Not Just A Walk In The Park: Two Men Complete First-Ever Trek Around Death Valley National Park
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Death Valley,
CA – This month, extreme endurance athlete Marshall Ulrich and
firefighter Dave Heckman finished an unprecedented expedition, going on
foot around the perimeter of Death Valley National Park during the
hottest part of summer, completely unaided and unassisted. They began on
July 22 and concluded 16 days later on August 7.
While others
have trekked in this area, no one has attempted to circumnavigate the
park, and certainly not during the height of summer when the threat of
dehydration and heat stroke are dire. To grasp the gravity of this,
consider that on the same day Ulrich and Heckman finished their trek,
another accomplished ultrarunner died in Death Valley after just a few
hours under the blazing sun.
To survive the scorching 120°+
temperatures and be self-sufficient even as they moved through remote
areas, crossed six mountain ranges with a total of about 40,000 feet of
elevation gain, and covered approximately 425 miles, the men had buried
water, food, and supplies along their route two months earlier. Nearly
all of the 37 caches were intact; in one, the water had leaked out, and a
few were invaded by insects, but none of this created a shortage and
they had enough water and food to sustain them throughout the journey.
Still,
at 5’9″, 61-year-old Ulrich dropped 10 pounds, and Heckman, who is
5’11″ and age 38, dropped 25 pounds. They attribute the
They saw no other hikers along the way, just a couple of cars and one
some hardy desert animals and plants, hundreds of defunct mining sites,
Charlie Manson’s old hiding place, an active gold mine, several ghost
towns, and jaw-dropping landscapes. More than anything else, they
encountered solitude.
Ulrich remarked, “It’s amazing how
self-sufficient you can become. When you strip away all the luxuries
we’re accustomed to in day-to-day living, you realize how little you
really need, how distracting a lot of that stuff is, and how it gets in
the way of a certain peacefulness you can find within yourself without
it.
“Probably the most beautiful thing we experienced was waking up at night and realizing that our only ceiling was the stars.”
This
groundbreaking circumnavigation of Death Valley National Park
constitutes a previously unimaginable feat, but it’s hardly Ulrich’s
first successful outing. He’s completed the Badwater Ultramarathon (also
run in Death Valley and known as “the toughest footrace in the world”)
more times than anyone else, won the race more times than anyone else,
set and holds records there, and was the first to run it four times in a
row as well as run it solo, completely unaided and self-supported. All
told, he’s competed in more than 100 races of more than 125 miles each
and a dozen multi-day adventure races. In his fifties, Ulrich summitted
the highest peaks on each continent, including Mount Everest, on first
attempts.
Without question, his toughest undertaking was at age
57, when he went 3,063 miles on foot from San Francisco to New York
City. He was attempting to break a world record established by a man
half his age, and he ultimately set two new records by completing the
third fastest trans-American crossing in history. He included all this
in his book, Running on Empty: An Ultramarathoner’s Story of Love, Loss,
and a Record-Setting Run Across America.
When Ulrich first
heard Heckman’s plan to circumnavigate Death Valley National Park on
foot, he thought it was not only crazy but impossible. Now, Ulrich
happily admits he was only half right. Heckman insists this was one of
the best ideas he’s ever had, second only to getting married and having
kids. The two men shared highs and lows, and times when they questioned
whether they would survive, but they are grateful for the experience.
The
Death Valley expedition was professionally filmed, and Ulrich and
Heckman also shot 3-D footage. They hope it will be used to create a
documentary that highlights the history of the national park and raises
important questions about its future.
Please visit www.MarshallUlrich.com for a closer look at Ulrich’s adventures.
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Trish Stevens
Jillian M. Sachtleben
Ascot Media Group, Inc.
Office: (281) 333-3507
[email protected]
www.ascotmediagroup.com
