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best-loved spots, start at the Furnace Creek Visitor Center, at the center of the action in Furnace Creek (see "Visitor Centers," above). View the slide show (shown every half-hour throughout the day) for an overview of the park and a taste of the things you won't get a chance to see. This advice holds even for visitors with several days; you'll have to miss something. Step over to the center's museum for a look at the 10×20-foot relief map of the park, which will give you a feel for where your destinations are in the context of the region, including the all-important elevation factor. If you have time, check out the tiny Borax Museum, in an old miners' boardinghouse at nearby Furnace Creek Ranch. Admission is free.

Scotty's Castle is a must-see for most people, but you need to plan ahead because of the popularity of ranger-guided house tours. Even if you want to explore only the grounds, remember that the castle is 53 miles north of Furnace Creek, over an hour's drive each way. A good plan is to make the castle your first activity after breakfast, avoiding the crowds and freeing up the afternoon for seeing other sites or squeezing in a short hike. If it's hot, reverse course and hit Scotty's in the afternoon. Easily reached spots are Artists Palette, Harmony Borax Works, Badwater, Devil's Golf Course, Zabriskie Point, and Dante's View.

If the weather is agreeable, replace one or two of these attractions with a short hike (such as Mosaic Canyon, Sand Dunes, or the Salt Creek Nature Trail)—for details, see "Day Hikes," below. Just after the junction where Calif. 190 turns west toward the Sand Dunes and Stovepipe Wells, you'll pass the Devil's Cornfield, where arrowweed bushes grow in unusual clumps resembling piles of cornstalks. There's a turnout where you can park to view this strange landscape and plant, which got its name because American Indians used the stalks to make arrow shafts.

Because each gateway to Death Valley has its own features, visitors with time limitations can maximize their experience by choosing a different entrance and exit route. If you drove in on Calif. 127 through Death Valley Junction, try leaving on the scenic route west through the Panamint Valley. If you entered from the Panamint side, try following Badwater Road (aka Calif. 178) south from Furnace Creek, across the Black Mountains and Greenwater Valley, to pick up Calif. 127 at Shoshone.

Exploring the Park by Car

A network of roads, ranging from washboard remnants of old mining days to well-maintained highways built during the 1930s, crisscrosses Death Valley National Park. You'll find that most of the popular destinations, as well as the five major entry routes, have superior-quality roads suitable for all passenger vehicles as well as trailers and motor homes. One exception is the Emigrant/ Wildrose Canyon pass between Calif. 190 and Calif. 178, sections of which are rough, narrow, and winding; vehicles over 25 feet are prohibited at all times, and other drivers may want to consult a ranger about current road conditions before attempting the unpaved section south of Wildrose.

Because of its vast area and unforgiving climate, the park is ideal for viewing by car. Some of the most beautiful sites have handy access roads, vista turnouts, or loop drives to facilitate viewing. These include Artists Palette, where the 9-mile (one-way) Artists Drive takes you through a colorful display hidden from the main road. Over millions of years, mineral deposits have created brilliant swaths of color across the low, rocky hills. There's a scenic overlook at the beginning of the drive as well as a parking area farther along, in case you want to stop and scramble amid the pink, blue, red, orange, and green patches.

South of Artists Drive, Badwater Road takes you past several of Death Valley's highlights, which best illustrate this environment of low-elevation extremes. Devil's Golf Course, accessible by a short spur of graded dirt road, sets your car right in the middle of a forbidding landscape created by salt and erosion