I took the above photo during sunset in the Valley of Fire, but the run I did that morning in the foothills around Sequoia *felt* like running through a valley of fire. Holy cow it was SO DANG HOT. And so insanely incredibly horrifically hilly. I had to walk the last few uphills because they were so steep (our car had to shift gears and there were a couple of times I was worried about making it to the top) so yeah, it was an interesting run. Plus the free-range cows scared the absolute life out of me. I was way more worried about them than I was about the bears I'd seen on other runs earlier in the week.
It was so dry and hot that it felt like any second the grass around me would spontaneously combust.
Wild turkeys on a particular steep stretch that of course looks not at all steep in the photo!
Anyway--we checked out of our Airbnb and then drove on towards Las Vegas hoping to make it to the Valley of Fire before it closed at sunset!
And good golly was it worth the detour.
I wish we'd had more time there, but since it was 105 degrees after sunset and all the trails were closed...we will have to come back another time.
We've seen some very frank signs in the Southwest (the ones of people vomiting at the Grand Canyon and the one of someone's hand disappearing below the surface of the water in Kings Canyon come to mind) but I think this one takes the cake.
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