When Brian visited Death Valley National Park 20+ years ago on his motorcycle, he remembered driving through it as quickly as possible to beat the heat. Happily our late March visit via car allowed us a more leisurely pace, although the 98 degree highs did have us wrapping up our hikes by mid-day.

I underestimated the amount of time we would need given all there was to see and do and the heat limitations on how many daylight hours we had to accomplish our list. While we experienced quite a few things in only one day, we could easily return to experience more.

We stayed in the small town of Beatty on the eastern side of the park and enjoyed entering the area via Daylight Pass Road. We passed almost no one during our drive and benefited from lovely early morning views of the valley as we wound our way down to the Furnace Creek Visitor Center to begin our day.

After watching the park film and chatting with the rangers, we came up with a plan to stop in several different areas to get an overall feel for the park. Here are some of our favorite spots.

Dante’s View

Our first stop was Dante’s View, which – at 5,575 feet / 1,699 meters – offers incredible panoramic views of the valley. Because it was early, the sun was working in our favor to really soak in the sights.

In addition to stunning views, we found lots of life in this area, including wildflowers, hummingbirds, and sparrows.

Zabriskie Point

On our way back north from Dante’s View we pulled into Zabriskie Point, which is one of the most photographed spots in the park.

Climbing the quarter mile / 400 meter paved path gave us awesome views of the nearby badlands and towering mountain range.

Badwater Basin

It was already heating up when we pulled into the busy parking lot for Badwater Basin, which marks the lowest elevation in North America at 282 feet / 85.5 meters below sea level.

We walked a short way out onto the salt flats for the experience but quickly returned to our vehicle – it was a little too warm for our taste, and we had other stops we wanted to explore.

Artist’s Palette

On our way back north from Badwater Base we pulled into the one-way drive to the Artist’s Palette.

This section of the park was one of my favorites with all of the bright teals and purples standing out against the brown hills.

Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes

I understand why the vast dunes at Mesquite Flat are a popular stop for people passing through the park – they are directly off the main road that runs west/east through Death Valley.

While this was certainly interesting terrain, it’s by no means the geographic makeup of Death Valley overall!

Given the midday timing for our visit, it was a short one – we took time to climb some nearby dunes, watch some families attempt to sled down the sand, and admire some desert iguanas that were beating the heat under the shade of a creosote bush.

Rainbow Canyon / Father Crowley Vista Point

We headed west via Panamint Springs to make a final stop at the park boundary called Father Crowley Vista Point, which overlooks Rainbow Canyon.

In recent years, Rainbow Canyon was nicknamed “Star Wars Canyon” by visitors who came to observe and photograph the military test flights which occurred in the vicinity. Star Wars Canyon is part of the R-2508 Complex, which has been used by the military since the 1930s. Unfortunately a jet crash in the canyon in 2019 resulting in the death of the pilot and injury to several visitors in the area, putting an end to training flights through the canyon. 

https://www.nps.gov/places/father-crowley-vista-point-rainbow-canyon.htm

After admiring the view and reading the information plaque about the test flights, we caught 395 south along the Sierra Nevada ranger to Ridgecrest, where we spent the night.

Along the way we saw a surprising number of Joshua trees. While we enjoyed seeing them in Joshua Tree National Park several years ago, I didn’t realize they were present this far north!

I don’t know what I was expecting from our visit, but it exceeded my expectations and I understand why it’s such a popular park.

While we only scratched the surface this visit, I could certainly see returning to explore more of the northern half of the park, including the Scotty’s Castle area, which is currently closed. Until next time!