At A Glance

Death Valley, the largest national park in the contiguous United States, comprises more than 3.3 million acres of desert wilderness. Bound on the west by the towering 11,049-foot Telescope Peak, and on the east by the 5,475-foot Dante's View, this fabled park features spectacular desert scenery, unusual wildlife and a rich human history. Also something for the record books: The Badwater Basin salt pan, at 282 feet below sea level, is the lowest point in North America.

Death Valley National Park is open all year, but since summer temperatures frequently soar above 120°F, winter visits are strongly encouraged. In fact, in 1913, Furnace Creek recorded a temperature of 134°F, the second-highest temperature ever recorded in the world. Only the mighty Sahara Desert managed to top this record by two degrees in 1922.

While most visitors come to Death Valley National Park to experience desert desolation and walk on North America's lowest point, the park also boasts a sparse, yet thriving ecosystem. Careful examination will reveal that this seemingly barren landscape is home to a variety of remarkable plants and animals, a natural world that has adapted successfully to a land of brutal environmental extremes. In Death Valley, you will find—among other specimens—drought-resistant desert holly, stands of salt-resistant pickleweed and tiny pupfish that flourish in salt- encrusted streams.

Anthropologists estimate that roaming humans first settled in Death Valley roughly 10,000 years ago. These early residents were hunters and, judging by the size of their tools, they hunted big game. Beginning approximately 2,000 years ago, native peoples lived along the edge of a 30-foot-deep lake, hunting smaller game than their predecessors and gathering seeds. In 1849, a group of gold rush pioneers entered the valley, thinking it was a shortcut to California. After barely surviving the trek across the area, these pioneers named the spot "Death Valley."

In the late 1880s, native peoples were increasingly pushed out of the area by mining companies who sought the riches of gold, silver and borax within the valley's parched hills. However, most of Death Valley's mining operations failed within a few years of opening, leaving eerie ghost towns and crumbling mines in their wake. Despite briefly successful borax mines that used famed "20-mule-teams," low yields and a tumbling economy caused the industry to dwindle. By 1910, most mining operations had ceased. 

Today, it is the uncompromising severity and extraordinary geology of the desert that continues to draw visitors to Death Valley. Within the park, you will find some of the most surreal landscapes on the globe—including sinuous sand dunes that ripple into the horizon, shimmering white salt flats, intricately contoured badlands riddled by rushing water, striking copper- colored canyon walls, and even a massive hydrovolcanic blast crater! You can enjoy all these sights from the window of your automobile—or, if you're more adventurous, there are numerous public and backcountry campsites at a variety of elevations. 

Death Valley's outstanding natural beauty and scientific importance were first brought to the attention of the National Park Service in the 1920s. With the support of Stephen T. Mather, Director of the National Park Service, the spot's national significance was recognized and the area was proclaimed a national monument on February 11, 1933 by President Herbert Hoover. With the passage of the Desert Protection Act on October 31, 1994, Congress added 1.2 million acres and designated it a national park. Today, Death Valley National Park is made up of over 3.3 million acres, including more than 3 million acres of wilderness for visitors to explore. 

Park rangers at Death Valley lead a variety of interpretive tours that explain the area's unusual landscape, as well as its colorful history. Scotty's Castle is one of the park's most popular destinations; it offers living history tours about an ex-prospector who epitomizes the Wild West's riotous reputation. At the same time, park concessioners offer a variety of first-rate services in the valley that include fine dining, golf, horseback riding, gift shops and more. And, if the rains cooperate, this seemingly barren landscape is transformed into an extraordinary knee-high carpet of wildflowers. Death Valley National Park—home to the Western Hemisphere's highest temperatures and North America's lowest point below sea level—truly offers a wealth of variety and adventure.