A land of extremes: Death Valley
The red stripes at Zabriskie Point
Death Valley is home to the lowest point in North America (282 ft below sea level), the hottest recorded temperature on the face of the Earth (134 °F / 56.7 °C), and towering often-snow-capped peaks. It offers many options for adventure, including hiking trails to explore, ghost towns to wander, and beautiful sights to be seen. After combing through multiple books and websites, I created this list of the most unique places to visit.
My name is Andrew Snyder, a southern California-based landscape photographer. This trip report & my other Trip Reports focus on images, scenery, and wildlife, and provide a few travel tips if you’re interested in taking a trip of your own.
Table of contents
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Planning your trip
Death Valley is located in eastern central California along the border of Nevada. Las Vegas is the closest major city to the east of the park, while Los Angeles is 5-6 hours southwest.
There are various places to camp around Death Valley, including developed campgrounds, backcountry camping spots, and even a few hotels. For this trip, I reserved 3 nights at a tent site in Furnace Creek campground near The Ranch as the base camp for my trip. All pictures here were taken from Saturday February 13 - Monday February 15, 2021.
Best time to visit: Death Valley is gorgeous in any season, although I highly recommend avoiding the scorching heat of summer. Spring, fall, and winter are all great times to visit. I chose winter due to the ideal temperature and low crowds. For more info, check out the National Park Service’s “when to visit Death Valley” page.
Where to stay: The 3 main places to stay in Death Valley are Furnace Creek, Panamint Springs, and Stovepipe Wells. These locations offer camping, lodging, and restaurants, and they are open all year. I chose to stay at Furnace Creek due to its central location in the park. For more info, check out the National Park Service’s “where to stay in Death Valley” page.
How to get around: Some locations in the park require a high-clearance vehicle, such as Racetrack Playa. Every location shown on this page is accessible using a standard sedan without high clearance. Some locations have dirt roads, such as the Devil’s Golf Course, but these roads were flat and easy to navigate with a standard car.
Zabriskie Point
A short 10 minute drive from Furnace Creek, Zabriskie Point is an incredible place to watch the sunrise. A short paved trail from the parking lot leads up to an overlook with scenery in every direction. Straight ahead you can see the large fin protruding into the sky above the multi-colored hills. The mountains in the distance start glowing when the sun comes up behind you. Watch as the sun creeps down the mountains, eventually lighting up the smaller peaks right in front of you.
For those looking to avoid the crowds, multiple hiking trails start from the parking lot. A short hike up provides you with a unique view of the sunrise that you’ll likely have all to yourself. A 6 mile round-trip hike on the valley floor connects Zabriskie Point to the Golden Canyon trailhead
Zabriskie Point
Colorful mountains about the Zabriskie Point overlook at sunrise
Prints available - The hills beneath Zabriskie Point offer another vantage point to take in the sunrise for those willing to hike a bit
Rhyolite Ghost Town
While not technically inside Death Valley National Park, this last-minute addition to my trip caught my attention because of the eerie ghost sculptures. The town of Rhyolite is about 50 minutes from Furnace Creek, just over the state line into Nevada. Once a bustling mining town of 5,000-8,000 people that began in 1905, the mine closed in 1911, many miners moved out, and the population eventually dropped to close to 0 in 1920.
The free Goldwell Open Air Museum, home to the ghost sculptures and other unique, trippy art exhibits sits right next to the ghost town. This provides visitors easy access to both.
Rhyolite school house
Part of the Goldwell Open Air Museum
Devil's Golf Course
The Devil’s Golf Course is 10 miles from Furnace Creek. It’s one of many stops along Badwater Road that connects Furnace Creek to various highlights, including Golden Canyon, Artist’s Palette, the natural bridge hike, and Badwater Basin.
The name of this area becomes obvious as soon as you see it. Playing a round of golf of this terrain would be fun only for spectators as they watch you stumble over the sharp salt formations looking for your ball buried in the many cracks in the salt. When a girl asked for my help looking for a lost cell phone that she placed down for a picture and forgot, I spent a good half hour here unsuccessfully looking for it. Even thought I didn’t find it, it was surprisingly fun to slowly wander around the jagged formations studying the unique landscape.
Miles and miles of jagged salt formations
The extremely rough footing in the Devil’s Golf Course
Badwater Basin
Badwater Basin is 282 feet below sea level, and home to mile and miles of chunky salt shapes (mostly pentagons, but some rectangles and hexagons too). The parking lot is 16 miles from Furnace Creek along Badwater Road. This is a good stop to combine with Golden Canyon, Devil’s Golf Course, the natural bridge hike, and/or Artist’s Palette, which are all along the same road.
When you get out of your car, take a look at the steep mountainside behind you and try to find the sign 282 feet up that says “Sea Level”. Then turn around and hike out onto the salt. Once you pass the short boardwalk, you will reach the salty walkway quickly. The most interesting formations are further out. I recommend hiking out a mile or so and wandering the barren valley floor.
The lowest point in North America, Badwater Basin
Ubehebe Crater
Death Valley is home to a variety of truly unique features, including a set of volcanic craters located 1 hour and 10 minutes from Furnace Creek. Ubehebe Crater, which is 0.5 mile (1 km) wide and 500 to 777 feet (150 to 237 m) deep, is one of these craters. Little Hebe sits just to the south. The area includes many hiking trails along the Ubehebe and Little Hebe crater rims that provide jaw-dropping scenery. Given the long drive required to get here and the incredible scenery, I recommend spending many hours here hiking into the craters, back out, and around the rims. There is plenty to see!
The entire Ubehebe crater, with the steep path to the bottom visible in the center
Hiking to the very bottom of the crater rewards you with a sandy floor, and rock formations that other visitors have put together
A lonely white van (right center) making its way from Ubehebe to Racetrack Playa
Artist's Palette
Yet another feature that I haven’t seen in any other place in the world, the vivid pinks and greens in the Artist’s Palette are a must-see. This view point is the main stop along the 9-mile one-way Artist’s Drive that splits off from Badwater Road. It’s ideal to connect this drive with other stops along this road, including Badwater Basin, Golden Canyon, Devil’s Golf Course, and the natural bridge hike.
The views are just one aspect of the Artist’s Palette. You can also hike up into the colorful mountains, including some easy hiking paths and some challenging rock scrambling if you’re looking for adventure.
The Artist’s Palette
Once I spotted the colorful rocks, I excitedly parked the car and started walking. I quickly learned that the main parking area was a bit down the road. To access the mountains from my parking spot I could either do a long loop hike around to the main parking lot, or hike directly towards the mountains involving some steep ups and downs. I took the direct route.
Golden Canyon to the Red Cathedral
With sunset nearing, I started on the short hike from the Golden Canyon trailhead up to the Red Cathedral. The trailhead for this hike is located just 4 miles from Furnace Creek. It is located on Badwater Road, making it ideal to combine with trips to Badwater Basin, Artist’s Palette, Devil’s Golf Course, and the natural bridge hike. The 2.9 mile round-trip hike included a towering wall at the end called the Red Cathedral. The views of the “cathedral” got better as I got closer, until I was finally right up against the base of it. I then hiked / scrambled up the wall to look back the other direction towards the setting sun while the wall glowed red behind us. After watching the sun go down across the valley, I made the short hike back to the trailhead to conclude the day.
The Red Cathedral
Sunset with the Red Cathedral at my back
Pit Stop: The Ranch at Death Valley
Furnace Creek was my base of operations for my 3-nights of camping in Death Valley. In addition to the large campground, Furnace Creek has a surprising set of amenities for a place in the middle of vast emptiness. I enjoyed a hearty breakfast and dinner at The Last Kind Words Saloon & Steakhouse during my trip, which was delicious but pricey ($60 for the cheapest 2 dinners without drinks). Considering what’s involved in transporting food all the way out here, staffing this remote location, and generating electricity to cook it, the price makes complete sense. And I agreed that the quality of the food was very good.
The Ranch at Death Valley is a great place to stop at Furnace Creek including 2 restaurants, a general store, a museum (currently closed), a golf course (!!), and many other buildings.
Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes
As I waved goodbye to my campsite at Furnace Creek, I began the long drive home with one more exciting stop on my way out of Death Valley: the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes. These windswept, gorgeous dunes are 25 miles from Furnace Creek. You can choose to simply step out of your car and touch the sand, or hike miles in to explore the taller dunes and soak in the views.
Prints available - The mountains climb up beyond the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes
Prints available - Adventurous hikers make their way out to the tallest dunes
Prints available - These 3 tiny shrubs emerge from the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes
Death Valley offers so much variety, and the list above is just a taste of what you could do.
Peak baggers may want to check out 11,043 ft / 3,366 m Telescope Peak, the highest point in Death Valley that can be reached via a 14 mile out-and-back hike.
History buffs may want to check out the multiple ghost towns caused by the boom and bust of mining.
But if you only have a few days to spend, you can’t go wrong with this list!