Death Valley National Park
Badwater Basin, salt polygons, alluvial fans, dunes, canyons, mining ruins, and high peaks occupy a park larger than Connecticut.
Artwork inspired by Maynard Dixon
Badwater Basin, salt polygons, alluvial fans, dunes, canyons, mining ruins, and high peaks occupy a park larger than Connecticut. Timbisha Shoshone homeland and living community history belong inside every geological itinerary. Death Valley National Park becomes easier to read when lowest point (282 feet below sea level), area (3.4 million acres), and record (Extreme heat) are held together rather than treated as disconnected labels.
Use Furnace Creek to check roads and heat, then choose one basin feature and one higher-elevation landscape instead of racing distant icons. Summer ground temperatures can kill, flash floods erase roads, fuel gaps are large, and backcountry shortcuts regularly strand vehicles.
- Lowest point
- 282 feet below sea level
- Area
- 3.4 million acres
- Record
- Extreme heat
Quick guide
- Start with
- Use Furnace Creek to check roads and heat, then choose one basin feature and one higher-elevation landscape instead of racing distant icons.
- Look closely at
- Compare Badwater Basin with Mesquite Flat Dunes, then use Timbisha homeland to test what the site is trying to communicate.
Know before you go
- Start with
- Use Furnace Creek to check roads and heat, then choose one basin feature and one higher-elevation landscape instead of racing distant icons.
- Look closely at
- Compare Badwater Basin with Mesquite Flat Dunes, then test that reading against Timbisha homeland.
- Place in context
- Lowest point: 282 feet below sea level; Area: 3.4 million acres; Record: Extreme heat
- Plan the arrival
- For Death Valley National Park, use Furnace Creek Visitor Center, CA-190, Death Valley, CA 92328 as the reviewed public arrival point. Before visiting Death Valley National Park, confirm.
Good to know
Summer ground temperatures can kill, flash floods erase roads, fuel gaps are large, and backcountry shortcuts regularly strand vehicles.
Notice these
- Badwater Basin
- Mesquite Flat Dunes
- Timbisha homeland