Death Valley was named by gold prospectors who followed a badly chosen trail and were trapped for a time in this valley. It is shielded from water bearing clouds by three ranges of mountains, and so receives only an average of 1.5" of rain a year. It set the world record (since exceeded) for high temperature, at 134 degrees Fahrenheit on July 10, 1913, which is still the record for North America. The day we arrived on the valley rim, the official valley weather monitoring station at Furnace Creek measured a new heat record for the day at 127 F. The valley is famous for rock formations, salt flats and other salt features, desert plants and flowers, rare fishes, desert tortoises and other wildlife, and dinosaur fossils. Between Telescope Peak at 11,049 feet and Badwater at 280 feet below sea level, it displays an extreme elevation difference in a short horizontal distance.

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  Scotty's Castle was built starting in 1922 by a rich mid-westerner, Albert M. Johnson, as a place to vacation to recover his health. "Scotty" (Walter E. Scott), for whom the castle was named, wasn't the builder, he was the friend who convinced Johnson to come to Death Valley.
  

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  Ubehebe Crater is 2,400 feet in diameter, and 770 feet deep. It is about a thousand years old and is the result of a tremendously destructive volcanic eruption.
  

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  Mike stands with his red motorcycle and Mark's blue motorcycle, in front of a Joshua tree. These trees are a frequent sight on the desert floor.
  

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  Mike in motion, riding by a Joshua tree, on a gravel road leading to the area known as The Racetrack. There, due to the force of the wind, rocks "race" across the fine clay surface of a dry lake bed when it is wet during the abbreviated Death Valley rainy season.
  

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  These two abandoned buildings on a mountain hillside are part of Leadfield on Titus Canyon Road. Leadfield is a mining ghost town, left over from a mining scam that used the town to promote the sale of stock in a lead mine. It was once inhabited by 300 people, who left when the mine proved to be a dud.
  

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  Artists Palette, a vista pulloff on Artists Drive, is an area with rock formations of at least seven distinct bright colors visible in a small area, showing the complex geology of Death Valley.
  

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  The "Devil's Golf Course" is an area of earth broken up every foot or so into jagged rock salt "spikes". These spikes are caused by the force of salt crystals growing from the accumulation of dissolved salts in waters seeping up from below. This expands the soil, which with nowhere to grow sideways then pops up into the broken plates seen in the photo.
  

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  The lowest point of land in the western hemisphere is Death Valley's Badwater. Here is Mike, standing behind the Badwater sign, which is stuck in the salt-pan a few feet away from the literally "bad water" for which this spot is named.
  

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  These are the pools at Badwater. The water is so alkaline and salty it is poisonous to humans, but tiny rare snails and desert pupfish unique to these pools live in it.
  

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  Zabriskie Point displays a colorful area of closely packed hills and a rocky cliff. It is on the way to Dante's View.
  

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  Dante's View is a popular driving destination. It overlooks Death Valley from the east, and looks over a mile down to Badwater. Here Mike stands behind the sign identifying the site.
  

Telescope Peak is a strenuous all day hike, 14 miles round trip from Mahogany Flat campground, starting at 8,133 feet and reaching the summit at 11,049 feet. We started from lower down, at Thorndike campground, adding 2 miles and 700 feet to the effort. The hike has good footing most of the way, and follows parts of the sides of Rogers Peak and Bennett Peak on a gentle slope before continuing up along Telescope Peak, the highest summit in the Death Valley National Park. Part of the trail approaching Telescope Peak is a series of 14 switchbacks, and the final approach is along a ridge. On top of Telescope Peak is a heap of rocks with a white ammunition box containing a log book for travelers to enter their hiking comments when they reach the top. Our names are in there.

On the road leading to Mahogany Flat campground and Telescope Peak trailhead are ten charcoal kilns of historical interest left from the mining days of Death Valley.

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  These beehive shaped kilns were used for three years to cook wood into charcoal to be used in treating mining ores.
  

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  Here is another view of the ten charcoal kilns that sit at a spot along the road that leads to the trailhead for Telescope Peak. The kilns look like beehives, but are really immense.
  

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  Obviously the people who used this charcoal kiln were men of a shorter generation. Mike is a head taller than the doorway of the kiln. Invisible in this picture is a high window on the opposite side of the kiln, which allowed the kiln to be topped off with more wood. Wood is burned into charcoal, instead of ash, by restricting air flow to the fire. Both the window and the doorway were sealed before the fires were lit.
  

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  The hike to Telescope Peak crosses several mountain saddles (low spots between peaks) on its way from Mahogany Flat campground to the summit. Here is a splendid view of Telescope Peak, taken from the trail at a point just a bit after crossing one major saddle.
  

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  Mike stands on the summit of Telescope Peak. Behind him in the distance is the Death Valley floor, a bit lost in the haze. Closer behind him are the mountain ridges leading down toward Death Valley from Telescope Peak.
  

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  Here is a view from the summit of Telescope peak, looking back down the trail where it lies along a ridge approaching the peak. Most of the trail is no harder to walk than what you see here. For a hiker in good condition, 11,000 feet is still a fairly modest elevation. Camping overnight at 7,400 feet before hiking to the summit helped us adjust to the altitude.
  

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  Trees which die in the desert are sometimes even more beautiful in death. Here Mike stands below a dead tree that has lost its bark to the elements, and shines like gold in the sun.
  

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  Mike looks back up the trail going down from Telescope Peak. Smaller mountains are visible behind him.
  

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  Even on the slopes that lead to Telescope Peak, far above Death Valley, the desert climate is obvious. Here Kent heads down the trail after our hike to the summit.