Death Valley National Park

Death Valley National Park offers vast desert recreation — taking in the sweeping view from Dante’s View, walking the salt flats of Badwater Basin (the lowest point in North America), exploring the painted badlands of Zabriskie Point and the colorful Artists Palette, climbing the Mesquite Flat sand dunes, driving the scenic roads and rugged backcountry, hiking the canyons (Golden Canyon, Mosaic Canyon), wildlife watching, viewing spring wildflowers in good years (the rare ‘super bloom’), and stargazing under some of the darkest skies in America. The combination of extreme landscapes, surreal beauty and dark skies makes the park an unforgettable destination.

Late fall through early spring is the only comfortable season for exploring Death Valley, with pleasant temperatures (and spring sometimes bringing wildflowers, even a rare super bloom in wet years), while summer is dangerously, extremely hot — often over 120°F — and hiking in the heat can be deadly. Sunrise and sunset set the badlands and dunes glowing, the best times for photography, and the dark skies are superb for stars. Visit in the cool months (October to April); avoid summer hiking entirely, carry far more water than you think, and time spring visits for possible wildflowers.

Death Valley was home to the Timbisha Shoshone people, who lived in and named the valley and still hold a homeland within the park. The forbidding name came from 1849 gold-rush emigrants who struggled across it. Later, borax was mined and hauled out by the famous twenty-mule teams. Recognizing the desert’s stark beauty and unique extremes, it was protected as a national monument in 1933 and a national park in 1994 (the largest in the contiguous U.S.). The park preserves the extreme desert landscape and the Timbisha Shoshone heritage, a treasured wilderness of the American West.

Death Valley is a geological showcase, a deep basin formed where the earth’s crust is being pulled apart, dropping the valley floor (to 282 feet below sea level at Badwater) while the mountains rise on either side. The valley reveals a vast record of geology: ancient rocks, colorful badlands of eroded sediments (Zabriskie Point, Artists Palette’s mineral-stained hills), salt flats left by evaporated lakes, sand dunes, alluvial fans, and even evidence of past volcanic activity (Ubehebe Crater). The pulling-apart of the crust, the extreme aridity, and the long erosion created the surreal basins, badlands, dunes and mountains of this extreme desert.

Despite its extremes, Death Valley supports surprising wildlife adapted to the harsh desert — desert bighorn sheep in the mountains, coyotes, kit foxes, jackrabbits, kangaroo rats, and the remarkable desert pupfish (relics of ancient lakes, surviving in isolated springs and the salty creek), along with reptiles, and a community of birds, many active at night to escape the heat. The mountains, springs and oases support life amid the aridity. The park is a place for wildlife watching, especially in the cooler hours, with the desert bighorn, the rare pupfish and the hardy desert creatures among the wildlife of this extreme land.

Death Valley National Park protects a vast and surprisingly diverse desert ecosystem, where the extreme aridity and the great range of elevation — from below sea level to over 11,000 feet — create a remarkable variety of habitats, from salt flats and dunes to desert scrub, spring-fed oases, and even bristlecone pines and limber pines in the high mountains. Rare endemic species, like the Death Valley pupfish and desert wildflowers, survive in this harsh land, and good rains can trigger spectacular wildflower blooms. Protecting the springs, the oases, the diverse desert and the wildlife sustains a surprisingly rich and globally significant extreme-desert ecosystem.

Death Valley National Park, the hottest, driest and lowest place in North America, holds a treasured place among America’s natural wonders, beloved for its surreal beauty, its staggering scale, and its extremes, which have fascinated and challenged people for generations. The homeland of the Timbisha Shoshone, the crossing of the 1849 emigrants, and the borax-mining era weave human history through the stark desert. Embodying both the harshness and the surprising beauty of the desert, Death Valley is a cherished icon of the American West, a landscape of extremes and surreal, austere grandeur.

Death Valley National Park straddles the California–Nevada border, reached via State Route 190 and other desert routes from the west (the Owens Valley/Lone Pine area) and from Nevada (about two hours from Las Vegas). An entrance fee applies. The park’s vast distances are served by the hub at Furnace Creek (with a visitor center, lodging and services) and Stovepipe Wells, with scenic viewpoints, canyons, dunes and backcountry roads spread across the immense area. Services and water are limited and far apart; carry fuel, water and supplies. Check the National Park Service for conditions, especially heat and roads, before visiting.

The National Park Service protects the vast extreme-desert landscape, the springs and oases, the rare wildlife (including the endemic pupfish), the wildflowers, and the dark skies of Death Valley National Park. Visitors help by staying on roads and trails (protecting the fragile desert and the delicate salt flats and dunes), never disturbing the rare pupfish or their springs, conserving and carrying water, packing out everything, respecting wildlife and the Timbisha Shoshone homeland, preserving the dark skies, and following Leave No Trace. Protecting the springs, the diverse desert and the wildlife sustains this surprisingly rich and treasured extreme-desert ecosystem.

Death Valley’s heat is deadly — summer temperatures often exceed 120°F, and hiking in the heat of the day in the warm months can be fatal, so visit in the cool months, never hike low-elevation trails after morning in summer, carry far more water than you think you need (and drink it), and watch for heat illness. The park is vast and remote with limited services; carry fuel, water and supplies, and tell someone your plans. Watch for flash floods in canyons after rain, and extreme cold and snow in the high mountains. Respect the heat above all, the remoteness, and the flash-flood risk.

An entrance fee applies. Stay on roads and trails; protect the fragile salt flats, dunes and desert. Never disturb the rare pupfish or their springs. Backcountry camping and some roads have rules/permits; high-clearance or 4WD is needed for many backcountry routes. Camp only in designated or permitted areas. Conserve water. Pets are restricted (not allowed on trails). Drones are prohibited. Collecting is prohibited. Pack out all trash; preserve the dark skies. Respect the Timbisha Shoshone homeland. Check the National Park Service for heat, road conditions and current rules before visiting.

The towns of Beatty and Pahrump in Nevada and Lone Pine in California lie around the vast park, with Las Vegas about two hours east, the eastern Sierra and Mount Whitney to the west, the Mojave Desert and the ghost town of Rhyolite nearby, and the immense desert in all directions. The Mojave and Great Basin deserts define the region. Death Valley National Park anchors the largest and most extreme desert wilderness in the contiguous U.S., a centerpiece of a Southwest desert adventure, often combined with Las Vegas or the eastern Sierra.

Explore Death Valley’s surreal landscapes in the cool months (October to April) — take in the sweeping view from Dante’s View, walk the salt flats at Badwater Basin (the lowest point in North America), watch sunrise at Zabriskie Point, drive the colorful Artists Palette, and climb the Mesquite Flat dunes. Never hike in the deadly summer heat, carry far more water than you think, and fuel up and carry supplies for the vast distances. Stargaze under some of America’s darkest skies, time spring visits for possible wildflowers, and respect the extreme heat and remoteness.