Death Valley National Park comprises more than 3.3 million acres of spectacular desert scenery, rare desert wildlife, complex geology, undisturbed wilderness and sites of historical interest. Death Valley is unique because it contains the lowest, hottest, driest location in North America. Telescope Peak, the highest peak in the Park and in the Panamint Mountains, rises 11,049 feet above sea level and lies only 15 miles from the lowest point in the United States in the Badwater Basin salt pan, 282 feet below sea level. The highest temperatures in the United States are regularly recorded here, as are winter snows and near-zero nighttime temperatures. Devil’s Golf Course is actually not a golf course at all, but rather an expansive salt field caused by evaporated bodies of water. One can actually see the crystallization process at work. Also do not miss Mushroom Rock, Zabriskie Point, Dante’s View and Harmony Borax Works.

Ubehebe Crater

Zabriskie Point

Hexagonal salt formations at Badwater Basin

Badwater Basin elevation sign and scener

Joshua tree Harsh desert landscape

Devil’s Golf Course

Natural Bridge in Natural Bridge Canyon

Dry Waterfall in Natural Bridge Canyon

Sailing Stones at the Racetrack Playa

Sailing Stones at the Racetrack Playa

Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes

A twenty-mule team wagon

McKellips Daughters’ Grave

credit: Mike Baird

Moray lies 74 km from the city of Cusco on a high plateau at about 3500 m (11,500 ft). The magnificent series of terrace circles set into the ground that were once used by the Incas for experimentation with crops. Three enormous pits, each with beautifully curved sides that staircase down like the interiors of titanic flowerpots, have been carved out of the earth to depths of up to 100 feet and more. Air temperatures between the top and bottom layers can differ by more than 20 degrees. It is believed that the terraces, built over containing walls filled with fertile earth and watered by complex irrigation systems, enabled the Incas to grow more than 250 plant species.

credit: McKay Savage

The Cerro Negro volcano is a big smoking hill in the northwestern part of Nicaragua, waiting to surf and toboggan down it. The volcano is only about 500 meters high (675 meters above sea level), but the ascent is steep and tough. The slope is a full 40° in places, and the ride is fast and hot. Cerro Negro is the most recent basaltic cinder cone to form in the western hemisphere.

credit: Beth and Anth

credit: Beth and Anth

credit: Beth and Anth

credit: Beth and Anth

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credit: wgroth2