What is Death Valley?

Death Valley is the lowest and hottest place in the United States, a long narrow desert valley in southeastern California (with a small portion in Nevada) that holds the world's official record for highest air temperature ever recorded at 134 degrees Fahrenheit (56.7 Celsius) at Furnace Creek on July 10, 1913. The valley's lowest point at Badwater Basin is 282 feet below sea level, the lowest land elevation in North America. Death Valley measures about 140 miles long and 5 to 15 miles wide, oriented roughly north-south between the Amargosa Range to the east and the Panamint Range to the west.

The valley floor lies in the rain shadow of multiple mountain ranges, which strip moisture from Pacific weather systems before they reach the valley. Annual rainfall averages only about 2.36 inches, and the valley sometimes goes years without measurable rain. Summer temperatures regularly exceed 120 degrees Fahrenheit, and ground temperatures can exceed 200 degrees.

Despite the harsh conditions, Death Valley supports surprising biological diversity including over 1,000 plant species, more than 300 bird species, 51 mammal species, 36 reptile species, and the endemic Devils Hole pupfish living in a small spring.

The valley got its grim name from a group of California-bound emigrants in 1849 who attempted a shortcut and barely survived crossing the valley during the Gold Rush. The valley was sparsely populated by the indigenous Timbisha Shoshone, who continue to live in the area on a small reservation. Mining drove most non-indigenous settlement. Borax extraction at Harmony Borax Works from 1883 to 1888 produced the famous twenty-mule team borax wagons that hauled the mineral 165 miles south to railhead. Other minerals mined include gold, silver, copper, and talc. Most mining ended by the early twentieth century.

Death Valley National Monument was created in 1933, and Congress upgraded it to Death Valley National Park on October 31, 1994 along with the California Desert Protection Act. The park covers about 3.4 million acres, the largest national park in the contiguous United States.

Notable features include Badwater Basin (the lowest point), Furnace Creek (the main visitor area), Zabriskie Point (a famous viewpoint of eroded badlands), Dante's View (a high vantage point in the Black Mountains), Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes, Racetrack Playa (where rocks mysteriously slide across the dry lake bed leaving trails), Ubehebe Crater (a volcanic explosion crater), and Telescope Peak (the highest point in the park at 11,049 feet, just 18 miles west of Badwater Basin's 282 feet below sea level). Death Valley draws about 1.7 million visitors per year. Adjacent Mojave National Preserve and Joshua Tree National Park complete a vast protected desert region.