Just make informed choices. Want to visit Death Valley! That’s great! It’s a beautiful park worth seeing. But don’t go in the middle of summer, go in fall or winter when the daytime peak temperatures will be much more comfortable.
If you MUST go in the summer, plan ahead. Bring several gallons of water with you per person, plenty of sunscreen, ideally a hat and sunglasses, and lightweight, breathable clothing that won’t trap your sweat and body heat. And on top of that, make sure your car is up to date with maintenance and can comfortably drive when the temperature outside is 110+. To have all bases covered, it would also be worth investing in a satellite phone- not all national parks have cellular coverage. In my experience, cell service is extremely spotty to non-existent inside of national parks.
Just make informed choices. Want to visit Death Valley! That’s great! It’s a beautiful park worth seeing. But don’t go in the middle of summer, go in fall or winter when the daytime peak temperatures will be much more comfortable.
If you MUST go in the summer, plan ahead. Bring several gallons of water with you per person, plenty of sunscreen, ideally a hat and sunglasses, and lightweight, breathable clothing that won’t trap your sweat and body heat. And on top of that, make sure your car is up to date with maintenance and can comfortably drive when the temperature outside is 110+. To have all bases covered, it would also be worth investing in a satellite phone- not all national parks have cellular coverage. In my experience, cell service is extremely spotty to non-existent inside of national parks.
Dosn’t even have to be that fancy. You can do with a SPOT locator or Garmin InReach. They usually give you at the bare minimum three buttons:
Location update to pre-configured contact
Pre-configured message (+location) to pre-configured contact (such as for non-life-threatening issues)
S.O.S, Send in the Cavalry, I’m fucking dying - which will send your location to search and rescue.