Dante's View
Encyclopedia
Height
Height is the measurement of vertical distance, but has two meanings in common use. It can either indicate how "tall" something is, or how "high up" it is. For example "The height of the building is 50 m" or "The height of the airplane is 10,000 m"...
, on the north side of Coffin Peak, along the crest of the Black Mountains
Black Mountains (California)
The Black Mountains are located in the southeastern part of Inyo County, California, in southeast Death Valley National Park.-Geography:The Black Mountains are essentially a continuation of the Amargosa Range, and lie in a generally north-south direction at the south-southwest end...
, overlooking Death Valley
Death Valley
Death Valley is a desert valley located in Eastern California. Situated within the Mojave Desert, it features the lowest, driest, and hottest locations in North America. Badwater, a basin located in Death Valley, is the specific location of the lowest elevation in North America at 282 feet below...
. Dante's View is about 15 miles (25 kilometers) south of Furnace Creek
Furnace Creek, California
Furnace Creek is a census-designated place in Inyo County, California, United States. The population was 24 at the 2010 census, down from 31 at the 2000 census. The elevation of the village is below sea level....
in Death Valley National Park
Death Valley National Park
Death Valley National Park is a national park in the U.S. states of California and Nevada located east of the Sierra Nevada in the arid Great Basin of the United States. The park protects the northwest corner of the Mojave Desert and contains a diverse desert environment of salt-flats, sand dunes,...
.
Viewpoint
From the Dante's View parking lot, visitors can take several paths, one of which leads to the very brink of the edge, offering a dramatic panoramic view. Another path leads north 350 yards (320 m) to a rest area with picnic tables. The best time to visit Dante's View is in the cooler morning hours, when the sun is in the east. Dante's View is an excellent venue for night time star viewing with telescopes.General
Dante's View provides a panoramic view of the southern Death Valley basinDepression (geology)
A depression in geology is a landform sunken or depressed below the surrounding area. Depressions may be formed by various mechanisms.Structural or tectonic related:...
. To the south, the Owlshead Mountains
Owlshead Mountains
The Owlshead Mountains are located at the southern end of Death Valley National Park near the border of the Fort Irwin Military Reservation in San Bernardino County, California, USA.-Geography:...
, 19 miles (30 kilometers) away can be seen, and to the north, the Funeral Mountains
Funeral Mountains
The Funeral Mountains are a short, arid mountain range in the United States along the California-Nevada border approximately 100 mi west of Las Vegas. The mountains are considered a subrange of the Amargosa Range that form the eastern wall of Death Valley.The Amargosa Desert lies along the...
31 miles (50 kilometers) distant, are visible beyond Furnace Creek
Furnace Creek, California
Furnace Creek is a census-designated place in Inyo County, California, United States. The population was 24 at the 2010 census, down from 31 at the 2000 census. The elevation of the village is below sea level....
. To the West, across Badwater Basin, the Panamint Range
Panamint Range
The Panamint Range is a short rugged fault-block mountain range on the northern edge of the Mojave Desert, in Death Valley National Park, Inyo County, California, United States.-Geography:...
rises dramatically to Telescope Peak
Telescope Peak
Telescope Peak is the highest point within Death Valley National Park, in the US state of California. It is also the highest point of the Panamint Range, and lies in Inyo County. From atop this desert mountain one can see for over one hundred miles in many directions, including west to Mount...
. To the east is found the Greenwater Range
Greenwater Range
The Greenwater Range is a mountain range located in the eastern Mojave Desert in Inyo County, California. They are located west of the section of California State Route 127 north of Shoshone, California.-Geography:...
. On very clear days, the highest and lowest points in the contiguous 48 states of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
: Mount Whitney
Mount Whitney
Mount Whitney is the highest summit in the contiguous United States with an elevation of . It is on the boundary between California's Inyo and Tulare counties, west-northwest of the lowest point in North America at Badwater in Death Valley National Park...
14,505 feet (4,421 m) high and Badwater - 282 ft. (-86 m) can be seen.
- A part of the Devil's Golf CourseDevil's Golf CourseThe Devil's Golf Course is a large salt pan on the floor of Death Valley, located in the Mojave Desert within Death Valley National Park in eastern California....
is to the west-northwest, where it appears like a great sparkling ocean - instead it is solid haliteHaliteHalite , commonly known as rock salt, is the mineral form of sodium chloride . Halite forms isometric crystals. The mineral is typically colorless or white, but may also be light blue, dark blue, purple, pink, red, orange, yellow or gray depending on the amount and type of impurities...
salt. The crust of salt is 1 to 2 yards (0,90 to 1,80 meters) thick and changes form after rain in the winter season dissolves the salt, to be recrystalized as the water evaporates. - to the west-northwest, directly under Dante's View, is the Badwater Basin.
- west across the Badwater Basin, lies the Panamint RangePanamint RangeThe Panamint Range is a short rugged fault-block mountain range on the northern edge of the Mojave Desert, in Death Valley National Park, Inyo County, California, United States.-Geography:...
, with Trail Canyon, Death Valley Canyon and Hanaupah Canyon visible. At the crest of the Panamints, Telescope PeakTelescope PeakTelescope Peak is the highest point within Death Valley National Park, in the US state of California. It is also the highest point of the Panamint Range, and lies in Inyo County. From atop this desert mountain one can see for over one hundred miles in many directions, including west to Mount...
11,049 ft (3.367 m.) is 13 miles (20 kilometers) distant.
- to the south, the Owlshead MountainsOwlshead MountainsThe Owlshead Mountains are located at the southern end of Death Valley National Park near the border of the Fort Irwin Military Reservation in San Bernardino County, California, USA.-Geography:...
. - east is seen the Great BasinGreat BasinThe Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds in North America and is noted for its arid conditions and Basin and Range topography that varies from the North American low point at Badwater Basin to the highest point of the contiguous United States, less than away at the...
ranges of NevadaNevadaNevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
.
Etymology
Dante's View is named from Dante AlighieriDante Alighieri
Durante degli Alighieri, mononymously referred to as Dante , was an Italian poet, prose writer, literary theorist, moral philosopher, and political thinker. He is best known for the monumental epic poem La commedia, later named La divina commedia ...
, who wrote the Divina Commedia (Divine Comedy), in which there are described the nine circles of Hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
, the seven terrace of Purgatory
Purgatory
Purgatory is the condition or process of purification or temporary punishment in which, it is believed, the souls of those who die in a state of grace are made ready for Heaven...
and the nine spheres of Paradise
Paradise
Paradise is a place in which existence is positive, harmonious and timeless. It is conceptually a counter-image of the miseries of human civilization, and in paradise there is only peace, prosperity, and happiness. Paradise is a place of contentment, but it is not necessarily a land of luxury and...
.
In April 1926, some businessmen of the Pacific Coast Borax Company
Pacific Coast Borax Company
The Pacific Coast Borax Company was a United States mining company founded in 1890 by the American borax magnate Francis "Borax" Smith, the "Borax King".-History:...
informed of the touristic attractive of the Death Valley, were trying with the best seen position of the Death Valley. They had nearly chosen Chloride
Chloride
The chloride ion is formed when the element chlorine, a halogen, picks up one electron to form an anion Cl−. The salts of hydrochloric acid HCl contain chloride ions and can also be called chlorides. The chloride ion, and its salts such as sodium chloride, are very soluble in water...
Cliff in the Funeral Mountains when the Deputy Sheriff of Greenwater, Charlie Brown carried them on this peak to little distance, on the Black Mountains. The group was immediately converted and promptly called this point Dante's View.
Geological
Dante's View is part of the Black Mountains, a part of Amargosa RangeAmargosa Range
The Amargosa Range is a mountain range in Inyo County, California and Nye County, Nevada. The range runs along most of the eastern side of California's Death Valley, separating it from Nevada's Amargosa Desert...
, that was geological Mesozoic
Mesozoic
The Mesozoic era is an interval of geological time from about 250 million years ago to about 65 million years ago. It is often referred to as the age of reptiles because reptiles, namely dinosaurs, were the dominant terrestrial and marine vertebrates of the time...
volcanos.
These mountains are created when the surface of the earth was under extensional, forming horst or a pulling force, forming graben
Graben
In geology, a graben is a depressed block of land bordered by parallel faults. Graben is German for ditch. Graben is used for both the singular and plural....
. The crust responds to this force by rupture and consequent eruption of lava that deposit up the precedent sedimentary rock.
See also
- Places of interest in the Death Valley areaPlaces of interest in the Death Valley areaPlaces of interest in the Death Valley area are mostly located within Death Valley National Park in eastern California.-Artist's Drive and Palette:...
- Death Valley pupfishDeath Valley pupfishThe Death Valley pupfish, Cyprinodon salinus salinus, is found in Death Valley National Park.-Description:The Death Valley pupfish is a species of fish that is the last known survivor of what is thought to have been a large ecosystem of fish species that lived in Lake Manly, which dried up at the...
- Racetrack PlayaRacetrack PlayaThe Racetrack Playa, or The Racetrack, is a scenic dry lake feature with "sailing stones" that leave linear "racetrack" imprints. It is located above the northwestern side of Death Valley, in Death Valley National Park, Inyo County, California, U.S.....
- Richard BenyoRichard BenyoRichard Stephen Benyo is an American journalist and veteran distance runner. He is the editor of Marathon & Beyond Magazine, a magazine devoted to marathon and ultramarathon running. He is also the former executive editor of Runner's World Magazine, and Anderson World Books, Inc...
- Stan Jones (songwriter)Stan Jones (songwriter)Stan Jones was an American songwriter and actor.Stanley Davis "Stan" Jones was born in Douglas, Arizona, and grew up on a ranch. When his father died, his mother moved the family to Los Angeles, California. He attended the University of California at Berkeley, competing in rodeos to make money...
- Mark Calaway