Death Valley lies between two mountain ranges - the Amargosa to the east, the Panamints to the west - creating a basin that traps and amplifies heat. At its lowest point, Badwater Basin sits 282 feet below sea level, the lowest elevation in North America. The valley stretches 140 miles long and up to 25 miles wide. The surrounding peaks exceed 11,000 feet; Telescope Peak rises directly from the valley floor to 11,049 feet, an elevation change greater than any in the Lower 48. The heat accumulates because mountains block ocean breezes and rain; the valley receives less than 2 inches of precipitation annually. When rain does fall, flash floods carve the alluvial fans that spread from every canyon mouth.

Death Valley's features bear names of beautiful menace: Furnace Creek, Dante's View, Devil's Golf Course, Hell's Gate. The salt flats at Badwater glitter with a white crust that crunches underfoot; nothing lives in the brine, hence the name. The Racetrack Playa hosts sailing stones that leave tracks across the dry lake bed - a mystery solved in 2014 when researchers documented thin ice sheets pushing rocks across the mud. Zabriskie Point offers eroded badlands in improbable colors - golds, reds, greens, blacks. Artist's Palette lives up to its name with oxidized minerals painting the hillsides. The naming became marketing; the extremity is the brand.

The Timbisha Shoshone lived in Death Valley for centuries before Europeans arrived, moving seasonally between valley floor and mountain meadows, harvesting mesquite beans and pinyon nuts. Their homeland was declared a national monument in 1933, and they were expelled. For decades they fought for recognition; in 2000, the Timbisha Homeland Act returned 7,500 acres to tribal control, making them the only tribe with land within a national park. They remain, population about 50 in the valley, living where survival seems impossible, proving it isn't. The valley that kills the foolish has sustained the wise for a millennium.

Death Valley became a tourist destination through borax mining. The Twenty-Mule Team that hauled borax to the railroad became marketing icon; the company that later became Pacific Coast Borax built hotels to attract visitors. Furnace Creek Inn opened in 1927, an adobe oasis of palm trees and swimming pools where the temperature outside might kill you. The extremity became attraction: 'I survived Death Valley' postcards, thermometer photos showing impossible numbers, the bragging rights of the hottest place on Earth. Summer visitors - 'heat tourists' - come specifically for the extremes, thrilling at temperatures no human should experience.

Death Valley National Park is located in southeastern California, extending into Nevada. Las Vegas is the nearest major city (120 miles); Los Angeles is 275 miles. Summer visits require extreme caution: carry at least one gallon of water per person per day, avoid hiking after 10 AM, never rely on air conditioning (cars fail here regularly). Spring wildflower blooms (February-April) and winter months offer better conditions. Furnace Creek provides lodging, fuel, and the park's main visitor center. Badwater Basin, Zabriskie Point, and Dante's View are essential viewpoints. Four-wheel drive opens remote areas including the Racetrack. The experience confronts visitors with limits - the human body's, the car's, the land's capacity to sustain anything at all.