Last month I started my series of pictures from our trip to Death Valley this last April. From our stop at the Father Crowley Overlook, we drove down through the Panamint Valley, over Towne Pass, and into Death Valley proper. We stopped at Stovepipe Wells where I picked up my lifetime National Parks and Federal Recreation Lands Pass (age has its benefits) before heading to Furnace Creek and our lodgings at the Ranch at Death Valley.

A downside of a trip to Death Valley is the cost of food and the lack of options. We had dinner at the Last Kind Words Saloon, where the service was good and the food was decent, but the prices were quite high. If you are traveling during the winter and spring, make your dinner reservations in advance, as things fill up quickly. In any case, we had a nice room and overall the resort was in good condition. We were up the next morning and after an expensive and so-so buffet breakfast, we drove off to our first stop of the day, Dante’s View.

Dante’s View is about 24 miles (39 km) from Furnace Creek. With the windy road and a significant elevation climb, it is about an hour’s drive. The drive itself is pleasant. You pass Zabriske Point on the way (our visit there will come in a later post) and Twenty Mule Team Canyon. The drive through Twenty Mule Team Canyon is picturesque, but I don’t take it in a low-clearance car as it is rocky and steep in places. Apparently several scenes from Return of the Jedi were filmed there, but I admit I did not notice anything that would connect the location to the movie.

Once you make it past the last steep grade to the parking lot at Dante’s View, you are rewarded with an amazing view. On any visit to Death Valley, this is not a place to be missed. With our rainy winter, Telescope Peak and the Panamint Range was just amazing across the valley to the north. Click on any picture to see a full-sized view.

Dante’s View is 5,575 ft (1,699 m) above the valley floor and has an amazing panoramic view in all directions.

Dante’s view is directly above Badwater Basin, the lowest point in North America. The parking lot for Badwater Basin is just out of view.

The view to the northwest up the valley is remarkable.

Part of the Black Mountains in the Amargosa Range, Dante’s View is named after Dante Alghieri, author of the Divina Commedia. It was named in 1926 when the Pacific Borax Company was beginning to realize the tourist value of Death Valley and was introduced to the site by the Deputy Sheriff of Greenwater.

While there wasn’t a lot of wildlife visible, I did spot this rock wren looking for a bite to eat.

The waning gibbous Moon was setting in the west behind the Panamint Range.

Telescope Peak, at 11,043 ft (3,366 m) was snow-covered and just spectacular.

The colors of the salt flats near Badwater Basin are quite beautiful.

The erosion on the east side of the Panamint Range was also stark and beautiful. This summer, Death Valley received almost two inches of rain in a day — more than comes in most years. I wonder how this erosion pattern changed with that huge rain.

While the view to the east was a bit hazy, we could see to the Spring Mountains in western Nevada. You can see the steep, windy, and narrow road up the last bit to the parking lot in the foreground.

The mountains in the distance are the northern section of the Amargosa Range.