Nevada entrance to Death Valley will be ready when park reopens on Oct. 15

Greg Haas
·2 min read

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — After weeks of tempering expectations, the National Park Service is less than a week away from reopening Death Valley National Park after floods damaged roads — and visitors will be able to get in from the Nevada side, too.

The CA-190 entrance on the east side of the park will welcome visitors coming from Nevada, officials confirmed today. That will cut more than 200 miles off the route initially suggested in late September. At the time, park officials were only planning on having the west entrance open.

But weeks of hard work have paid off, and the entrance near Death Valley Junction is now part of the plan for the Sunday, Oct. 15, reopening of the park.

“We’ve still got a lot of work ahead of us, so we won’t be totally open, but you can come in the east or west entrances on CA-190, which will be open throughout the entire park. Many popular sites will be open, such as Zabriskie Point, Dantes View, Artists Drive, and Badwater Basin,” according to a social media post late last week.

Park officials haven’t given a timetable for other road repairs, The entrance from Beatty, Nevada, will remain closed when the park reopens on Sunday.

Devastation in Death Valley as photos show flood damage; park to reopen in stages over weeks ahead

Officials said some hiking trails will also be accessible, but most secondary roads in the park will still be closed. The video below, posted on Aug. 20 on the park’s Facebook page, shows some of the flooding. Runoff from 2.2 inches of rain caused extensive road damage.

Lodging will be available at Panamint Springs Resort, Stovepipe Wells Village and the Oasis at Death Valley, and campgrounds will be open at Sunset, Furnace Creek, Texas Springs and Stovepipe Wells.

“We’ll be opening up more roads and sites as we can, but there may be some traffic delays while we continue working. We appreciate your patience. If you’re in a national park, you shouldn’t be in a hurry anyway,” a Friday Facebook post said.

HOW TO GET THERE: Take the Blue Diamond Road exit off Interstate 15 and head west to Pahrump. Take a left and head west on Bell Vista Avenue (it turns into Bell Vista Road) all the way to Death Valley Junction. Turn right on SR-127 and then an immediate left on CA-190 and follow the road into the park.

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