Death Valley and Mojave

Death Valley and Mojave Travel Guide

Dust and desolation, tumbleweeds and rattlesnakes, barren landscapes—these are the bleak images that come to mind when most people hear the word desert. But east of the Sierra Nevada, where the land quickly flattens and the rain seldom falls, the desert is anything but a wasteland. The topography here is extreme; whereas Death Valley drops to almost 300 feet below sea level and contains the lowest (and hottest) spot in the Western Hemisphere, the Mojave Desert, which lies to the south, has elevations ranging from 3,000 to 5,000 feet. These remote regions (which are known, respectively, as low desert and high desert) possess a singular beauty found nowhere else in California.

When to Go
Top Reasons to Go
Death Valley NP Essentials

Death Valley NP Camping
Flora & Fauna
Great Itineraries

Photo: Natalia Bratslavsky/Shutterstock

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