For those foolish enough to ignore the warnings, buckets of emergency water are positioned on the shoulder of California Route 190, the lonely two-lane road that snakes through the park. In the summer, Death Valley has the kind of weather Al Gore keeps warning everyone about. Last summer Death Valley was even more hellish than normal. On July 17, the mercury topped 129 degrees, the second-highest ever recorded in the United States. But in winter, Death Valley is less death and more valley, with a climate that almost passes for pleasant.
Daytime highs are usually in the seventies and eighties, with the nighttime lows in the forties.
The winter sun is strong and not to be trifled with, but the air is crystal clear and the sky is heartbreakingly blue. It's a splendid time to explore the ethereal beauty of this desert landscape without worrying about being devoured by vultures just because you wouldn't turn off your car's air conditioner. Still, that leaves a few stray hazards, such as the deadly gas, lack of oxygen and unstable explosives found around the dozens of abandoned mines that litter the area. It was mining, in fact, that first brought white settlers to Death Valley. In 1849, a ragtag group of adventurers bound for the California gold fields made the ill-advised decision to take a shortcut across the desert.