/tags/zabriskie-point.rss en-us The road to Death Valley National Park from Los Angeles winds along the Owens River—a dry, hot region bordered by the Mojave Desert and the High Sierra. Death Valley has been the stage for gold prospecting, cowboy movie backdrops (John Wayne was a frequent visitor to the town of Lone Pine to film Westerns), and fierce battles over the ownership of water that flows through the Owens. Driving through the desiccated air on the way to Death Valley, I could taste dust on my tongue—the sweet tang of desert yucca, pinon and sage. Death Valley in California holds two extremes: Badwater, the lowest elevation of continental United States at 282 feet below sea level; and Telescope Peak, an 11,331-foot peak just a dozen miles from Badwater. It is said that the elevation gain from Badwater to the summit of Telescope Peak is similar in scope to the rise of Mount Everest as it juts up from the Tibetan plateau. The great central rift of Death Valley is a low-lying, incredibly arid desert that receives barely measurable precipitation each year. It is not a place that welcomes life, although life in myriad forms ekes out a tenuous existence in a place that reaches summer temperatures of over 120°F. Death Valley National Park is only a six-hour drive from Los Angeles, and the enormous strangely Martian landscape seems scooped up and dropped into California like an adopted park from another world . Death Valley National Park is home to the largest wilderness area in the lower 48 states. Apart from regions in Alaska, there is nowhere in the U.S. more remote, desolate and empty than Death Valley. There are a few must-sees for the Park. One is Zabriskie Point, which faithful die-hard Star Wars fans will recognize as the backdrop used by George Lucas for the desert planet of Tatooine. Badwater is a cool place to visit, and the little water that flows there is intensely salty, yet still miraculously supports life. The hardy Death Valley pupfish (Cyprinodon Salinus Salinus) paddles about innocuously in the shallow, blood warm water here. There are salt encrusted flats, where you can hear the salt crackling and snapping in the still desert air. Moisture soon leaves your skin, and the cliché of being in a convection oven certainly rings true. On the drive from Death Valley to the trailhead for Telescope Peak, you can get out of the vehicle and run down the grainy, blackened slopes into the well of the collapsed 500-foot-deep Ubehebe Crater. The climb back out, even in December, reminded me of why it was called Death Valley. Telescope Peak is a great (but strenuous) hike, and the best sunset and sunrise of your life will await you from the top. I camped overnight on top, which affords a 360 degree view of Death Valley, the Panamint Range, and the Sierras. There were moments when the sun was blazing across the desiccated landscape and the scene was both awe-inspiring and scarily apocalyptic. Gnarled, ancient Bristlecone Pines, some of the oldest living things on earth, clung to the summit. They looked more dead than alive, and yet persisted despite the harsh conditions. Fri, 08 Jan 2010 17:49:37 +0000 http://www.thecircumference.org/experiences/death-valley-california http://www.thecircumference.org/experiences/death-valley-california