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Death Valley Reopens After Damages From Tropical Storm Hilary
The Do Not Enter sign is located at the end of Mustard Canyon Road, a scenic loop in Death Valley National Park. The road was erased by flash floods on August 20, 2023. The road has been repaired and will be open on Oct. 15, 2023.
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Courtesy of National Park Service
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Death Valley National Park will reopen Sunday, Oct. 15, after record rain from Tropical Storm Hilary led to the longest closure in park history.
For the first time in nearly two months, visitors will be able to explore many of the park’s most popular attractions, including Zabriskie Point, the Artists Drive Scenic Loop, and Dante’s View. The Furnace Creek Campground, Sunset Campground, and Texas Springs Campground will also be open.
Surveying the damage
The park has been closed since late August, when the historical storm dumped more than 2 inches of rain on the Furnace Creek area, breaking a record set last year. The resulting flood pushed debris and rocks onto roads — which is where most of the damage occurred.
“Water is very powerful, especially when it's flowing,” said Death Valley Park Ranger Nichole Andler. “Most of the roadsides in Death Valley are gravel, and so the water is moving fast enough that it just starts moving that gravel.”
That momentum, said Andler, created a ripple of flowing debris that eventually left the edges of the paved road without any support, causing it to collapse.
In some locations flash floods washed mud, rocks and other debris over roads. The 25 MPH speed limit sign is buried in a debris flow in the Wildrose area.
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Courtesy of National Park Service
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Road repairs
State Route 190, which provides access to the park’s eastern and western entrances, has undergone enough repairs to reopen at 6 a.m. on Sunday, but Caltrans is warning of significant delays. There will be multiple places allowing for just one lane of traffic as construction to restore the road continues.
Drivers coming from U.S. 395 will also only be able to access State Route 190 via State Route 136. The State Route 190/U.S. 395 junction is not yet open.
Flood scars
Though most of the park is cleaned up, visitors will still be able to see the effects of the floods in the land — like in the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes.
Rains from the remnants of Hurricane Hilary created flash floods. The flowing flood waters washed water and rocky debris over roads and trails. In many places it eroded road shoulders and undercut pavement.
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Courtesy of National Park Service
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“When they get down in between the dunes, they're going to see these little muddy spots,” Andler said. “Some of them are probably already dry enough that they're cracked and look really cool.”
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Andler said the spots are remnants of the mini lakes that formed between the sand dunes after the rains this year.
Badwater Basin, on the other hand, is not as close to drying out. Rangers are asking visitors not to step off the boardwalk to hear the crunch of the famous salt flat.
“As soon as they get off the boardwalk, they're going to discover how thick and sticky and muddy that mud is really quickly, and their footprints are going to stay there for a long time. And everybody is going to see those for a really long time,” Andler said.
Exercise caution
Though State Route 190 will be open all throughout the park, there are still many roads that drivers cannot safely access. Andler asked that visitors respect any closures they come across, because not all of the damage is immediately visible.
“You may get started someplace and be like, ‘I don't know why they have this closed. There's nothing wrong with this.’ And then a couple miles later, you can be coming up against a road cut through a dirt road that has a six-foot drop off. And if you get yourself in there, we're not going to be able to get you out,” Andler said. “We always say that help may be hours to a few days away. It could very seriously be at least hours, if not multiple days away — just because we don't have safe access.”
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Visit nps.gov/deva for the latest information on the availability of roads and facilities in Death Valley National Park.
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