Our second day in Death Valley and we visited the point of lowest elevation in North America and the temperature was 125 degrees Fahrenheit!  This National Park is the “hottest, driest and lowest National Park in the system.  As you see from the image, this is below sea level .  The temperature was hottest in the low land and cooler, if you consider 120 degrees cooler, as we drove up higher ground.

Death Valley is a place of contrasts and extremes.  There is a steady drought and record  summer heat with the disputed 134 degree Fahrenheit world record on July 10,1913.  There are snow covered peaks surrounding the park, rare rainstorms, vast fields of wildflowers, lush oases with tiny fish , refuge for wild life and human camping and permanent residents.  In spite of the morbid name of Death Valley, it is a home for a diversity of life!

This is the sand dune area of the park with lovely fine sand.  Because of  the winds, the dunes are a progress in movement, and this is the area where many people have died.  They try hiking and get disoriented and dehydrated and were unable  find their way back.