Welcome to the Land of Superlatives
This is Death Valley National Park where the lowest point on the North American continent, Badwater Basin, lies at 282-feet below sea level. It’s where the highest ever recorded temperature on Earth was a blistering 134.1 degrees Fahrenheit in 1913. It’s the driest place in the United States with an average annual rainfall of less than 2-inches per year.
Despite its macabre name, this monumental landscape is strikingly beautiful and does, in fact, sustain a large variety of life. The sheer size and diversity of its terrain creates opportunity for plants, animals, and insects to survive and thrive in a seemingly hostile environment.
Witness the forces of nature from Dante’s View and Zabriskie Point, marvel at the stunning colors of Artists Palette along Artists Drive, walk out onto the starkly white, geometrically shaped salt flats of Badwater Basin, or stand on the edge of Ubehebe Crater. Visitors are awed by the hidden landscapes and variety of textures and colors that make up diverse environments within the park such as Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes, Mosaic Canyon, and Darwin Falls.
The region has a long and storied history in mining. The historic structures, equipment remnants, and artifacts from days of old can be seen throughout the park. Follow in the path along Twenty Mule Team Canyon, walk among the ruins of the Harmony Borax Works, and marvel at the tall tales at Scotty’s Castle.
It is a land of extremes and contradictions; and it’s stunningly beautiful.
