Transfer to Death Valley. Stop at Zabriskie Point. Golden Canyon; 1.4 miles, easy; Gower Gulch; 4 miles, moderate

You meet your guide(s) and group at your meeting hotel in Las Vegas and board your van for the approximately 2½-hour drive northwest to the California border and Death Valley National Park. The park encompasses all of Death Valley itself, the 156-mile-long trough running north-south between two mountain ranges—the Amargosa Range to the east and the Panamint Range to the west, as well as several other valleys: Saline, Eureka, and Greenwater. Death Valley forms the northern arm of the Mojave Desert and is also a part of the Great Basin, which covers most of Nevada, half of Utah, and parts of Oregon and Idaho.

Your first views of Death Valley are from Zabriskie Point, which offers panoramic views of Golden Canyon from the top down—views you will appreciate later in the day when you see Zabriskie Point from Golden Canyon. You continue on to Artist’s Palette for a picnic lunch, where as its name suggests, you are surrounded by more colorful landscapes, here of volcanic sedimentary hills. After lunch, you set off on an easy walk in Golden Canyon, entered through the narrow part of the canyon that leads into golden-hued badlands. Formed millions of years ago when a lake filled Death Valley, erosion of soft lake sediments has resulted in the primitive landscape. You eventually see the striking 400-foot cliffs of Red Cathedral and turn into Gower Gulch, where the rounded hills carved out by erosion have been used as other-worldly settings in science fiction films.

Completing the walk, you continue the short drive to your home for the next three nights, a luxurious historic inn set in a lush desert oasis, built and in operation since the 1920s. You have time to settle in to your room before gathering for a welcome cocktail and dinner in the inn’s fine dining restaurant.

Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes; 2.2 miles, moderate; Mosaic Canyon; 3.8 miles, moderate to challenging

Awakening to the clear desert light and stillness, you have breakfast at the inn before setting off for the Stovepipe Wells area of the park and a walk in the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes. The morning light adds drama to these 200-foot-high graceful sand dunes that are scored with tracks of animals ranging from beetles, snakes, and lizards to rodents, rabbits, and foxes.

After a picnic lunch, today’s afternoon walk to Mosaic Canyon is a wonderful introduction to exploring desert canyons. Named for the mosaic-like walls, composed of marble bedrock and breccia, small rock fragments embedded in natural cement, the canyon is situated at the north end of 6,600-foot Tucki Mountain. You enter the canyon through its first narrow, in some places only a few feet wide, requiring single-file walking. The trail alternates between narrows and wider open washes with the slopes of Tucki Mountain visible above where hardy desert holly and sage bushes have taken hold among the rocks. After walking through some rocky sections of the canyon with some rock scrambling, you eventually emerge at a small amphitheater coated with candle-like mud drippings. Desert animals are elusive, but you may spot a hawk overhead, the ubiquitous raven, and perhaps a scuttling lizard or iguana.

After a full day of hiking, you make your way back to your inn and resort where you have time to enjoy its beautifully designed extensive gardens, spring-fed swimming pool, and spa facilities. For the evening meal, you venture a mile down the road to the Ranch at Furnace Creek for a more casual dining experience.

Ubehebe Crater rim walk; 0.5-1.5 miles, easy to moderate; Scotty's Castle tour; Titus Canyon, out and back; easy to moderate

After breakfast, a full day begins with the drive to Ubehebe Crater, a half-mile in diameter crater resulting from a massive volcanic explosion of superheated groundwater. A smaller, crater, Little Hebe Crater, is nearby, linked by a trail that follows along the rim of the 600-foot-deep hole that the Shoshone referred to as the “Basket in the Rock.”

Concluding the walk, you drive to the northernmost part of the park to find Scotty’s Castle—a sprawling Spanish-Mediterranean mansion filled with antiques and custom-made furniture, wrought iron, and tile that reflects the heyday of the Roaring Twenties and the tall tales of “Death Valley Scotty,” one of the regions most colorful prospectors. You can try to separate truth from fiction in a guided tour, whether it was built by Scotty or his millionaire friends, after enjoying a picnic lunch on the grounds.

This afternoon you may choose to head back to the inn to enjoy the spring-fed pool and grounds or venture on to another hike in a nearby canyon. Striking Titus Canyon—named for the prospector who disappeared nearby in 1906—is a geologically fascinating mix of rocks, from layers of limestone to intricate conglomerates, subject to millennia of the earth’s powerful shattering and re-forming pressure.

Rounding out the walk in the late afternoon, you are ready to return to the inn, and later gather for dinner in its casually elegant surroundings; enjoying an enticing menu of meat, fish, or vegetarian options accompanied by an excellent choice of California wines—a final celebratory evening. The Inn at Furnace Creek, Death Valley National Park

Natural Bridge; 2 miles, moderate; Badwater; 40-minute walk on salt flat, easy

This morning after breakfast at the inn (including their specialty date-nut bread from the inn’s own date palms) you check out, and enjoy two last short walks and stunning Death Valley landmarks. The first is Natural Bridge, a massive natural rock about 35 feet above an intriguing canyon wash, reached after a short ascent on a gravel trail. You then move on to Badwater, not only the park’s lowest point, but the lowest land elevation in all of North America at 282 feet below sea level. An enormous expanse of white salt flats, Badwater Basin is a surreal landscape that lacks any shade, with topography made up of a buckled and cupped salt crust. Likely the hottest and driest point in the Western Hemisphere and perhaps even in the world, one could walk endlessly, but not in the hottest months! Back to your van after this last Death Valley experience, you make the return drive through to Las Vegas with a stop en route for lunch, arriving by mid-afternoon for your onward travels.