European Wilderness Society

From the desert to snowy mountains in one day

From Boulder City at Lake Mead, Nevada, to Death Valley in Southern California on to Mammoth Lakes furhter North in just a single day! What a trip through some of the wildest places of the US.

Lake Mead, one of the largest reservoir lakes on the Colorado River, and its surroundings are managed by the National Park Service as the “Lake Mead National Recreation Area”. It hosts several Wilderness Areas, such as the scenic Pinto Valley Wilderness. Garry Oye and me hike up to some red sandstone formations to enjoy the incredible view of the baren desert mountains, shaped by wind and time, mergin with the green desert vegetation. Wildflowers and blooming cactus added even more colour to our hike.

Death Valley

A day later we drove through Death Valley National Park, also managed by the National Park Service, and hiked through the diverse desert landscape. On to Mammoth Lakes, we drove through some of the most scenic and wildest areas of the United States. The Panamint valley, on to the Owens valley with the Inyo and White mountains on the right side of the road and the Sierra Nevada on the left up to Mammoth Lakes. Surrounded by the high peaks of the Ansel Adams Wilderness and the John Muir Wilderness, every turn on the snowboard offered another stunning view.

together with Garry Oye at Mammoth Mountain

Two months of Wilderness in the U.S.

After a couple days of snowboarding and relaxing in Mammoth Lakes and Bishop I went back to Washington D.C. to fly home to Austria. During the last two months of traveling through the United States, I met amazing, dedicated people working for and in Wilderness. I made many great connections and friends, exchanged and gained knowledge and built up the groundwork for future co-operations. Most of all, I got new insights and perspectives on Wilderness, which significantly contributed to my own understanding of the term. Working on the connections and co-operations my visit in the U.S. initiated, will be my main task in the coming weeks and months and I am already looking forward to coming back.

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