Death Valley From Top to Bottom
From Badwater Basin (the lowest point in North America at 282' below Sea Level) Telescope Peak to the west seems just a slightly higher point on a long ridge of the Panamint Range.
Telescope Peak is the highest point in Death Valley National park at 11,043 feet. Because of the short distance from the lowest point to the highest (about 15 miles), Telescope Peak has one of the greatest vertical rises above its local terrain in the United States. By comparison, Everest rises a mere 13,000' above its northern base on the Tibetan Plateau.
From the peak, it's possible to see both the lowest point in the contiguous United States and the highest point (Mt Whitney at 14,505'), just over 70 miles to the northwest.
This image was made at sunrise, mid-December 2018. Visiting Death Valley in winter is a great experience with wide temperature variations between night and day that are tolerable for visitors. And, being the wetter season, there's a potential to catch the rare rain that falls in Death Valley, sometimes enough to return the basin to its lake form (if only a few cm deep). I wasn't so lucky on this trip. But, seeing the amazing pastel colored skies at sunrise was a nice treat.
Death Valley From Top to Bottom
From Badwater Basin (the lowest point in North America at 282' below Sea Level) Telescope Peak to the west seems just a slightly higher point on a long ridge of the Panamint Range.
Telescope Peak is the highest point in Death Valley National park at 11,043 feet. Because of the short distance from the lowest point to the highest (about 15 miles), Telescope Peak has one of the greatest vertical rises above its local terrain in the United States. By comparison, Everest rises a mere 13,000' above its northern base on the Tibetan Plateau.
From the peak, it's possible to see both the lowest point in the contiguous United States and the highest point (Mt Whitney at 14,505'), just over 70 miles to the northwest.
This image was made at sunrise, mid-December 2018. Visiting Death Valley in winter is a great experience with wide temperature variations between night and day that are tolerable for visitors. And, being the wetter season, there's a potential to catch the rare rain that falls in Death Valley, sometimes enough to return the basin to its lake form (if only a few cm deep). I wasn't so lucky on this trip. But, seeing the amazing pastel colored skies at sunrise was a nice treat.