Dante’s View

Geology: Dante’s view is one of four relatively accessible high points that offer truly amazing views of Death Valley (see also Sites GF1, NP6 and CM3). Of the four, Dante’s view is the most accessible and most popular.

After leaving the area of the Billie Mine and Ryan (Site FC4), the road travels over Quaternary fan gravels and then through volcanic rocks of the Miocene Greenwater formation which intertongues between the lower and upper units of the Furnace Creek formation (Greene, 1997).

En route and near the viewpoint, most of the rocks are felsic tuffs and volcanic breccias. Near Dante’s view, these rocks form the upper plate of the Badwater Turtleback.

From Dante’s View at approximately 5,500ft elevation, one has a terrific view of the floor of Death Valley over one mile in elevation below you. Looking past the Black Mountains metamorphic complex forming the cliffs below, one can see the playa surface near Badwater. The light areas of the playa are evaporates such as salt and borate while the dark areas are silts and clays washed down from the surrounding mountains or brought in by the Amargosa River whose small delta is sometimes visible. Note that the east side of Death Valley has alluvial fans while the west side is bordered by a large bajada draping down from the Panamint Mountains. Telescope Peak dominates the horizon to the west. Looking a little farther northwest, the high crest of the Sierra Nevada can be seen peeking over the Inyo Range beyond the Panamints. Although one cannot see the exact lowest point at Badwater because of the slope, one can see the highest and lowest areas in the 48 contiguous states at the same time! When looking northward up the axis of Death Valley, the Artist’s Palette area, Furnace Creek and the Cottonwood and Grapevine mountains are all visible. From the vantage point of the GPS site north of the parking area, there is also a good view of the Funeral Mountains and the Billie Mine/Ryan area. To the east one can see the Spring Mountains which lie just west of Las Vegas. Southward, especially if one walks to the point at the end of the trail leaving the parking area, there is a good view towards Mormon Point and the southern reaches of the valley. The elevation at the parking lot is 5,475ft and the elevation on the hill top at the GPS coordinates is 5,703ft.