Death Valley National Park

Death Valley National Park covers 3,000 square miles of southeastern Inyo County. The lowest point on the North American continent is here at 282 feet below sea level. It is known as Badwater Basin. This vast, flat salt pan is starkly beautiful with high mountains rising up on either side. A marker on the nearby cliffside shows where sea level is, way above where visitors stand to gaze or walk out on this seemingly desolate, white expanse.

Furnace Creek is the tourism hub of this magnificent national park. It holds the distinction of having the highest ever recorded temperature on earth. On the afternoon of July 10, 1913, the ambient air temperature was recorded at a blistering 134.1 degrees Fahrenheit. In 2017, the average temperature during the month of July was 107.24 deg. F., making it the hottest single month ever reliably measured anywhere on Earth since records began in 1911.

The park service and concessionaires maintain a beautiful and sprawling complex of hotels, golf course, campgrounds, visitor center, shops, swimming pool, playgrounds, and a single-runway, civil aviation airport.