Zabriskie
Point is a part of Amargosa Range located east of Death Valley in Death
Valley National Park in California, United States noted for its
erosional landscape. It is composed of sediments from Furnace Creek
Lake, which dried up five million years ago—long before Death Valley
came into existence.
The
overlook is named in recognition of Christian Brevoort Zabriskie
(1864-1936), president of the Pacific Coast Borax Company, who have been
active in the Death Valley region since the 1890s. More of the same
landscape can be viewed along the unpaved 2.7 mile, one-way Twenty Mule
Team Road which leads into Twenty Mule Team Canyon, past colorful rocks,
badlands and desolate mud hills, formed by evaporation of an ancient
lake. The name of the road is a reference to the teams of mules that
once pulled wagons loaded with borax from mines on the valley floor.
Death
Valley National Park is located east of the Sierra Nevada Mountain
Range. It is home to the lowest point in North America at Badwater,
which is 282 feet below sea level, but also encompasses parts of several
mountain ranges. Its highest point is Telescope Peak, at 11,049 feet.
Located in an rainshadow exaggerated by the presence of four major
mountain ranges between it and the ocean, Death Valley receives less
than two inches of rainfall a year and is famous as one of the hottest
and driest place in North America. Summer temperatures often hover
around 120 degrees Fahrenheit.