Re: Zabriskie Point Closed to Visitors for Winter Season

Death Valley National Park announced that starting October 1, 2014 through March 31, 2015, all access to Zabriskie Point and surrounding areas will be closed for major rehabilitation work to the site. Contractors will be on site to repair unstable support walls and improve safety conditions. Currently, the walls are deteriorating to the extent that they pose a danger to public safety.

The popular vista was built by the Pacific Coast Borax Company in the 1920s and was named after the company's vice president and general manager, Christian Zabriskie. The site was originally intended as a waystop for visitors in automobiles to see Manly Beacon, the prominent landmark in Death Valley's "Badlands". It remains as one of the most visited areas within the park.

Other venues in the area to visit during the closure recommended by park staff are Golden Canyon, Artist's Drive, or Dante's View for exceptional vistas of the valley floor and distant peaks. To plan your trip to the park, see www.nps.gov/deva.

During construction, CA Hwy 190 will remain open to through traffic.

A lot of photo tour and workshop operators will not be pleased with this. Closing one of the most popular vista points in Death Valley during Death Valley's "high" season. It would be like closing Glacier Point in Yosemite for the entire summer.

.

Do they have a choice? No sane person would be out doing construction work in 110 degree heat.

I would think there should be a way to do construction during the cooler winter months and still have different areas (at a time) of Zabriskie Point remain accessible so visitors can still view and take photos of Manly Beacon and the badlands. Zabriskie Point is a large area.

In Yosemite, when they redid the Lower Yosemite Falls area, Tunnel View and Glacier Point, they still kept parts of those areas open during the reconstruction. In regards to being able to take photos of Manly Beacon, one doesn't have to go to the top of Zabriskie Point, which is why I'm somewhat surprised that they have decided to close the whole area off during six-month construction period.


BTW, is there any more detailed information about what this rehabilitation will consist of? I've searched the NPS site including Death Valley NP planning page and NPS main planning website and I've come up with nothing.

Here are the list of the current projects listed for Death Valley National Park. Zabriskie Point rehabilitation isn't listed among them.

http://parkplanning.nps.gov/parkHome.cfm?parkID=297

.

I'm sure if there was a safe, efficient, way to fix Zabriskie Point they would have done so. They are not stupid and do things without thinking about the best way to do it.