The Vast Scale of Death Valley

Death Valley presents visitors with a landscape on a truly vast scale. The national park covers 3,336,000 acres (1,350,000 hectares), of which 90% is roadless wilderness. The valley itself is about 180 miles long (290 kilometers), flanked by Eureka, Saline, and Panamint Valleys on the west, and walled in by the Amargosa and Panamint Ranges.

This viewpoint was established by Pete Aguereberry, a gold miner of Basque origin. From an altitude of 6433 feet (1961 meters) it looks down on the salt-encrusted valley floor at 282 feet below sea level (-88 meters). To the southeast the Panamint Range rises to Telescope Peak at 11,049 feet (3368 meters).

The floor of Death Valley holds the world record high temperature of 134° F (56° C), yet Telescope Peak is covered with snow for several months every winter.

The group on the point below the camera is a geology class from Pennsylvania, one of several encountered on this trip. With thousands of feet of exposed strata, little vegetation, and a variety of landforms from volcanic craters to huge sand dunes, Death Valley is a favorite for geology field trips.

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USA-Canada / USA-California

Lat: 36° 21' 30.82" N
Long: 118° 3' 50.07" W

Elevation: 6433 feet / 1961 meters

→ maps.google.com [EXT]

Precision is: High. Pinpoints the exact spot.

Photographed with an Olympus OM-D E-M5 digital SLR with a 7.5mm Rokinon/Samyang fisheye lens, on a Nodal Ninja RS-1 VR mount, Really Right Stuff ballhead, and Really Right Stuff Series 1 carbon-fiber tripod. Stitched with PTGui Pro 9.1 on a Macintosh Intel Core 2 Duo iMac, retouched with Photoshop CS3.