Welcome to Death Valley National Park

The very name evokes all that is harsh, hot and hellish – a punishing, barren and lifeless place of Old Testament severity. Yet closer inspection reveals that in Death Valley nature is putting on a truly spectacular show: singing sand dunes, water-sculpted canyons, boulders moving across the desert floor, extinct volcanic craters, palm-shaded oases and plenty of endemic wildlife. This is a land of superlatives,... Read More

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Highs and lows of the 395: road tripping down California's highway of superlatives

US highway 395 is California's backbone. Running east of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, it's also a road of superlatives: highest, lowest, hottest, deepest, oldest – the 395 passes close by a whole host of -ests. And then there are the ghost towns, living towns, ski resorts, tufa formations (you'll see), film locations and more.

The 395 is one of the less known but no less spectacular road trips to do in California. Image by Visit California / Max Whittaker
Clifton Wilkinson
Lonely Planet Writer

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