Rush hour Death Valley: Hottest, Driest, Lowest

Distance driven: 447 miles

Heat: Bearable

Chance of rain: approx. 0%

Tap water flavor: Not bad



Arrival When we arrived at Death Valley's Furnace Creek Ranch, we had been driving on dark, empty roads for hours. It was great to see buildings with lights on. We were starving, but the place we wanted to eat was closing soon and there was a dress code. We checked into our room, threw on our nicer clothes, and rushed to dinner at the nearby Furnace Creek Inn just in time for the last seating of the night. The Inn is actually a fancy resort, and the restaurant was surprisingly good given its remote location. We thoroughly enjoyed dinner, including a fried cactus appetizer served with tomatillo salsa and prickly pear jam. It wasn't all prarie cuisine, though — the house specialty is a tasty duck a l'orange. We went to bed looking forward to seeing Death Valley in the daylight. Morning We woke up early (for us) and took a look around the ranch. Apart from one cheesy souvenir area, the scenery was beautiful. The mountains are majestic, the valley is barren, and the Furnace Creek area maintains an oasis of greenery.

It's just like Kid Nation!



It's all St. Andrew's fault. Science Korner In case you haven't noticed yet, Death Valley is hot and dry. In fact, it's both the hottest place and the driest place in all of North America. This is all due to the surrounding mountains. Here's how it works. Why it's dry Wet air is generally heavier than dry air, so it sits like a blanket close to the ground. This is why airplanes can take off in a rainstorm, break through the clouds, and fly above the weather. When a mass of wet air is blown toward a mountain range, the wettest air (closest to the ground) smacks into the side of the mountain and has nowhere to go but up. However, air gets colder at higher altitudes, which makes the wet air turn into rain. All the moisture gets dumped out on the mountain, and the air that reaches the other side is significantly drier. This is known as the rainshadow effect. Death Valley is separated from the Pacific Ocean by five mountain ranges. Places like the Sierra Nevada are so lush and snowy because they steal Death Valley's rain.

Why it's hot The mountains surrounding Death Valley form a basin which prevents the air from circulating to and from other regions. As the sun causes the local temperature to rise, the hot air can't escape. It just sits there and bakes. Temperatures reach the 120's in the summer — which is why we came in the winter. Why it's low In addition to being hot and dry, Death Valley is also the lowest point of land in North America. Usually such places get filled in as millions of years' worth of rainwater carry in sediment, but when it hardly ever rains, the process is inhibited. Badwater It does rain a little, though — around two inches a year — and that moisture ends up a puddle in the lowest part of Death Valley. It's undrinkably salty, and thus that part of the park is known as Badwater. It's a big tourist spot — not so much for the puddle as for the sign marking 282 feet below sea level.

This is as low as I can get without my scuba gear or passport. Click to zoom in and look for the "SEA LEVEL" sign. The bad part about visiting the salt flats



Internet! There are two motels and a hotel in Death Valley, but none of them have Internet access. In fact, the Visitor's Center is the only place in the whole park that does. We stopped by with our laptops when we were done sightseeing. They did indeed have a hotspot, though it seemed to be hooked to a dialup account. Also it was 4:45 when we showed up, and they close at 5. However, one of the rangers told us they keep it on all night and that he knows from experience that it reaches the parking lot. So after they closed, we sat outside in the cold and waited for our mail to go through. While our data was transferring, Mike took a few long-exposure photos:





If you'd like to be notified when we post a new spot, you can join our announcement list. We won't use your address for anything else or share it with anyone, and the link to unsubscribe will be at the end of every message.

Email: Name: (optional)