Visiting Death Valley as part of a photography workshop hosted by Keith Skelton in 2007, I was so awestruck by its beauty, vastness, and its ability to make one so aware you’re a guest on this planet for a short time. I told myself I would return on my own someday. Nearly 20 years later I finally did just that, and was not disappointed. Those who have experienced it can attest to its fundamentalism of life.

The charcoal kilns were built in 1877 to create fuel for two silver mine smelters 25 miles away.