Death Valley is the largest national park in the continental U.S., an incredible 5,000 square miles. But dry figures don’t translate the sheer beauty and weirdness of the place. The beauty is found in the sinuous slot canyons, palm-shaded oases, extinct volcanic craters, and velvet smooth sand dunes basking beneath what seems like the world’s brightest moon. Weirdness, well, in terms of almost everything: a 135-mile ultra marathon, that proceeds right through the Valley in the sauna heat of summer, dunes that sing, boulders that appear to have moved on their own across pan-flat terrain.

Summer is far less crowded than the peak months during winter and spring. If you take short hikes in the early morning or late evening, or simply stay in your car, you can have the desert pretty much to yourself. Start by driving up to Dante’s View (5,475 feet) near Furnace Creek to catch a sunrise or sunset. You’ll get more advice at the Furnace Creek Visitor Center. You’ll likely see nothing else like it.

October 21, 2009 10:00 AM to March 21, 2010 5:00 PM
Kennewick Man on Trial explores important legal, ethical, and scientific issues raised by the accidental discovery of a nearly complete male skeleton with a projectile point lodged in his right hip. Text and quotes present a variety of points of view on issues of federal law and care of Native American human remains, how people first came to the Americas, and changing ideas about race.