Death Valley (California, USA) – exact location, places of interest, inhabitants, routes.
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Death Valley is a huge desert in the southwestern United States, located on the border of the states of California and Nevada – the lowest, hottest and driest place in North America. People come here for unearthly landscapes: cracked, salty crust, canyons and sand dunes contrasting with high snow-capped mountains. There are many routes in the national park, both cycling and hiking.
How to get there
There is no public transport to Death Valley, although in Las Vegas you can buy a ticket for a charter bus from one of the city’s travel agencies. The most convenient way to get to the national park is by rented car from Las Vegas (about 200 km).
Virtually all roads leading to Death Valley provide fantastic views. For example, the highways from the west or north US-95 (Nevada) or I-15 (California) are similar to the landscapes of Argentine Patagonia or distant Mongolia. But a trip to the valley through Panamint Springs, on the Hwy 190, gives a breathtaking panorama of the Sierra Nevada.
Gasoline, diesel and any type of fuel are quite expensive in the park, so it is better to fill the full bank in advance. Fernice Creek has an information office approximately 110 miles (2.5-3 hours) from Baker and 145 miles (3-3.5 hours) from Las Vegas.
Death Valley Climate
The average temperature in July reaches +46 ° C here, and +31 ° C at night. The coolest time is from the end of November to February (+5 … + 20 ° C), at this time there are frequent powerful long showers. In late March – early April, after winter precipitation, the desert turns into a garden. Despite the dryness, about 1000 different plant species grow here.
The peak tourist season in Death Valley occurs during the cold winter months and spring, when the wild vegetation of this region flourishes in all its glory. From late March to roughly the end of April, all hotels can be booked for the next one hundred miles, as everyone is eager to see the particularly luxurious Scotty’s Castle at this time of year.
Death Valley is empty in the summer, although some European travelers put themselves to the test when they come to the devilishly hot desert. Of course, with a car with good air conditioning, it is theoretically possible to drive through Death Valley, especially if you leave a comfortable car early in the morning or late in the evening when the temperature drops.
The park is open all year round. In the winter months from 8:30 to 17:30, in the summer from 9:00 to 16:30.
Death Valley landmarks
The name of the national park speaks for itself: the harsh, hot and hell-like desert seems to be a figment of a fevered imagination; lifeless, ascetic and frightening place, descended from the pages of the Old Testament. And yet this place attracts travelers during their voyage across America no worse than the angelic singing of Odysseus’s sirens. What for? To find one of the wonders of nature, the geological end of the world, the desert of death.
Death Valley National Park – the largest in the continental United States, covers an unimaginable area: more than 5 thousand square miles, including valleys and mountains in the north. On this natural playground, you can find singing sand dunes, mosaics of marble canyons, boulders suddenly appearing from nowhere in the middle of a sun-scorched desert, extinct volcanic craters, palm oases and many rare flora and fauna that are not found anywhere else in the world.
The valley stretches about 140 miles from north to south and 10 to 20 miles wide, bordering the Panamint chain in the west and the Amargosa ridge in the east. The stone formations that can be seen today in the national park were created about 500 million years ago. These unique statues today can be seen and touched only here, all the rest, similar in age and structure, boulders, scattered across our planet, have long gone underground. Limestone and sandstone were once the foundation of the seabed, until, due to the movement of the plates of the old woman-Earth, they came to the surface.
Another attraction of Death Valley is the Timbisha Indian tribe (Timbisha, “stone paint”), who moved here about a thousand years ago. Several families of this tribe still live in the valley near Furnace Creek. In the Grapevine Canyon, not far from the Scotty Castle, another Indian village, Maahunu, is preserved, in which no one lives now.
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