Exploring Death Valley

Dante’s View offers a wide vista of Death Valley National Park with the Badwater Basin below, rimmed by the Panamint Mountain Range.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Death Valley is the largest of America’s national parks, at 3.4 million acres. Visitors should have a vehicle with high clearance and lots of water.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Badwater Basin in Death Valley National Park is the lowest spot in North America at 282 feet below sea level.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

The highest spot in the park, Telescope Peak at 11,049 feet, is reflected in standing water in Death Valley’s lowest place, Badwater Basin.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

The 600-foot deep Ubehebe Crater is located in the northern area of Death Valley, where a powerful volcanic steam explosion created the the colorful hole in the ground suitable for hiking.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Teakettle Junction is a wide spot on Racetrack road and located six miles from the Racetrack. Travelers on the rough road hang teakettles on signage, creating a sort of open-air art installation.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Rusty old cars dot the landscape of Leadville, a ghost town in Titus Canyon.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

The skies above Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes are awash with colors at sunrise as a winter storm moves into the area.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Even though the mystery of the moving rocks has been solved, the Racetrack is a huge part of the lore of Death Valley.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Standing water on the edge of the Racetrack.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

The setting sun leaves a rim of color on the tops of the Funeral Mountains.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Some of the visitors to Death Valley may choose to stay at the Furnace Creek Ranch, which has two restaurants, a bar, horseback riding and a swimming pool.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Death Valley may be the hottest, lowest and driest location in the country, but on winter evenings the firepits at Furnace Creek Ranch provide warmth and a place to gather.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

The Inn at Furnace Creek offers higher-end lodging and dining with a view of the park.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

The inn was built by the Pacific Coast Borax Company and opened in 1927 with a spring-fed swimming pool.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Unique salt structures form in the Badwater Basin, where water combines with the natural salt deposits at 282 feet below sea level.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

A closer look at a salt formation.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

A couple out for an early morning walk in the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes are dwarfed by the surrounding landscape.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Vegetation dots Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

A visitor to the dunes performs her best gymnastic moves on a hill of sand.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

There are places in the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes where dried mud forms a patchwork of hard tile-like patterns.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

The gas station in Panamint Springs has some of the most expensive gas in the park. For a more affordable fill-up, try the station in Stovepipe Wells Village.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Rhyolite, Nev., a ghost town a short drive away from Death Valley National Park, greets visitors with a giant metal statue of a miner.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

The Tom Kelly Bottle House in the ghost town of Rhyolite, Nev., was built in 1906 from bottles discarded by the town’s numerous saloons.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Visitors begin their tour of Scotty’s Castle in Death Valley’s Grapevine Canyon, where millionaires Al and Bessie Johnson built a castle in the 1920s after forging a friendship with con man Walter Scott.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

The music room of Scotty’s Castle.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

A spiral staircase is part of the castle’s unique architecture.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Two of Death Valley Scotty’s hats are displayed in his bedroom. Walter Scott tempted the Johnsons into investing in a fictional gold mine. Even after realizing he was being swindled, Albert Johnson formed a lifelong friendship with the man and even housed him on the property.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Those touring Scotty’s Castle can see a cross on a hilltop next to Scotty’s grave.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Travelers in the park look through telescopes at the Furnace Creek Visitor Center.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

A roadrunner scampers across the grounds of the Inn at Furnace Creek.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

A coyote near Panamint Springs.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

The stars shine brightly over Death Valley National Park near Furnace Creek Ranch.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)