A Death Valley Hotel Almost Closed. 'Extreme Heat Tourists' Helped Save It.

Aug 04, 2023

Heat waves and wildfires threaten to upend tourism to popular vacation spots around the globe. But for many tourists traveling to Death Valley, a desert region in California known as the hottest place on Earth, triple-digit temperatures are just another thing to cross off their bucket lists.

When relentless heatwaves blanketed the Southwest in July (reported to be Earth's hottest month on record), tourists flocked to Furnace Creek, an unincorporated community in Death Valley, to snap photos in front of a digital thermometer displayed at the town's visitor center.

"They're extreme heat tourists," Fred Conboy, the president of the Board of Directors for Amargosa Opera House, a historic hotel in Death Valley Junction, told Insider. "For them, it's a badge of honor almost, to have their picture taken next to that thermometer."

In recent summers, Furnace Creek has recorded temperatures hot enough to cook a medium-rare steak. In July 2021 and August 2020, the town reached 130 degrees, just four points shy of the world record set back in 1913.

"They try hard to predict what time of the day it's going to reach 130," Conboy said. "If it's only 128 or 129, sometimes they're disappointed."

Most people wouldn't dare step foot outside in that kind of heat. But it hasn't deterred travelers like William Cadwallader, a Las Vegas resident who told the Associated Press in July that he visits Death Valley in the summer for the bragging rights of being to the hottest place on Earth.

"I just want to go to a place, sort of like Mount Everest, to say, you know, you did it," he told the outlet.

Amargosa Opera House, one of the more affordable hotels near Death Valley National Park, offers spartan accommodations without televisions or phones. During the summer, it typically has 10 to 12 out of its 15 rooms booked at a time, Conboy told Insider.

After the hotel nearly shut down for good during the pandemic, the steady stream of tourists is a welcome, if perplexing, sight for Conboy and the staff. But chasing record temperatures, or "climate change gawking," as Fortune Magazine described it, is a dangerous game to play — and many tourists underestimate the risks.

When visitors arrive, the first thing they do is ask where they can buy water, Conboy said. The closest store is miles away, so the hotel keeps a five-gallon water jug in the lobby that's quickly drained.

"So few people are well prepared when they come out to the desert," he said. "It's 115 or 120 degrees, and they don't have water."

Two tourists have died in Death Valley this summer, according to the National Park Service — both on days when temperatures reached above 120 degrees. To avoid the hottest times of the day, rangers recommend planning any activities before 10 a.m. or after 4 p.m.

The triple-digit heat is made even more dangerous by how rural Death Valley is. There's only a handful of places to get food and a total of three gas stations nearby. Much of the national park doesn't have reliable cell service and is hours away from the nearest hospital.

In the words of the National Park Service: visitors must "travel prepared to survive."

"You've got to take care of yourself if you're going to be out in the heat," Conboy said. "Otherwise, your brain is going to shut down."