Death Valley National Park is a national park in the United States that lies between California and Nevada, to the east of the Sierra Nevada mountains. The park includes Death Valley, the northern part of Panamint Valley, the southern part of Eureka Valley, and most of Saline Valley.

The park is located where the dry Great Basin and Mojave deserts meet. It protects the northwest part of the Mojave Desert and its many different environments, such as salt flats, sand dunes, badlands, valleys, canyons, and mountains.

Death Valley is the largest national park in the lower 48 states of the United States. It is also the hottest, driest, and lowest national park in the country. The park includes Badwater Basin, which is the second-lowest point in the Western Hemisphere and the lowest in North America at 282 feet (86 meters) below sea level. More than 93% of the park is a protected wilderness area.

The park is home to many plants and animals that have adapted to the desert climate. These include the creosote bush, Joshua tree, bighorn sheep, coyote, and the endangered Death Valley pupfish, which survived from a time when the area was wetter. In 1984, UNESCO included Death Valley as the main feature of its Mojave and Colorado Deserts Biosphere Reserve.

Native American groups lived in the area as early as 7000 BCE. The Timbisha people lived there around 1000 CE and moved between winter homes in the valleys and summer homes in the mountains. A group of European-Americans who were lost in the valley in 1849 while searching for a shortcut to gold fields in California gave the valley its name, even though only one person in the group died there.

During the late 1800s and early 1900s, many short-lived towns were built to mine gold and silver. The only long-term profitable resource mined was borax, which was transported out of the valley using teams of 20 mules. Later, the valley became the subject of books, radio shows, television programs, and movies. Tourism grew in the 1920s when resorts were built near Stovepipe Wells and Furnace Creek. Death Valley National Monument was established in 1933, and the park was expanded and became a national park in 1994.

The area’s environment was shaped by its geology. The valley is a type of geological formation called a graben, with some of the oldest rocks being more than 1.7 billion years old. These rocks were changed over time by heat and pressure. Ancient, warm, shallow seas once covered the area and left behind layers of sediment. Later, the Pacific Ocean formed, and more sediment was added. A subduction zone near the coast caused the land to rise and created a line of volcanoes. Eventually, the land stretched and formed the Basin and Range landscape. During wet periods, such as ice ages, lakes like Lake Manly filled the valleys.

Death Valley is the fifth-largest national park in the United States and the largest in the contiguous states. It covers an area larger than the states of Rhode Island and Delaware combined and is nearly as large as Puerto Rico. In 2013, Death Valley National Park was named a dark sky park by the International Dark-Sky Association.

Geographic setting

There are two major valleys in the park: Death Valley and Panamint Valley. Both valleys formed within the last few million years and are surrounded by mountain ranges that run north to south. These valleys and nearby areas follow the general pattern of Basin and Range topography, but Death Valley has a special feature: parallel strike-slip faults that cross the middle of the valley. This movement causes the central part of Death Valley to widen slightly and sink more than other areas.

The surrounding mountains are rising, while the valley floor is sinking. The Black Mountains are rising very quickly, creating small and steep alluvial fans (fan-shaped areas where dirt and rocks pile up at the ends of canyons) compared to the large, gentle alluvial fans from the Panamint Range. In dry areas, fast mountain uplift often prevents canyons from forming a full V-shape all the way to the stream bed. Instead, the V-shape ends at a narrow slot canyon halfway down, creating a "wine glass canyon." Sediment builds up on the small, steep alluvial fans.

Badwater Basin, located in Death Valley, is 282 feet (86 meters) below sea level at its lowest point. It is the second-lowest area in the Western Hemisphere, after Laguna del Carbón in Argentina. Mount Whitney, 85 miles (137 kilometers) to the west, reaches 14,505 feet (4,421 meters) and is the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States. The difference in elevation between these two points is the greatest elevation change in the contiguous United States and marks the end of the Great Basin’s southwestern drainage. Although the Great Basin has very little water today, this feature shows that in wetter times, Lake Manly once filled Death Valley. This lake was the final stop for water flowing through the region, leaving behind salt and minerals.

As a result, the salt flats in Death Valley are among the largest in the world and contain valuable minerals like borax and various salts. The largest salt flat in the park stretches 40 miles (64 kilometers) from the Ashford Mill Site to the Salt Creek Hills, covering about 200 square miles (520 square kilometers). The most famous playa in the park is the Racetrack, known for its moving rocks.

Climate

According to the Köppen climate classification system, Death Valley National Park has a hot desert climate (BWh). The plant hardiness zone at Badwater Basin is 9b, with an average annual extreme minimum temperature of 28 °F (−2.2 °C).

Death Valley is the hottest and driest place in North America because it has little surface water and low elevation. It is so often the hottest place in the United States that some lists of the highest daily temperatures in the country leave it out.

On July 10, 1913, the United States Weather Bureau recorded a high temperature of 134 °F (56.7 °C) at Greenland Ranch (now Furnace Creek) in Death Valley. This temperature is the highest air temperature ever recorded on Earth’s surface. A reported temperature of 136 °F (57.8 °C) in Libya in 1922 was later found to be incorrect. Daily summer temperatures of 120 °F (48.9 °C) or higher are common, and winter temperatures can drop below freezing. July is the hottest month, with an average high of 117 °F (47.2 °C) and an average low of 91 °F (32.8 °C). December is the coldest month, with an average high of 66 °F (18.9 °C) and an average low of 41 °F (5 °C). The lowest temperature ever recorded is 15 °F (−9.4 °C). On average, there are 197.3 days each year with highs of 90 °F (32.2 °C) or higher and 146.9 days with highs of 100 °F (37.8 °C) or higher. Freezing temperatures (32 °F or lower) occur about 8.6 days annually.

Many of the larger springs in Death Valley get water from a regional aquifer that stretches as far east as southern Nevada and Utah. Much of the water in this aquifer has been there for thousands of years, since the Pleistocene ice ages, when the climate was cooler and wetter. Today’s drier climate does not provide enough rain to refill the aquifer at the same rate water is being used.

The highest area in the park is the Panamint Range, with Telescope Peak as its highest point at 11,049 feet (3,368 m). The Death Valley region is part of the northernmost area of the Mojave Desert and includes five mountain ranges far from the Pacific Ocean. Three of these ranges—Sierra Nevada, Argus Range, and Panamint Range—are major barriers. Air masses lose moisture as they rise over mountains, a process called the rainshadow effect.

The strong rain shadow effect makes Death Valley the driest place in North America. It receives about 1.5 inches (38.1 mm) of rain annually at Badwater, and some years have no measurable rainfall. Average yearly precipitation ranges from 1.92 inches (48.8 mm) below sea level to over 15 inches (380 mm) in higher mountain areas. When rain does fall, it often comes in intense storms that cause flash floods, reshaping the landscape and creating temporary lakes.

The hot, dry climate makes it hard for soil to form. In mountainous areas, mass wasting—rock moving downhill—is the main type of erosion, leading to "skeletonized" ranges with little soil. Sand dunes in the park are famous but not as widespread as they seem. The Mesquite Flat dune field is closest to the road near Stovepipe Wells and is made of quartz sand. Another dune field is 10 miles (16 km) north but is mostly travertine sand. The tallest dunes in the park, and some of the tallest in North America, are in Eureka Valley, about 50 miles (80 km) north of Stovepipe Wells. Other dune fields, such as those in Panamint Valley and Saline Valley, are west and northwest of the town, respectively. The Ibex dune field is near Ibex Hill, south of Saratoga Springs marshland. These dunes are only accessible via unpaved roads. Winter winds come from the north, and summer winds come from the south, keeping the dunes’ positions mostly stable.

There are rare exceptions to the area’s dryness. In 2005, an unusually wet winter created a temporary lake in Badwater Basin and led to the most extensive wildflower season in the park’s history. In October 2015, a "1000-year flood event" with over three inches of rain caused major damage in Death Valley National Park. A similar storm in August 2022 damaged roads and trapped 1,000 people overnight.

Human history

Four Native American cultures lived in the area over the past 10,000 years. The first group, called the Nevares Spring People, were hunters and gatherers who arrived about 9,000 years ago (7000 BC). At that time, Death Valley and nearby Panamint Valley had small lakes, and the climate was much milder than today. Large animals were common, making it easier for the Nevares Spring People to find food. Around 5,000 years ago (3000 BC), the Mesquite Flat People replaced the Nevares Spring People. About 2,000 years ago, the Saratoga Spring People arrived. By then, the area had become a hot, dry desert. This group was better at hunting and gathering and made tools and crafts. They also created strange stone patterns in the valley.

One thousand years ago, the Timbisha people (also called Shoshone, Panamint, or Koso) moved to the area. They hunted animals and gathered food like mesquite beans and pinyon pine nuts. Because the valley floor was much lower than the mountains, the Timbisha moved up and down the mountains with the seasons. In winter, they lived near water sources in the valley. As spring and summer arrived, they climbed higher to find food. In November, they reached the top of the mountains to collect pine nuts before returning to the valley for winter.

The California Gold Rush brought the first people of European descent to the area. In December 1849, two groups of travelers with about 100 wagons got lost in Death Valley while trying to find a shortcut. They were called the Bennett-Arcane Party. They stayed in the valley for weeks, drinking water from springs but eating their oxen to survive. They used wagon wood to cook meat and make jerky. The place where this happened is now called "Burnt Wagons Camp," near Stovepipe Wells.

After abandoning their wagons, the group eventually left the valley. As they left, a woman said, "Goodbye Death Valley," giving the valley its name. William Lewis Manly, who was part of the group, wrote a book called Death Valley in '49, which described their journey. Later, a prehistoric lake in the valley was named after him.

The most famous minerals found in the area were evaporite deposits, such as salt, borate, and talc. In 1881, Rosie and Aaron Winters discovered borax near The Ranch (then called Greenland). That same year, the Eagle Borax Works became Death Valley’s first commercial borax operation. William Tell Coleman built the Harmony Borax Works in 1883 or 1884, and it operated until 1888. Borax was used to make soap and for industry. The finished product was transported out of the valley in 10-ton wagons pulled by "twenty-mule teams" (actually 18 mules and 2 horses). These wagons traveled about 2 miles per hour and took about 30 days for a round trip. The "20-Mule Team Borax" brand was created by Francis Marion Smith’s company in 1890.

In 1914, the Death Valley Railroad was built to help with mining. Mining continued even after Coleman’s company failed, and by the late 1920s, Death Valley was the world’s top source of borax. The Furnace Creek Formation, about 4 to 6 million years old, is the main source of borate minerals in the valley.

Other visitors mined for copper, gold, lead, and silver, but these efforts were limited by the area’s harsh environment. In 1903, Jack Keane and Domingo Etcharren discovered gold near their work site and named the area the Keane Wonder Mine. This led to a short-lived gold rush. Mines at Keane Wonder, Rhyolite, Skidoo, and Harrisburg were profitable, but most mining efforts failed. Some towns, like Leadfield, were fake and later became hazards. These towns thrived briefly but declined after the Panic of 1907.

The first tourist facilities in Death Valley were built in the 1920s near Stovepipe Wells. People visited resorts near natural springs believed to have healing properties. In 1927, Pacific Coast Borax turned Furnace Creek Ranch into a resort, creating the Furnace Creek Inn. Water from the Furnace Creek spring was used to develop the resort, which caused nearby wetlands to shrink.

Death Valley became a popular winter destination. Other facilities, like Death Valley Ranch (later called Scotty’s Castle), were built as private homes but later opened to the public. Scotty’s Castle, a Spanish Revival-style home, became a hotel and tourist attraction. Walter Scott, a miner who claimed to have built the castle with gold profits, was actually a gold miner who lied about his connection to the property. The real owner, Albert Mussey Johnson, supported the myth.

On February 11, 1933, President Herbert Hoover declared Death Valley a national monument, protecting nearly 2 million acres in southeastern California and parts of Nevada. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) helped build roads, trails, buildings, and facilities in the monument during the 1930s and 1940s. The main CCC camp was at Cow Creek, near Furnace Creek. The CCC built 76 structures, including barracks, roads, and a trading post for the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe.

In 1942, the Cow Creek camp was briefly used to hold Japanese American detainees from Manzanar. The monument’s creation temporarily stopped mining, but Congress allowed mining to resume in 1933. Advances in mining technology later made it easier to extract minerals from the area.

Geologic history

The park has a long and varied history of geology. Since it formed, the area has gone through at least four major periods of volcanic activity, three or four major periods of sediment being laid down, and several times when the Earth's crust was pushed and folded. Two major ice ages also affected the area, though glaciers never covered the mountain ranges now in the park.

Scientists know little about the oldest rocks in the area because they were changed by heat and pressure. Radiometric dating shows these rocks were altered during the Proterozoic era, about 1,700 million years ago. Around 1,400 million years ago, a large mass of granite from the Panamint Range was pushed into these rocks. Later, the land rose, exposing these rocks to erosion for nearly 500 million years.

Sedimentary rocks from the Pahrump Group were laid down on these older rocks. This happened after earlier sediments were worn away. The Pahrump Group includes layers of arkose conglomerate (quartz pieces in a cement-like material), mudstone, dolomite from ancient carbonate banks, and algal mats called stromatolites. The youngest rocks in the Pahrump Group are basaltic lava flows.

During the Neoproterozoic era (about 755 million years ago), the supercontinent Rodinia broke apart, creating the Pacific Ocean. A shoreline similar to today’s Atlantic Ocean coast of the United States was to the east. An algal mat-covered carbonate bank formed, creating the Noonday Dolomite. As the Pacific Ocean expanded, the region sank, forming the Ibex Formation. A gap in the rock record followed.

A true ocean basin developed to the west, breaking earlier formations along a steep edge. Sediment began to build up at the base of underwater cliffs, forming opposing continental shelves. Three sediment layers formed from this process. The first known fossils of complex life appear in these layers, including Ediacara fauna and trilobites, which were part of the Cambrian Explosion.

About 550 million years ago, sandy mudflats were replaced by a carbonate platform similar to today’s Bahamas. This lasted for 300 million years during the Paleozoic era. Death Valley was near the Paleozoic equator. Thick layers of carbonate-rich sediments were occasionally exposed above water. A coastline ran from Arizona through Utah. Eight formations and one group of rocks, totaling 20,000 feet (6 km) in thickness, underlie several mountain ranges.

In the early to mid-Mesozoic era, the western edge of North America collided with the Pacific Ocean’s plate, forming a subduction zone. Subduction zones occur where heavier crust slides under lighter crust. Volcanoes erupted, mountains rose, and the coastline shifted westward. The Sierran Arc formed to the northwest, and thrust faults developed due to pressure.

A long period of uplift and erosion followed, creating a major gap in the rock record. Sediments from Death Valley were carried east and west by wind and water. No Jurassic- to Eocene-aged sedimentary rocks exist in the area, except for some possibly Jurassic-age volcanic rocks.

Stretching of Earth’s crust began around 16 million years ago in the Basin and Range region, affecting Death and Panamint valleys by 3 million years ago. Before this, rocks now in the Panamint Range were above rocks that would later form the Black Mountains and Cottonwood Mountains. Normal faults moved these rock blocks vertically and sideways. Strike-slip faults, running parallel to the ranges, also helped shape the area. Torsional forces, likely from the Pacific plate moving northwest along the San Andreas Fault, caused sideways movement.

Igneous activity, like volcanic rock formation, occurred from 12 million to 4 million years ago. Sediment builds up in valleys from erosion of nearby mountains. The amount of sediment deposited roughly matched the land sinking, keeping valley floors at similar elevations over time.

Pleistocene ice ages began 2 million years ago. Meltwater from glaciers in the Sierra Nevada Mountains filled lakes in Death and Panamint valleys and surrounding basins. Lake Manly, the last in a chain of lakes fed by the Amargosa, Mojave, and Owens Rivers, dried up 10,500 years ago. Salt flats and dry lakebeds formed as glaciers retreated. Only faint lake shorelines remain today.

Biology

Habitat in Death Valley ranges from salt pans located 282 feet (86 meters) below sea level to sub-alpine conditions at the top of Telescope Peak, which reaches 11,049 feet (3,368 meters). Vegetation zones include creosote bush, desert holly, and mesquite at lower elevations, and sagebrush, shadscale, blackbrush, Joshua tree, pinyon-juniper, limber pine, and bristlecone pine woodlands at higher elevations. The salt pan has no vegetation, and most of the valley floor and lower slopes have little plant cover. However, where water is available, many plants grow. These areas and the nearby desert support many wildlife species, including 51 types of native mammals, 307 types of birds, 36 types of reptiles, 3 types of amphibians, and 2 types of native fish.

Small mammals are more common than large mammals, such as bighorn sheep, coyotes, bobcats, kit foxes, cougars, and mule deer. Mule deer live in pinyon-juniper areas of the Grapevine, Cottonwood, and Panamint ranges. Bighorn sheep are rare mountain sheep found in small groups in the Sierra Nevada and Death Valley. These animals can eat almost any plant. They have no natural predators, but humans and burros compete for the same habitat.

The ancestors of the Death Valley pupfish traveled from the Colorado River through a dry river and lake system that no longer exists (see Lake Manly). Today, they live in two separate groups: one in Salt Creek and another in Cottonball Marsh. Death Valley is one of the hottest and driest places in North America, yet it is home to over 1,000 plant species, 23 of which, including the rare rock lady (Holmgrenanthe), are found nowhere else.

Adapting to the dry environment is essential. For example, creosote bush and mesquite have deep taproots that can reach 50 feet (15 meters) underground to access groundwater. The variety of plant communities in Death Valley partly results from its location in a transition zone between the Mojave Desert, the Great Basin Desert, and the Sonoran Desert. This location, along with the area’s varied terrain, supports vegetation typical of three biotic life zones: the lower Sonoran, the Canadian, and the arctic/alpine in parts of the Panamint Range. Based on the Munz and Keck (1968) classifications, seven plant communities can be grouped within these life zones. Each community is defined by its dominant plants and represents three vegetation types: scrub, desert woodland, and coniferous forest. Microhabitats further divide some communities into smaller zones, especially on the valley floor.

Unlike other areas in the Mojave Desert, many water-dependent habitats in Death Valley have plant and animal species found nowhere else on Earth. These species exist because of the region’s unique geologic history and the evolution that occurred in habitats isolated from each other since the Pleistocene epoch.

Activities

Sightseeing in Death Valley National Park can be done by car, four-wheel drive vehicle, motorcycle, bicycle, mountain bike (on established roads only), or by hiking. Major roads like State Route 190, Badwater Road, Scotty's Castle Road, and paved roads to Dante's View and Wildrose provide access to scenic viewpoints and historic sites. Over 350 miles (560 km) of unpaved and four-wheel-drive roads lead to wilderness areas for hiking, camping, and historical sites. Unlike many other national parks, there are no formal entrance stations. Visitors can pay entry fees at visitor centers, ranger stations, or fee machines within the park. Hiking trails vary in length and difficulty, but most backcountry areas are only reachable by cross-country hiking. The best time to visit is from October to May to avoid summer heat. Costumed tours of Scotty's Castle were stopped in October 2015 because of flood damage, and the site remains closed to the public.

Nine campgrounds are located within the park, and permits for overnight backcountry camping can be obtained at the visitor center. Xanterra Parks & Resorts manages the private Oasis at Death Valley, which includes two hotels: the Inn at Death Valley (a four-star historic hotel) and the Ranch at Death Valley (a three-star ranch-style property). Panamint Springs Resort is in the western part of the park. Death Valley Lodging Company operates the Stovepipe Wells Resort under a concession permit. A few motels are located near park entrances in Shoshone, Death Valley Junction, Beatty, and Pahrump.

The Furnace Creek Visitor Center is on CA-190 and includes exhibits and a film about the park’s geology, climate, wildlife, natural history, human history, and pioneer experiences. During winter (November through April), rangers offer interpretive tours, walks, talks, and presentations about the park’s cultural and natural history. The Death Valley Natural History Association maintains a bookstore.

In the northeast corner of Saline Valley, several hot spring pools are accessible by driving on unpaved roads for several hours or by flying a personal aircraft to the Chicken Strip—a short walk from the springs.

Death Valley National Park is a popular place for stargazing because it has one of the darkest night skies in the United States. However, light pollution from nearby Las Vegas affects air quality and night visibility. The darkest skies are in the northwest of the park, where Ubehebe Crater is a Bortle class 1 or "excellent dark sky" site. Under these conditions, the Andromeda Galaxy, Triangulum Galaxy, and the Milky Way are visible to the unaided eye. Optical phenomena like zodiacal light ("false dawn") and gegenschein can also be seen. Most southern areas of the park are Bortle class 2 or "average dark sky" sites.