Despite its reputation as a lifeless desert with a harsh and severe environment, Death Valley National Park. which also includes the Amargosa and Panamint mountain range on the east and west; and the Sylvania and Owlshead mountains to the north and south, respectively, has more than 1,000 plant species from cacti and spring wildflowers to cottonwood and ancient bristlecone pine trees. Some of the plants that live on the valley floor have roots that reach down more than 50 feet and will bloom only when the 1.9 inches of annual precipitation falls in the valleys.
I visited Death Valley in late October/early November and the weather was wonderful.
Located near the border of California and Nevada, in the Great Basin, with Badwater Basin 282 feet below sea level; Death Valley National Park is the lowest, driest, and hottest location in North America.
Death Valley National Park was established because of its world renowned unique, complex, and exposed tectonics and diverse geologic resources.
Contained within its boundaries- colorful badlands, rugged canyons, snow-covered peaks, beautiful sand dunes, a diverse rock record stretches throughout geologic time, from 1.8 billion-year-old metamorphic rocks in the Black mountains, to recent sediments in the valley basins.
Summer daytime temperatures often exceed 110º F, with the highest temperature in the western hemisphere of 134º F recorded in 1913 at Furnace Creek.