Death Valley offers beautiful views, hot temperatures, Lodging, camping, and too many photograph opportunities to count!
Lodging is available at Furnace Creek Inn from October through Mother's Day. Furnace Creek Ranch offers lodging all year. Stovepipe Wells Village and Panamint Springs Resort also provide lodging.
Camping is available at Furnace Creek and Mesquite Spring all year. Sunset, located at 196 feet below sea level, and Texas Spring and Stovepipe Wells at sea level offer camping from October to April. Emigrant offers camping in tents only. Elevation is 2100 feet above sea level. Wildrose, at 4100 above sea level, offers camping all year. Thorndike offers camping from March to November, at an elevation of 7400 feet. Thorndike is accessible only to high clearance vehicles. And, at 8200 feet elevation, Mahogany Flat also offers free camping March to November.
Badwater Basin is the lowest point you can get to by car, at 282 feet below sea level. It is located 18 miles south of Furnace Creek Visitor Center on Badwater Rd. This is also one of the hottest places in the world.
Dante's View is one of the best areas to take photos from in Death Valley. From here, you can look almost straight down on Badwater.
This is an excellent place to watch the sunset. Zabriskie Point's landscape has been severely eroded by time and elements, and is beautiful and interesting to look upon.
Scotty's Castle offers a tour of the house from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. in the winter and spring, and 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. in the summer. There are other tours as well, including the Underground Mysteries Tour, which takes you under the castle. Tours fill up fast!
You must go through Lone Pine to reach Mt. Whitney, the highest point in the U.S. at 14,495 feet elevation. Once you reach Mt. Whitney, there is a waterfall, a picnic area, and hiking trails.
The Alabama Hills provide a back drop to Lone Pine. They were used in filming many old western movies.
Yosemite has much to offer an outdoor enthusiast, including but not limited to camping, hiking, picnicking, fishing, and horse back riding. Just taking a nature walk through the area can calm the senses.
Devil's Postpile is a naturally formed structure of columnar basalt. This occurred as a huge mass of lava cooled. Estimates are between 100,000 and 700,000 years ago that this occurred. The columns are mostly hexagonal in shape, with the rest being a mix of 3,4,5,or 7 sided. Only certain types of lava cool in this way. The top of the postpile has been smoothed by glaciers.
Rainbow Falls is a 101 foot high waterfall located two miles downstream from Devil's Postpile. It is so named because of the rainbows that form in the mist of the falls.
Bodie was a gold mining town during the gold rush. It is now a ghost town, in a state of "arrested decay". There are no commercial facilities here, however there are restrooms in the parking lot to the park. No camping is allowed in Bodie. Bodie is open year round, but it is at a very high 8,375 ft. elevation, and is only accessible by over-snow equipment in the winter.
Mammoth Mountain offers three full service slope side lodges and 150 names trails. The winter season typically lasts from November to June, when they receive about 400 inches of snow total.
Here are a few of the many hiking trails around Mammoth:
There are many water sports offered at the Mammoth Lakes, and other activities, including canoeing, kayaking, camping, climbing, horseback riding, and so much else!!
