Reddit mentions of Geology Underfoot in Death Valley and Owens Valley

Read this: http://www.amazon.com/Geology-Underfoot-Death-Valley-Owens/dp/0878423621

My personal favorite experience was hiking through an old mining valley (sorry I don't remember the name of it) where we found huge chunks of kyanite and stuff.

Death Valley is beautiful if you can appreciate it and there's a good amount of stuff you can see by just stopping at road cuts or doing scenic routes like artist drive.

That being said, if your party doesn't want to experience heat and you drag them out to hike in Death Valley in the summer, they will probably hate you-it gets hots. I'd recommend keeping it restricted to a drive through experience, get out and see the salt flats and stuff but avoid long hikes.

It's definitely worth the detour either way though. But it's certainly possible I'm not giving it as good of a review as it deserves. I've only been a few times and it's a very large area. Wait for more responses before you let mine affect your enthusiasm.

Scotty?

Johnson knew it was a scam and still was friends with Scotty, Johnson willfully built the castle because he fell in love with the area and the climate and lifestyle helped his health.

http://www.nps.gov/deva/learn/historyculture/death-valley-scotty.htm

Also, with the huge size of the park and the drastic geological differences that occur within the boundaries, there are many different elements present.

Here are some good books about the geology of the area/history and hiking.

http://www.amazon.com/Geology-Underfoot-Death-Valley-Owens/dp/0878423621

http://www.amazon.com/Hiking-Death-Valley-Natural-Wonders/dp/0965917800/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1427481871&sr=1-1&keywords=hiking+death+valley

http://www.amazon.com/Important-California-history-autobiography-detailing-ebook/dp/B00AQN23CY/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1427481886&sr=1-1&keywords=death+valley+in+49