Environmental extremes appeal to visitors of N. America's hot spot

Most of its 1 million visitors arrive between fall and spring.
By Bob Downing
Knight Ridder Newspapers
DEATH VALLEY, Calif. -- Death Valley, the place with the foreboding name, is the hottest, driest, lowest spot in North America.
That makes it popular with tourists even during the height of the summer when the overwhelming heat shimmers off the blinding, white salt valley floor.
Its environmental extremes and its desert desolation are what gives Death Valley its appeal.
On July 10, 1913, the temperature hit 134 degrees at what is now Furnace Creek Ranch. That is the second-highest temperature ever recorded. It was topped by two degrees in 1922 in the Sahara Desert.
Summer temperatures in Death Valley two hours northwest of Las Vegas along the California-Nevada border are frequently above 120 degrees, and that can make it a hostile environment for visitors.
It was called "the flaming land" by the Timbisha Shoshones.
But that doesn't mean that Death Valley is devoid of its own appeal.
It is a wild, rugged, sprawling country with eye-popping scenery, geological features and historical elements. There are arid canyons, dunes, mountains and plains. It is surprisingly colorful.
Death Valley is a land of coyotes, ravens, roadrunners, ground squirrels and lizards. There are bighorn sheep in the mountains, although they are rarely seen.
Death Valley is surrounded by four rarely visited ranges that appeal to backpackers and others.
Size and details
It is the largest national park outside of Alaska. It covers 3.3 million acres and is twice the size of the state of Delaware. It ranges from 282 feet below sea level to Telescope Peak at 11,049 feet.
There are 300 miles of paved roads and another 300 miles of improved dirt roads, plus hundreds of miles of 4-wheel-drive roads.
It gets most of its 1 million visitors from fall to spring. But it is getting increasing numbers of summer tourists, many from Europe.
Everyone stops at Badwater, the lowest spot in the park. The sign says it all: Badwater, Elevation: minus 282 feet.
Badwater is the site of a lake that evaporated thousands of years ago. It left behind white salt that is five miles wide and stretches to the horizon, with the Black Mountains in the background.
Park visitors can walk across the salt flats to the edge of the pond that remains off the Badwater Road. The layer of salt is from 1 to 5 feet thick.
The floor of the valley is strikingly white, and salt covers 200 square miles.
Look for the sign above the road at Badwater that marks where sea level is. It is 282 feet above the road.
A few miles to the north is the Devil's Golf Course at the end of a dirt road. What you find is a massive salt lake bed filled with jagged salt crystals.
The so-called golf course is filled with gnarled mounds of salt, each about 12 inches high. It looks like a ragged coral reef.
The salt pinnacles have been carved into surreal shapes by the wind, and nothing grows on the barren landscape.
The crystals may crack and make audible sounds as the temperatures soar in the summer.
The brown color on the salt comes from mud and silt washed down onto the crystalline chunks.
It is a rough and ragged plain where only the devil could enjoy a game of golf. That's how it got its name.
There is no trail, but visitors can walk across the area, being careful not to get hurt on the sharp crystals and not to damage the salt formations.
Daughter Katie and I were more impressed by the Devil's Golf Course on our early October visit than Badwater.
For sun watchers
Zabrieskie Point is a favorite spot in the park to watch the sun rise and set.
It is a colorful mixture of volcanic and sedimentary rock at its colorful best in the soft light of morning and evening.
Getting there is a short walk, about 200 yards up a small hill to the overlook, with its sprawling badlands.
North of Furnace Creek near Stovepipe Wells, visitors will find the park's main sand dunes.
Rising next to California state Route 190, the 100-foot-high dunes are striking and cover 14 square miles.
We did an early-morning round-trip hike of 3 miles up Golden Canyon with its interpretive stops. It was an easy hike through the colorful canyon to the aptly named Red Cathedral.
We explored the remains of the Harmony Borax Works that began operations in 1883-84. It is famous for its 20-mule teams that pulled wagons of borax across 165 miles of desert to the railroad at Mojave, Calif. Our tour was short, and we retreated to the air-conditioned car.
Yes, Death Valley was hot. The daytime temperatures were 103 and 104 degrees during our visit, and it's a draining heat when you are outdoors.
The park is still getting over flash floods in 2004. Several major tourist attractions -- including Dante's View at 5,475 feet and 9-mile-long Artists Drive Loop -- were both still closed on our visit.
Other attractions such as Scotty's Castle and old West ghost towns are farther away and were out of reach on our short visit.
Particulars
Death Valley is a deep bowl that is 140 miles long and about 20 miles wide. It was created when the great plates of earth pushed apart, creating the Amargosa and Panamint mountains and dropping the valley floor below sea level. That makes it a graben, or a sunken section of the Earth's crust.
The depression works like a convection oven, recirculating hot air and making the valley one of the hottest places on Earth, with ground-level temperatures that can reach 200 degrees in the summer.
It got its name in 1849-50 when a party of gold miners heading to California struggled to cross the valley. "Good-bye, Death Valley," is what one reportedly said.
Death Valley is extremely dry, with less than 2 inches of rainfall per year.
Heat warnings are widely posted throughout the park.
Visitors can see many of the sights in the park in the summer via air-conditioned vehicles. Be prepared and use common sense.
The National Park Service advises summer visitors to stay on paved roads and to stay with a broken-down car until help arrives.
Always carry extra water in your car. Visitors should drink from 2 to 4 liters of water per day, more if you are active in the heat. A liter is slightly larger than a quart.
Summer hiking is not recommended in the park except in the early morning and in the higher altitudes.
The park entry fee is $10 per vehicle.
Xanterra Parks & amp; Resorts operates lodging and restaurants at Furnace Creek Inn and Ranch, (760) 786-2345 and at Stovepipe Wells (760) 786-2387. The Internet site is www.xanterra.com.
For more information, contact Death Valley National Park at P.O. Box 579, Death Valley, CA 92328; (760) 786-3200. The Internet site is www.nps.gov/deva. The park has nine campgrounds and backcountry camping is allowed with free permits.
You can also get information from the Death Valley Chamber of Commerce, P.O. Box 157. Shoshone, CA 92384; (760) 852-4524.