Planning a trip to Death Valley National Park
Information
Contact Death Valley National Park, P.O. Box 579, Death Valley, CA 92328 (tel. 760/786-3200; www.nps.gov/deva). Be sure to pick up the official Visitor Guide, a newspaper-style free handout listing most of the park basics. It's available at ranger stations and the Furnace Creek Visitor Center . Also, it's not a bad idea to ask a ranger for tips on avoiding heat exhaustion and on high-temperature auto care (although the latter is usually a problem only with older vehicles).
The Death Valley Natural History Association, P.O. Box 188, Death Valley, CA 92328 (tel. 800/478-8564; www.dvnha.org), operates the park bookstores and organizes a number of events.
Visitor Centers
Park headquarters are at the Furnace Creek Visitor Center (tel. 760/786-3200), open daily from 8am to 5pm year-round in Furnace Creek, 15 miles inside the eastern park boundary on Calif. 190. You'll find well-done interpretive exhibits and an hourly slide program, as well as an extensive bookstore. There's also a museum, a bookshop, and an information center at Scotty's Castle (tel. 760/786-2392), also open daily year-round.
Ranger stations that collect fees and can provide you with information are at Stovepipe Wells (no phone) and Grapevine (no phone).
Fees
Entry to the park for up to 7 days costs $20 per car (or $10 per person on foot, motorcycle, or bike). Be sure to keep the receipt handy; you'll be required to show it when passing the entry checkpoint near Scotty's Castle (Grapevine).
There are nine campgrounds within park boundaries. Four are free; overnight fees elsewhere range from $12 to $18.
Special Regulations & Warnings
It isn't called Death Valley for nothing, but there's little chance you'll encounter any life-threatening situations, especially if you follow common-sense safety tips. You'll find these and many more in brochures available at the park's visitor centers.
- Always carry a supply of water for everyone, including your car. Dehydration is your most urgent concern, particularly in summer, when temperatures routinely reach at least 120°F (49°C) at the arid lower elevations. Recommended minimum amounts are 1 gallon per person per day, twice that if you're planning strenuous activity. Drink often, whether you feel thirsty or not, and be alert for the signs of dehydration: dizziness, headache, and cool, clammy skin. It's a good idea to stow several gallons for the car, even though radiator water is available from tanks placed at strategic points (uphill climbs) along the main roads.
- Always carry sunscreen and protective clothing, including a wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses.
- Watch your temperature gauge, especially if you have an older vehicle. When driving, turn off your air-conditioning on uphill grades if your car begins overheating. In the event that your car overheats, keep the engine running, turn the heat on full blast, and turn the car into the breeze. Remove the cap only if the engine has cooled significantly.
- Be alert for wildlife on the road, and don't let yourself be distracted by the scenery. Single-car accidents are the number-one cause of death in Death Valley, and they can occur summer or winter, daylight or nighttime. Many long miles of roads run through the park; though well paved, they often have sharp curves, dips, and steep downhill grades. If your tires wander off the edge of the pavement at high speed, don't jerk the wheel, which can cause you to skid. Instead, gradually slow down until it's safe to bring all four tires back onto the road.
Getting There
All the routes into the park involve crossing one of the steep mountain ranges that isolate Death Valley. The most common access route from Los Angeles and points south is Calif. 127 from I-15 at the town of Baker; from Death Valley Junction, Calif. 190 leads to the park's center. From Las Vegas, Nev. 160 leads to Pahrump, 2 miles past which the route heads west to Death Valley Junction on Belle Vista Road. Perhaps the most scenic entry is on Calif. 190 from the west, reached from Calif. 14 and U.S. 395 by taking Calif. 178 from Ridgecrest. To reach the same route from the north, pick up Calif. 190 directly from U.S. 395 at Olancha, or via Calif. 136 at Lone Pine. You can also approach the park from Nevada by taking Nev. 374 from Beatty, which is on U.S. 95.
The Nearest Airport -- The nearest major airport is Las Vegas's McCarran International Airport, 5757 Wayne Newton Blvd. (tel. 702/261-5211; www.mccarran.com), with scheduled flights on most major airlines, and offices of all major car-rental agencies.
It's a 2 1/2-hour drive from Las Vegas to Death Valley. A four-wheel-drive vehicle is necessary for backcountry travel, and you'll need one to reach 2 of the 10 campgrounds. If you rent a car, be sure to read the fine print about driving off-road.
When to Go
Seasons & Climate
Although Death Valley is one of the world's driest deserts, altitudes range from 282 feet below sea level to over 11,000 feet above; therefore, "desert" doesn't always equal "hot." From June to September, temperatures in the valley can soar above 120°F (49°C), making the mountain sections of the park a relief, with temperatures in the 70s and 80s (20s Celsius). From November to February, when valley temperatures are comfortable -- in the 60s and 70s (upper teens to mid-20s Celsius) -- many higher areas are frigid and snowy.
Seasonal Events
The weeklong Death Valley '49ers Encampment (www.deathvalley49ers.org) is held in early November. It features a fiddlers' contest, square dancing, tours, a Western art show, and a golf tournament. Contact the visitor center for information.
Avoiding the Crowds
You may think that no one would plan a vacation in a 120°F-plus (49°C-plus) remote desert, but Death Valley is a year-round destination. Visitors tend to avoid the summer and crowd Death Valley on weekends and school holidays the rest of the year, especially in the spring. December and January are the quietest months (with the exception of Christmas week and Martin Luther King, Jr., Day weekend). The following advice will help ease the crush during your visit.
- Make accommodations reservations as far in advance as you can, at least 2 or 3 months ahead. Facilities are limited inside the park, and Death Valley's isolation makes it time-consuming to base yourself elsewhere. Those planning to set up in one of the first-come, first-served camping areas should try to claim a site between 9am and noon.
- Avoid visiting on weekends and during school vacation periods. Plan to enjoy the most popular activities early in the day, before crowds start building up (around 10am). An alternative, particularly on summer days, is to wait until crowds dissipate, around 4pm. Remember, the sun doesn't set until after 7pm between June and September, and it stays hot well past midnight.
- With the help of a high-clearance, four-wheel-drive vehicle with upgraded tires, you'll find a whole world of hidden valleys, ghost towns, sand dunes, and remote canyons that are inaccessible to most of Death Valley's visitors. Check the Park Service's official map, where roads are clearly marked according to how passable they are, and ask at the visitor center about current road conditions.
Getting Around
A network of roads, ranging from washboard remnants of old mining days to well-maintained highways built during the 1930s, crisscrosses Death Valley National Park. You'll find that most of the popular destinations, as well as the five major entry routes, have superior-quality roads suitable for all passenger vehicles, as well as trailers and RVs. One exception is the Emigrant/Wildrose Canyon pass between Calif. 190 and Calif. 178, sections of which are rough, narrow, and winding; vehicles over 25 feet are prohibited, and other drivers may want to consult a ranger about road conditions before attempting the unpaved section south of Wildrose.
Because of its vast area and unforgiving climate, the park is ideal for viewing by car. Some of the most beautiful sites have handy access roads, vista turnouts, or loop drives to facilitate viewing. These include Artists Palette, where the 9-mile (one-way) Artists Drive takes you through a colorful display hidden from the main road. Over millions of years, mineral deposits have created brilliant swaths of color across the low, rocky hills. There's a scenic overlook at the beginning of the drive, as well as a parking area farther along, in case you want to stop and scramble amid the pink, blue, red, orange, and green patches. (Sci-fi buffs, take note: This area served as a location in the original Star Wars.)
South of Artists Drive, Badwater Road takes you past several of Death Valley's highlights, which best illustrate this environment of low-elevation extremes. Devil's Golf Course, accessible by a short spur of graded dirt road, sets your car right in the middle of a forbidding landscape created by salt and erosion on a lake bed that dried up about 2,000 years ago. The results are spikes, pits, craters, and jagged ridges stained brown and smoothed by human feet near the parking area; walk just 2 minutes in any direction and you'll see the salty white surface in its natural state.
About 5 miles south of this is Badwater, whose name indicates the lowest, hottest, and (curiously) wettest spots on the valley floor. At 279 feet below sea level, Badwater is the lowest spot in the park accessible by auto and is marked by permanent spring-fed pools. The basin drops 3 feet from the road to the continental superlative of 282 feet below sea level. The water at first seemed like relief to early travelers -- until they tasted the chloride, sodium, and sulfate. It isn't poisonous, and it is home to beetles, soldier fly larvae, and a snail that slowly adapted to these harsh conditions.
A similar site is 25 miles north on Calif. 190: Salt Creek, home to the Salt Creek pupfish, found nowhere else on Earth. In the spring, you can glimpse this little fish, which has made some amazing adaptations to survive in this arid land, from a wooden boardwalk nature trail. In spring, a million pupfish might be wriggling in the creek; they're not visible at any other time of year.
Your car will also take you all the way to two of the best lookout points around, both along Calif. 190 southeast of Furnace Creek. Before sunrise, photographers set up their tripods at Zabriskie Point, 5 miles southeast of Furnace Creek off Calif. 190, and aim their cameras down at the pale mudstone hills of Golden Canyon and the great valley beyond. The panoramic view is magnificent.
Another grand park vista is at Dante's View, 25 miles south of Furnace Creek by way of Calif. 190 and Dante's View Road. This 5,475-foot point looks out over the shimmering Death Valley floor backed by the high Panamint Mountains.
Nearly everyone takes the scenic drive up Scotty's Castle Road to visit the park's major man-made attraction, Scotty's Castle . While you're there, it's worth taking the 15-minute drive to Ubehebe Crater, 9 miles west of the castle. The otherworldly pockmark resulted from a volcanic explosion that occurred as recently as 300 years ago. You'll know that you're close when the landscape begins to darken from layers of cinders that were spewed from the half-mile crater. A convenient loop road takes you up to the most scenic lip. An explanatory sign graces the parking area, and there's a hiking path (for those willing to brave the often-gusting winds) to an even more dramatic overlook and a field of smaller craters.
