Yet there is far more to the park than dry heat. Telescope Peak rises to 11,049 feet, higher than any other point in the park, and, with much of the Panamint Range, stands white under winter snow. The climb up to the cooler temperatures on Telescope Peak is one of the few hikes considered reasonable in the heat of summer. Fifteen or so air miles to the east, near Badwater, the earth lies almost 300 feet below sea level, the lowest terrestrial point in the Western Hemisphere. Sand dunes are carved into shapes of staggering beauty, especially striking at dawn and dusk.
Colorful cliffs stand above endless flats of creosote bush.
More than 900 species of plants have been identified within the park, and nights come alive to the scurrying of small mammals. Coyotes live here with gray and kit foxes, bobcats, jackrabbits, desert tortoises and a variety of bats and birds, lizards and snakes. Desert bighorn sheep live in the higher elevations where you can find a dry forest of pinyon, juniper, mountain mahogany and a few bristlecone pines. Wildflowers bloom in spectacular variety when enough rain falls. Ubehebe Crater opens 2,400 feet in diameter where a volcano erupted roughly 1,000 years ago.