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Death Valley
National Park, California |
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| Death Valley National Park is located in California and is about 90
miles from Las Vegas, NV. Within 30 minutes one can drive 240 feet below sea level
to over 6,000 feet with a 20 degree drop in temperature. |
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Aguereberry Point |
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incredible vista point and less traffic than Dante's
View is Aguereberry Point (above photo.) The unpaved
well-maintained road starts off of
Hwy 178 near Wildrose inside the Park. The initial part of the
drive is along a
relatively flat area with little views. However it is not until
the very end of the drive does one see the rugged
mountains and awing view across Death Valley. The elevation is
6,533 feet. The road to the summit can be seen the in the right
side of the above photo. |
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Artist Palette |
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Walking in
the Dunes |
The road
heading to Scotty's Castle |
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Stovepipe Wells Sand Dunes |
Artist Palette (see
Artist Drive) |
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Salt Creek |
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Stovepipe Wells Sand Dunes |
Badwater (-242 feet below sea level) |
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Photography Tips for Death Valley:
The best time for taking photos is either at
sunrise or sunset. The desert is just too bright during the day. The
photographs above of the dunes (near Stovepipe Wells) were taken
early in the morning. It gets very hot in the dunes area once the
sun has risen. The temperature change from just before dawn to 1.5 hours
later was nearly 20 degrees. The rocks of Artist Palette inside of Artist
Canyon come alive at sunset. Dante's View colors come out more pronounced
on the photograph when there is nearly no light left- a tripod is needed. |
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Death Valley Quick Facts: |
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Established
Death Valley
Monument was established on February 11, 1933. |
Designated
National Park
October 31, 1994, the Desert Protection Act (DPA)
added 1.3 million acres to Death Valley National Monument and promoted
it to National Park status. |
Size
Death
Valley NP covers almost 3,000 square miles- larger than the Yellowstone
National Park. |
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Weather
One of the
hottest places on earth- 134 degrees F was recorded in 1913, second only
to the 136 degrees registered in Libya in 1936. |
Food/Supplies
The Furnace Creek Ranch and the Stovepipe Wells Village located inside
the Park both provide small camper stores with staple goods and limited
supplies. There are also gas stations at both locations. |
Off-road Driving
Death Valley has
a network of unpaved and primitive backcountry roads that can be used by
4-wheel drive or light trucks. |
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Death Valley National Park has more than
3.3 million acres of spectacular desert scenery, interesting and
rare desert wildlife, complex geology, undisturbed wilderness,
and sites of historical and cultural interest. Bounded on the
west by 11,049 foot Telescope Peak and on the east by 5,475 foot
Dante's View, Badwater is the lowest point (-282 feet) in the
western hemisphere.
High Point Elevation: 11,049 feet
(Telescope Peak)
Low Point Elevation: -282 feet (Badwater)
http://www.nps.gov/deva/
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