This year's late winter getaway with my wife was to Death Valley National Park, continuing a series of cold season desert getaways. Due to Death Valley being the hottest place on earth, hiking not advised nearly 8 months out of the year. It was "cool" 88 Fahrenheit in the afternoon in mid February, which was a harsh adjustment from the -7 overnight with snow we had in Denver 3 days prior. The annual Dark Sky festival was in full swing, but we opted for a more solitary experience wandering the dune field at night to enjoy the park's exceptionally dark sky environment.

Death Valley is the largest national park in the 48 contiguous states and has an area approximately the size of Connecticut, which makes getting around the park rather time consuming. There are many rough roads that require a sturdy 4wd vehicle which we did not have an opportunity to explore with our rental car, but would be well worth an adventure on a future trip. The central portions of the park near the hotels can get very busy, but you adventure out on the less central trails, there is plenty of solitude to be had.

One of the most shocking features of the park is the extreme difference in altitudes and temperatures due to the valley floor being 90 degrees and 282 feet below sea level in Badwater Basin, while snow-capped Telescope Peak towers over the valley at 11,043 feet just a few miles away.

Although most of the park is in California, it is geographically more similar to the surrounding Nevada Great Basin many new images have loaded into the Panoramas and the Nevada galleries for your enjoyment.