Originally published at: Death Valley heat causes tourist to become confused — he drives off cliff and dies - Boing Boing
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I don’t understand why this park isn’t closed to visitors in the summer. There is no safe way to visit during that time.
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Death Valley encompasses an area of around 3,000 square miles. That’s an area bigger than Rhode Island or Delaware. Closing it entirely would mean many people driving between California and Nevada would be forced to take a detour spanning hundreds of miles.
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You can safely drive through it and not get out of your air-conditioned car. I wouldn’t do it, because I have an unnatural aversion to the desert, too many westerns where people ended up stranded in the desert when I was a kid. I would avoid Death Valley like the plague. The ONLY way I would go in is 1) My car had been completely checked and been found in perfect condition 2) My gas tank was full 3) I had my trunk filled with water and salty snacks. 4) Even then, I’d try to find a way around it.
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I remember a town in Alaska, where the police require you to stop before they let you continue on down the highway. You have to show your supplies, gas, etc.
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This is done in the Australian outback too.
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If for some strange reason you decide to visit Death Valley National Park in the summer, park rangers strongly advise you to:
Remember it’s called Death Valley.
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Yeah, you can, but unexpected mechanical failures are unexpected. And in Death Valley, they’re more likely to be fatal than just about anywhere else.
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They probably should.
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I wonder if an “X days since a visitor died” sign at the entry points would change peoples decision making.
(It might, but I’m not sure which way. Some might take it as a challenge and be even more convinced to go.)
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Didn’t seem to make much difference in the original Mad Max…
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The title implies that he died after driving off a cliff. In fact, survived the cliff drop; walked out of the wreck; and died from the heat. Yeah, the heat was more dangerous than a literal drop off a cliff.
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And not just the heat, his core temperature was probably dangerously high.
I wonder if an improv ice bath might have helped? (A tarp and ice from coolers.)
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I spent a week in the park one spring break on a university trip. Great trip, wouldn’t do summer. The rangers said the high heat times of summer is actually when one of their highest demand times.
“They all want to experience the hottest day of the year just to say they did it”.
I think these are the same people who drive out to the Grand Canyon from Vegas, spend 10 minutes looking at the view, and then get in to drive back.
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I read once that a majority of visitors to national parks never make more than something like 50 ft from a road or visitor center. It really is ridiculous.
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Hence, why I said that I would never cross it, unless absolutely necessary and since I have no intention of going anywhere near it, it will never become absolutely necessary.
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Don’t forget quicksand. Growing up the movies made us deathly afraid of quicksand.
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Even if you took the long way around Death Valley you’d still be driving through the Mojave Desert; that’s as big as a number of U.S. states put together. There’s no practical way to keep people from driving through an area where it’s dangerous to be stranded without water and protection from the heat. The best solution is probably to keep trying to educate the public about the heat risks and to provide emergency water & shelter stations at regular intervals along the highways.
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Yep. Safety stations along the roads. Drivers stay ON the road and have gallons of water in their trunk, gas mileage be damned. Have cell towers that cover the area, so if someone breaks down, they can call for help. Have someone who isn’t with you notify authorities if you are way behind schedule.
I hope to never, ever HAVE to cross any desert in the world.
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Geez, it isn’t that dangerous to drive across most California deserts as long as you’re on a major road where there are other vehicles passing by. As long as you can flag down help (and you’re smart enough to do so when needed) you’re pretty unlikely to die. These heat-related deaths in Death Valley and a couple other recent ones that took place in Utah were not stranded motorists who were just trying to get from point A to point B.
