Gerudo Valley

Located in the northwest corner of Ocarina of Times Hyrule, Gerudo Valley' is a blisteringly hot valley. The valley leads to the Gerudo Fortress, home of the proud female warrior race of Gerudo. Beyond lies the Haunted Wasteland, a harsh and unforgiving desert. Zora's River flows through the valley.

During Link's adulthood, the bridge spanning the river is out. Link can convince a band of carpenters to repair it after rescuing them from the Gerudo, but until then, he must jump the gap with Epona or hookshot onto the sign to get across. Towards the right of the valley lies a waterfall, and following the river leads to Lake Hylia. There is also a ladder that is behind the waterfall which leads to a Piece of Heart.

Inside the carpenters' tent as adult Link is the Running Man who, after the bridge is repaired, will challenge the Hero of Time to a race to the Kokiri Forest bridge.

The music played for the Gerudo Valley has a different style than conventional Zelda scores, having a clear Latin sound. It may be heard here, at ZD.

Theoretical Connection & Explanation
In Twilight Princess, Gerudo Valley is not present at all (although there is a small valley/canyon between the Gerudo Desert and the Arbiter's Grounds). However, beyond this canyon lies a large fortress-like settlement before the entrance to the Arbiter's Grounds, so either by sheer coincidence, or a major geographical shift, the Gerudo Valley and/or Gerudo Fortress may or may not be present in Twilight Princess. The Gerudos themselves have obviously deserted their desert homeland as they seem to be completely absent from the game (give or take a couple of key characters that tie in to the plot). This is of course, just a theoretical explanation as to why this area was seemingly omitted from Twilight Princess as it was very much present 100 years before in its predecessor, Ocarina of Time.

Another theory as to why it is absent from Twilight Princess is because in Ocarina of Time, Gerudo Valley was cut in to by Zora's River, and even though Zora's River runs somewhat close to the Gerudo Desert in Twilight Princess, it does not reach all the way, but rather breaks off at Lake Hylia. The similarity between the waterfall at Lake Hylia in Twilight Princess and the waterfall at Lake Hylia in Ocarina of Time is very similar in form, but because the geography has changed so much between the two games, it does not bare any relation with the Gerudo region of Hyrule. It makes one wonder if perhaps the Gerudo Valley was just entirely cut off from the rest of Hyrule because of a "jump" in the Zora's River.

Upon scrutinizing the map of Hyrule in Twilight Princess, one may see a "gap" between the land on the southern edges of Lake Hylia and the closest point that the Gerudo Desert comes in contact with the lake (due to it being the only landmass completely separated from the rest of Hyrule). Perhaps, the Gerudo Valley/Fortress is located within that non-explorable gap, and if so, do the Gerudo still inhabit their home? Again, just another theoretical attempt at finding the lost geographical connections between Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess.