Payne and Irish picked Death Valley National Park, which spans both California and Nevada, thanks to the park's incredible variety of landscapes.

“I had never been to this park before and it absolutely blew me away,” said Irish. “It's really a park of extremes where you get everything from dunes to soaring mountains overlooking salt pans.”

The park, noted for its extremely dry and hot temperatures, is where travelers will also find the lowest point in the U.S. and stunning striations of color at viewpoints like Zabriskie point, which Irish says has a majestic landscape that reminds him of Rocky Road ice cream thanks to the many slopes that carve its surroundings.

Though the park typically has dry conditions, when it rains, the water sits atop the sand to make mirror reflections.