Title: Death Valley National Park Visitor Information | HowStuffWorks
Headings: Death Valley National Park
Death Valley National Park
Sightseeing at Death Valley National Park
The History of Death Valley
Citation

Content: ©2006 National Park Services
The 5,475-foot peak at Dante's View overlooks the expanse of the valley. Zabriskie Point: Also on the west side of the park, Zabriskie Point overlooks an area known as the Badlands, a broken landscape of gullies and ridges that have been gouged out of the earth by erosion. Racetrack Valley: To the north, on a dried lakebed known as Racetrack Valley, rocks leave mysterious trails across a sun-baked playa. Geologists speculate that they have been blown by powerful winds across a thin layer of ice or slippery mud. Ubehebe Crater: Some 30 miles from Racetrack Valley, Ubehebe Crater was blasted out of the planet's surface by a volcanic eruption about 3,000 years ago. Despite its treacherous terrain, Death Valley has been occupied by various settlers -- mostly as a result of the successive discoveries of silver, gold, lead, copper, and borax on the lands. On the next page, learn about the remaining ghost towns in the valley and about the remnants of an unfinished castle at the foot of the Grapevine Mountains.