Sep 11 2026
Death Valley National Park is famous for scorching temperatures, immense salt flats, sculpted badlands, and seemingly barren mountains, so the sight of entire desert hillsides covered with yellow, purple, pink, and white flowers can feel almost impossible. Yet beneath the gravel and sand lies an enormous seed bank waiting for the right combination of rain, …
May 25 2026
Hidden in Grapevine Canyon in the remote northern reaches of Death Valley National Park stands one of the park’s most unusual landmarks. Scotty’s Castle, officially known as Death Valley Ranch, is a sprawling Spanish- and Mediterranean-influenced mansion surrounded by gardens, workshops, water systems, historic outbuildings, and the remains of an ambitious desert estate. Despite its …
May 26 2025
Death Valley National Park is a landscape of extremes. Here, salt flats sink below sea level while mountains rise more than 11,000 feet above the desert. Sand dunes spread across broad valleys, colorful badlands glow at sunrise, volcanic craters interrupt the northern desert, and mysterious rocks leave tracks across an isolated dry lakebed. The park …
May 26 2025
Furnace Creek is the primary visitor hub of Death Valley National Park and one of the most important places to understand before planning a trip into the park. Located nearly 200 feet below sea level in the heart of Death Valley, this desert oasis brings together the park’s main visitor center, lodging, food, fuel, historic …
May 26 2025
Deep in the remote northern wilderness of Death Valley National Park lies one of the strangest landscapes in the American desert. The Racetrack, also known as Racetrack Playa, is a broad, nearly level dry lakebed surrounded by rugged mountains and famous for rocks that appear to move across the desert floor on their own. Behind …
May 26 2025
Devil’s Golf Course is one of the strangest landscapes in Death Valley National Park. Instead of rolling sand dunes or smooth white salt flats, this part of the valley floor is covered by an immense field of jagged salt formations—sharp ridges, knobs, spires, and crusts shaped by evaporation, rain, wind, and the repeated growth of …
May 26 2025
Golden Canyon is one of the best places to hike in Death Valley National Park. Beginning only a few miles south of Furnace Creek, the trail enters a maze of golden badlands, narrow washes, sculpted ridges, colorful rock layers, and dramatic formations that reveal millions of years of Death Valley’s geological history. The basic hike …
May 25 2025
Dante’s View is one of the finest panoramic viewpoints in Death Valley National Park. Perched high in the Black Mountains at approximately 5,475 feet above sea level, the overlook provides a sweeping view across Badwater Basin, the salt flats of Death Valley, the Panamint Range, and some of the most dramatic elevation contrasts in the …
May 25 2025
Zabriskie Point is one of the most famous viewpoints in Death Valley National Park, offering a sweeping look across golden badlands, deeply eroded ridges, Manly Beacon, and the distant Panamint Range. The landscape looks almost sculpted, with sharp folds and gullies carved into soft sediment by rare but powerful rainstorms. The viewpoint is especially popular …
May 25 2025
Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes are the most accessible and best-known sand dunes in Death Valley National Park. Located near Stovepipe Wells along CA-190, the dunes rise in sweeping ridges and curves from an otherwise broad desert valley surrounded by rugged mountains. Although Death Valley is often imagined as an endless sea of sand, dunes cover …
