Death Valley is the hottest, driest, and lowest National Park in the USA. High on the cliff face (282 ft. high) at Badwater Basin was a white plaque with huge capitals denoting SEA LEVEL. We were standing at the lowest part of North America.
If you don’t know what to do in Death Valley, it is a place where you don’t need to do too much for it to quickly become one of your favorite USA national parks.
Ripples of white, yellow, mauve, pink, and chocolate sand dunes frozen in time stretch out in front of you with a purple sandy river running through it and the snow capped Panamint Mountain ranges in the background.
As this area gets less than two inches of rain annually and no water can flow out of the basin, the water evaporates leaving behind mineral deposits that cover the basin like a salty dusting of snow.
Dante’s View will give you the BEST bird’s eye view of Death Valley. You really don’t want to miss it. You’ll get the swirling whites and muted browns of the salt basin deep in the valley that stretches for miles.
We were SO lucky to have arrived the day after they opened this drive. Apparently it had been closed for years!! As it was all new, the road was pristine dark black which just made the landscape pop even more.