Tourists flock to Death Valley’s deadly heat after 2023 fatalities

DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK, Calif. – More than 1 million people visit the park along the California-Nevada state line every year, some seeking to experience the scorching landscape. 

A thermometer outside the Furnace Creek Visitor Center is one of the park’s most popular attractions, where tourists stop to take a photo with the thermometer.

Radiant heat from the thermometer display makes it read slightly hotter than the official temperature.

Death Valley National Park Ranger Nichole Andler said human nature drives people to feel the need to experience the heat.

“I think because, as human beings, we’re curious,” Death Valley National Park Ranger Nichole Andler said. “And so people like to experience something that they haven’t experienced before, and so we do get folks coming here to experience that extreme heat.”

Death Valley National Park claims the hottest recorded temperature on Earth of 134 degrees, a world record that was set in 1913. 

Sandra Uckschweret, visiting from Germany, said the heat feels hotter than a hair dryer.

Italian tourist Marco Cortella said it’s more comparable to sticking your head in a hot oven. 

While the heat attracts some, it can be deadly.

Cellphone and GPS services are sparse across the 3.4-million-acre park, and visitors are told to stay on paved roads.

Two people have died from heat-related illnesses inside the national park during this summer’s relentless heat wave. 

A 71-year-old man died inside the park in June as temperatures soared above 120 degrees, according to the National Park Service.

In July, a 65-year-old man was found dead in his car without working air conditioning when temperatures reached 126 degrees.

Another man was treated for heat-related illness in early July after taking a wrong turn and getting his car stuck in a salt flat.

Summer temperatures regularly reach 120 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade at Death Valley, and this summer’s sweltering heat has been record-breaking across the Southwest. 

Still, Death Valley’s title as the hottest place on Earth remains.

“So Death Valley National Park claims the world record temperature of 134 degrees in July of 1913,” Andler said. “Of course, now we have more sophisticated instruments and have more accurate temperature taking. There may have been some human error, but we hold that one. Thirty-four is still the record, and Death Valley still holds it.”