Zabriskie Point, Death Valley National Park
- Visit between October and March when temperatures are cooler and more manageable, since summer heat can push well above 100°F.
- Arrive at sunrise or sunset to catch the light at its most dramatic over the badlands.
- From the overlook, you can take in the yellow and brown striped hills, Manly Beacon, the salt flats on the valley floor, and the Panamint Mountains beyond.
- Hikers can explore further on the 2.7 mile Badlands Loop, or take a one way 2.5 mile route down to Golden Canyon, passing below Manly Beacon before dropping into the canyon.
- Get there via CA-190: from Furnace Creek, drive east 4.8 miles to the parking area on the right; from Death Valley Junction, drive west 25.4 miles to the parking area on the left.
Standing at Zabriskie Point, you look out over a landscape shaped by water in one of the driest places in North America. The ridges and gullies below are carved from mudstone and siltstone deposited at the bottom of an ancient lake that dried up around five million years ago. Rare but intense rainstorms still erode these soft sediments, cutting new channels each time they run.
The colors are what most people notice first: banded yellows and warm browns streaked with rust red and capped in places with dark volcanic rock. Weathering and alteration by thermal waters are responsible for the variety of colors represented there and the tones shift with the angle of the sun, running warmer at dawn and flatter in midday light.
Beyond the badlands, views of the salt flats covering the floor of Death Valley are visible in the distance, with the Panamint Mountains towering above. The scale of that contrast is visible from the overlook in a single glance. The most pronounced feature viewed from Zabriskie Point is Manly Beacon, a jutting high point that rises to an elevation of 823 feet and bears the name of one of the first 49ers to visit the area.
The badlands hold very little plant life since the eroded mudstone doesn't retain moisture well. Ravens, coyotes, and lizards are among the most commonly seen wildlife of the region.
Desert bighorn sheep use the ridges and canyons of the Black Mountains in cooler months. Some mornings the overlook is quiet enough that you can hear the wind moving across the rock before you feel it.
Getting there
Zabriskie Point sits along CA 190, about 4.8 miles east of Furnace Creek. From the east, coming in from Death Valley Junction, drive west on CA 190 for 25.4 miles and look for the signed parking area on the left.
From the parking area, a paved path climbs about a quarter mile to the overlook. The grade is steep in places, with rest stops along the way, so take it slowly if heat or mobility is a concern. Plan on about ten minutes to reach the viewpoint from your car.
When to go
October through March is prime time for visiting, when temperatures are far more manageable. Summer heat regularly climbs well above 100°F, which makes extended time at the overlook difficult and any trailside hiking potentially hazardous.
Sunrise is the most rewarding time of day at the overlook, when the badlands glow amber and shadows play across the gullies below. Arrive at least 40 minutes before sunrise on weekends to secure parking, or about 20 minutes ahead on a weekday. From a photography standpoint, some of the best light arrives around 30 minutes before sunrise, before the sun fully clears the Amargosa Range. Sunset can also be worth a stop, though the light hits the badlands at a less direct angle than it does at dawn.
What to look for
Manly Beacon is the shark fin triangular shaped point rising from the center of the badlands. It reaches 823 feet and serves as a useful reference for reading the scale of the terrain around it. Look at its base to find the transition between the pale banded mudstone lower on the slopes and the darker volcanic rock capping the upper ridges, two distinct chapters in the area's geologic record.
Watch how the color of the sediment layers shifts as the sun angle changes throughout the morning. The yellows and warm browns intensify in low early light and flatten considerably by midday. Ravens are among the most reliably visible wildlife from the overlook, often using thermals rising off the heated rock, and desert bighorn sheep move through the Black Mountains ridges and canyons below in the cooler months.
Insider Tips
Walk the ridge for an uncrowded angle
Most visitors stop at the paved platform, but walking the ridge to the right of the overlook opens up a different line of sight to Manly Beacon and puts fewer people in frame. The rough path that branches off from the viewing area takes five to ten minutes and lets you work with foreground ridgelines in a way the platform doesn't.
If you want to go further, drop down the Badlands Loop a quarter mile from the trailhead. Shooting from inside the badlands back toward the banded ridgelines gives the mudstone layers more visual depth at low light angles than looking down from above.
What to wear on the trail
The paved path to the overlook is short but any trail beyond it crosses loose shifting mudstone, so shoes with real grip matter more than you might expect. Low top trail runners or light hiking boots handle the transition from packed gravel to soft eroded sediment well.
Desert temperatures drop fast at dawn and climb just as fast once the sun clears the Amargosa Range, so a light windbreaker or fleece that layers over a base is worth packing. Bring a wide brimmed hat too since there's no shade from the trailhead to the overlook and UV exposure is intense throughout the year.
Stop in Beatty for breakfast before the park
If you're driving from Las Vegas, the most direct route runs north on US 95 through Beatty, NV, about 100 miles from the Strip. Gema's Cafe at 101 S 2nd St is a small family run spot serving all day breakfast and lunch with a Mexican American lean. The Spanish omelet, breakfast burrito, and green chile enchiladas are all reliable orders and they pull freshly roasted coffee too.
Beatty sits about an hour from Zabriskie Point so a stop here works naturally as a fuel up before entering the park. Hours run Monday through Saturday 7am to 7pm and Sunday 7am to 2pm.
Nearby Hikes
Trails worth your time when you're in the area.
Badlands Loop
Starting from the Zabriskie Point parking area, this loop drops into the mudstone ridges visible from the overlook and follows narrow paths around Manly Beacon through gullies shaped by infrequent but intense rainstorms. The terrain is loose in places and more physically demanding than the short paved walk to the overlook suggests, with some exposed sections along the ridge. The perspective from inside the badlands differs considerably from what you see looking down from above.
View on nps.govGolden Canyon
Golden Canyon follows a gravel wash between yellow canyon walls with ripple marks, flash flood deposits, and remnants of an old road. The trail climbs gradually from the Badwater Road trailhead and the continuation to Red Cathedral adds scrambling and squeezing near the natural amphitheater. Most visitors turn around near Red Cathedral, making this a manageable introduction to the canyon geology of the Furnace Creek area.
View on nps.govGolden Canyon and Gower Gulch Loop
This loop starts at the Golden Canyon trailhead on Badwater Road and climbs through the canyon to the base of Manly Beacon, then crosses the badlands ridge and descends through the Gower Gulch drainage before returning to the trailhead. Moving from narrow canyon walls to open ridge and back through a broad wash, the route covers a wide range of terrain in four miles. Morning light hits the golden walls early and the colors shift considerably as the sun climbs.
View on hikespeak.comDesolation Canyon
Desolation Canyon sits off Badwater Road between Golden Canyon and Artist's Drive and sees far less foot traffic despite running through terrain with similarly colorful mineral stained walls. The canyon narrows progressively and requires a short climb over an 8 foot rock fall about a mile in. The trail ends at a panoramic overlook with an unobstructed view across the valley floor to the Panamint Range.
View on modernhiker.comDantes Ridge to Mt. Perry
The unofficial ridge route from Dante's View parking area follows the crest of the Black Mountains north for 4.5 miles to the summit of Mt. Perry at 5,738 feet. The route is entirely exposed with no shade and has numerous small climbs and descents that add up over the distance, making the round trip more demanding than the net elevation gain suggests. Views of Badwater Basin far below, the Panamint Range to the west, and the Nevada ranges to the east are unobstructed the entire way.
View on nps.gov
Protecting Death Valley
Death Valley became a national monument in 1933 and was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994 in recognition of its geological and ecological significance. That protected status matters because the park faces sustained pressure from several directions. Climate change is driving more frequent extreme heat and more intense flash floods that accelerate erosion across the soft badlands and invasive species like feral burros compete with desert bighorn sheep for the limited water that defines survival here.
At Zabriskie Point, staying on marked trails is one of the most direct ways visitors limit damage. The mudstone that forms those ridgelines loses material with every rainfall and won't recover quickly from foot traffic off the path.
Rainier Hat Co. doesn't just sell hats; we act as a funding vehicle for the parks, and every purchase of the Death Valley / Zabriskie Point hat is a direct donation of 100% of profits to the National Parks. That means the hat on your head is also putting money toward the ongoing work of protecting what you came to see.
