A visit to Death Valley National Park in California is a great experience. From our visit in 2019, here are some highlights as well as things I wish we’d done a little differently.
Do’s
- Do stay in the park. This is the largest National Park outside of Alaska, with amazing scenery and great hikes spread out; we were glad to not waste time driving in and out of the park each day. We stayed at Stovepipe wells in a “courtyard” room, which was nice but tiny. But we spent so little time in the room, it didn’t matter.
- Do make reservations early, especially for nice weather times such as February and March. Six months in advance is not too early! There are lodging options in Furnace Creek and Stovepipe Wells.
- Do plan for several days in the park, and group your hiking/sight seeing into park sections. Again, the distances are vast, so plan your days. Ubehebe Crater is close to Scotty’s Castle, but an hour and a half drive from Dante’s View.
- Do fill your gas tank before entering the park, where prices are quite a bit higher. Inside the park, regular gas was 92 cents more per gallon at Furnace Creek than the station at Stovepipe Wells.
- Do check for road closures! (And other closures.) The road to Scotty’s Castle was closed due to flooding, and the castle won’t reopen for visitors until 2021. The entrance road via Titus Canyon from the north side is sometimes only open for foot traffic. The National Park Service website is a great resource.
- Do use an all wheel drive vehicle, as roads to some of the interesting sights are not paved. Consider renting an off road vehicle if you want to drive in via Titus Canyon Road (if it’s open.) We loved hiking this road through the twisting, turning canyon, but could not imagine driving it in an ordinary SUV.
- Do carry lots of water.
Don’ts
- Don’t forget a stocking cap. The wind was so intense in places, I just needed something to keep my hair from blowing everywhere. A baseball cap catches the wind and blows off.
- Don’t get near the park without downloading a map on your device, for offline use. We knew there would be no cell service inside the park, but did not realize that many of the towns outside the park also lack service. And the Wi-Fi at our motel was too slow for downloading.
- Don’t forget to download trail maps if you use AllTrails.
- Don’t forget to either pack a compass, or download a compass app on your phone.
- Don’t ignore the weather. Enjoying the park in the summer is not for me, but if it’s your only option, get an early start and pack lots of water.