all swirled together in the geology

and finally we arrived at Death Valley's most famous landmark Badwater Basin where we are the lowest place in North America what are you guys thinking the first thing I thought I saw stuff looks like Oreo filling well I was walking along the rounder parts of it and it felt like chocolate ice cream or slushy snow to me and it kind of looked like the dirty snow when you plow it in a parking lot and even the tiny bits of salt look like ice crystals it's like this weird cosmic joke because it looks like snow and it's 96 degrees out they don't call this Death Valley for no reason the basin was stunningly beautiful but the heat was scorching and we had to keep moving and so we made our way back to the car now it was time to leave California for good and continue on to the next part of a road trip [Music]

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the world is a very diverse place no place makes this more apparent than California we took you to the coast the mountains and the desert but California is also rich in culture with people whose ancestors came from all across the world Europeans Asians Africans Latin X all together in this one state as Americans we have the privilege of experiencing aspects from all of these different cultures and a responsibility to remember that everybody has a complex story that we can't begin to understand them so we at least sit down and talk with them

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our journey had taken us out of the wild and into Las Vegas as we overlooked the city we wondered where to take us next [Music]

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we were trying to decide how we were gonna end this just now and we were thinking we should have done like looking at the camera st. and the trip is only just beginning it's like what'd he say we have the narration be like it felt like the end of the trip have someone turned to the camera but it was only the beginning special shout out to sun jian Wong Jacob Millican and Joe fender you guys make this possible also shout outs to Jason bourgeois Keith Price expedition research LLC trails we hike Jonathan mulberry Charlie Jo den SEO and Haley are callous and special shout out to Tucker and Cooper aka tuck and coop the flamingos so does every Hotel in Las Vegas at the casino I I don't know this is my first time in Vegas like this is such a new experience I feel like they've got it because if the hotel here doesn't have a casino them they're not gonna gas station at a casino yeah Hotel is probably a microcosm of everything you do in the whole scene yeah yeah Andres in tow would like to give a shout-out to his daughter Sofia shoutouts to Hong Kong Gregg crib and Jim Potts thank you so much James Pruett would like to give a shout out to his son gage Lisa and Logan and also a shout out to us for keeping the adventure alive and inspiring people to go experience the outdoors John Druitt would like to give a shout out to his friends Dan and Lori Gallagher Philip and Jessica we would like to give a shout out to the S Kaunas of Colorado Springs Angelina

Ethan Isaac and Oscar happy birthday to Oscar

Cheers here's to integrity and McBride would like to give a shout out to her friend Gabriella Cardenas and finally T Bryce Ryan would like to remind everybody to keep on Sharon and Karen [Music]

boy you've got the don't you mean the shining white boy you wouldn't get sued that number right next to each other was nice oh yeah Wow dude look how big our room is now that's great I thought I paid for the better view but that's already disagree yeah babies are pool oh yeah how many I'm like swimming this is awesome tell us what you expect mountains in Vegas get with the program Warren Fernandez okay say shout out to my brother

hi yes one of the longest ones yeah I appreciate ya hello Thomas