Death Valley, California
What: Death Valley National Park, a neat motorcycle road trip with great roads and scenery.
How to Get There: From Los Angeles, take I-10 to I-15. Exit at Kelbaker Road in Baker and go north. From Las Vegas, head northwest on U.S. 95 to state Route 373 south, then turn west on state Route 190.
Best Kept Secrets: Take two days to explore Death Valley. On the way in, take I-40 east out of Barstow 30 miles to old Route 66, paralleling the freeway east, then north on Kelbaker Road through the Mojave National Preserve. Spend the night in Baker, and enjoy dinner and breakfast at The Mad Greek restaurant (their Mediterranean food is outstanding!). If you plan to stay at any of the resorts in Death Valley, make your reservations months in advance!
Avoid: The warmer months, May through September.
More Info: www.nps.gov/deva/index.htm
More Photos: www.motofoto.cc/death_valley.htm 

Lying at the eastern edge of California — 290 miles east of Los Angeles and 140 miles west of Las Vegas — Death Valley is a land of extremes. It is the hottest and driest place in the country, yet it is full of beautiful scenery with deserts, mountains, unique wildlife and 50 forms of vegetation that exist nowhere else on the planet. And it has a fascinating history, to boot.

Death Valley picked up its ominous name during the California Gold Rush when one of the groups rushing to the California gold fields, knowing the winter mountain passes would be impassible but not wanting to wait until the snow melted, took a southerly route into what we now know as Death Valley. Only one person died on that journey, but the name stuck.

Its name notwithstanding, Death Valley is a wonderful destination and a great motorcycle road trip — if you time it right. Death Valley gets hot starting in May, and summer temperatures are routinely above 120 F, making motorcycle tours in the summer months a bad idea: It once held the record as the hottest place on Earth when the temperature hit 134 F on July 10, 1913. Through fall, winter and spring, though, Death Valley is quite pleasant. March is a great time to visit, with comfortable temperatures and crisp, haze-free air.