Our friend, Tyson at Outdoor Project called us up one day and presented an opportunity to go shoot some content down in Joshua Tree and Death Valley. There were no real guidelines or vision so it allowed us to have a lot of fun on the trip. It didn't feel like work, which is the best feeling to have when you're "working". This trip was unique in the fact that Outdoor Project had supplied us with thousands of dollars in Olight flashlight gear and told us to go out in the field and create some content.

Our first destination was Joshua Tree National Park - 1,094 miles from Portland which is about 16 and a half hours. We left at midnight and did the entire drive without stopping to sleep; alternating drivers whenever one of us was falling asleep at the wheel and only stopping for gas and pee breaks. We rolled into JT around 7pm the next day and made some dinner, setup our camp, and then went out for our first night mission with the flashlights. Some of the flashlights that we had were insane. At one point we turned off the car lights and were driving with the SR95 Intimidator - this light was brighter than my high beams.

After a few nights exploring JT and playing with the coyotes we headed 241 miles north to Death Valley National Park - a place that sits below sea level and is in a constant drought. Of course when the two guys from Oregon roll into this place it's pouring down rain and the roads are flooded, which prevents us from shooting ideal night content. We waited it out for a couple of days and luckily the storm passed so we could go out and explore.

In the end we got what we needed. We shot some of the raddest night stuff we’ve ever shot, we sat in the car for 2,656 miles, spent $390.11 on fuel, and we made it back to Portland for a video shoot with 30 minutes to spare after being awake for 32 hours. Talk about crunching time.

DARK SKIES AND BRIGHT LIGHTS