America’s driest, lowest, hottest place gets over a million visitors and earns every one

It’s also the hottest and driest

Death Valley National Park stretches across more than 3.4 million acres of California and Nevada, making it the largest national park in the lower 48 states.

On July 10, 1913, the temperature here hit 134 degrees Fahrenheit, the hottest ever recorded on Earth. The park averages about two inches of rain per year, the driest spot in North America.

Yet more than a million people visit every year. The heat and the emptiness draw them in, and what they find goes far beyond bare desert.

The Timbisha Shoshone named it Tumpisa first

Long before anyone called this place Death Valley, the Timbisha Shoshone people lived here for centuries. They named the area Tumpisa, after a red pigment in the surrounding mountains.

The first non-Native Americans showed up during the California Gold Rush of 1849, and it did not go well. A group of lost pioneers nearly died crossing the valley.

One of them reportedly said “Goodbye, Death Valley” on the way out, and the name stuck. The area became a national monument in 1933 under President Hoover, then a full national park in 1994.

Walk the salt flats 282 feet below sea level

Badwater Basin drops 282 feet below sea level, the lowest elevation in North America. White salt flats spread across the valley floor in raised polygon patterns that look like cracked tile.

You can walk straight out onto them from the parking area, about a mile round trip. After heavy rains, the basin fills with shallow water, and that happened in late 2025 and early 2026.

When it’s dry, the salt crunches under your feet and the white ground stretches to the mountains on every side.

Catch the golden badlands at Zabriskie Point sunrise

Zabriskie Point sits just minutes from Furnace Creek, and a short paved walk from the parking area puts you at one of the most photographed spots in the park.

Golden and brown badlands roll out below you, shaped by millions of years of erosion. The big landmark from the overlook is Manly Beacon, a jutting peak named after a Gold Rush-era guide.

The viewpoint itself carries the name of Christian Zabriskie, a figure in the Pacific Coast Borax Company. Get there at sunrise for the best light.

Drive nine miles through red, pink and green hills

Artist’s Drive is a one-way, nine-mile road that winds through desert hills painted in shades of red, pink, green and yellow. The colors come from oxidized metals in the rock, deposited millions of years ago.

The road is paved, so any standard vehicle can handle it.

The highlight is Artist’s Palette, where the hillsides look like someone spilled paint across the stone. Late afternoon light pulls the most color out of the rock, so time your drive for the end of the day.

No marked trails on the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes

Near Stovepipe Wells, the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes are the easiest dunes to reach in the park. The tallest ones rise about 100 feet.

Wind reshapes the sand constantly, so there are no marked trails. You just walk wherever you want, as far as you want.

Early morning and sunset give you the best light, with long shadows cutting across the ridgelines. If you go early enough, you can spot animal tracks left during the night before the wind erases them.

Hike through golden canyon walls to Red Cathedral

Golden Canyon takes you through narrow walls of gold-colored rock, and if you keep going, the trail connects to Red Cathedral, Gower Gulch and Zabriskie Point.

The Golden Canyon to Gower Gulch loop covers about three miles round trip.

Not far away, Natural Bridge is a separate one-mile round trip hike to a rock formation that spans a desert wash. Both trails rate easy to moderate, and you pick them up right off Badwater Road.

They pack a lot of scenery into short distances.

Rocks slide by themselves across Racetrack Playa

Racetrack Playa is a remote dry lake bed where rocks, some weighing hundreds of pounds, leave long trails in the mud as they slide across the surface. For decades, nobody could explain it.

Scientists cracked the mystery in 2014: thin sheets of ice pushed by light winds move the rocks slowly across the wet playa.

Getting there takes a long drive on rough, unpaved roads, and you need a high-clearance vehicle. The playa sits at about 3,700 feet, so it runs cooler than the valley floor below.

A 20-foot waterfall hides in the desert

Darwin Falls runs year-round on the west side of the park near Panamint Springs. The hike to reach it covers about two miles round trip.

You start in barren desert, and within minutes the landscape shifts to a green canyon filled with trees, birds and flowing water. The lower falls drop about 20 feet into a pool.

A high-clearance vehicle helps on the dirt road to the trailhead, but the hike itself is the real payoff. The contrast between the dry desert and that green canyon stays with you.

The Milky Way casts shadows on moonless nights

Death Valley earned a Gold Tier International Dark Sky Park designation in 2013, the highest level awarded. It is the largest Dark Sky Park in the country.

On clear, moonless nights, you can see the Milky Way so bright it casts shadows on the ground.

The park runs an annual Dark Sky Festival each February with telescope viewing, astronomy talks and astrophotography sessions.

Harmony Borax Works, Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes and Badwater Basin are some of the best spots to set up for the night sky.

A con man’s castle is reopening after a flood

Scotty’s Castle is a 1920s Spanish-style villa that millionaires Albert and Bessie Johnson built in the northern part of the park.

It carries the name of Walter “Death Valley Scotty” Scott, a con man who convinced the Johnsons to invest in a gold mine that never existed. Despite the scam, the three became lifelong friends.

A flash flood in 2015 forced the castle to close, and restoration is expected to cost around $90 million. Limited flood-recovery tours resumed in early 2026, with a full reopening expected later that year.

Gold, pink and purple wildflowers carpet the valley floor

When enough gentle winter rain falls and mild spring temperatures follow, Death Valley erupts in wildflowers. These superblooms blanket the valley floor in fields of gold, pink, purple and white.

The 2026 bloom has been the most spectacular in a decade. At lower elevations, wildflowers typically peak from February to April.

Desert gold, poppies, evening primrose and desert five-spot are among the most common blooms. You can’t predict a superbloom far in advance, so when one happens, you go.

Explore Death Valley National Park in California

You can reach Death Valley from Las Vegas in about 120 miles, or from Los Angeles in roughly 300 miles. The park sits on the eastern border of south-central California, with a small portion crossing into Nevada.

Start at the Furnace Creek Visitor Center for maps, ranger programs and current conditions. Entry runs $30 per vehicle and covers seven days.

The park stays open year-round, but the most comfortable weather hits from late fall through spring. Summer temperatures regularly pass 120 degrees, so plan around that.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

Read more from this brand:

• A Lake Has Appeared in Death Valley – Scientists Say Enjoy It While You Can
• 12 US parks where evolution took a completely different path
• Death Valley bursts into color for first time in nearly a decade