Dante's View to Rhyolite on a New Moon: One Night Across Death Valley

This was a night run I’d done in pieces before: Dante’s View for the end of sunset, down to the salt flat at Badwater, then east into Nevada and Rhyolite. I had already scouted and tested every stop. The reason to go back was the calendar. It was a new moon, so there would be more stars than on any of my earlier visits.

Why the new moon matters here

Death Valley has been a Gold Tier International Dark Sky Park since 2013, the highest rating DarkSky International gives (NPS announcement). The Park Service’s own advice for night visits is to go near the new moon and give your eyes about 30 minutes to adjust to the dark (Experience Death Valley at Night). The same page notes that the glow of distant Las Vegas and other cities still reaches the park, and from Dante’s View you can see it low on the eastern horizon.

If you want to plan around it, the next new moons fall around November 8–9, 2026 (the evening of November 8, Pacific time) and around December 8, Pacific time.

Dante’s View: lenses and aircraft trails

I got to Dante’s View around the end of sunset and spent a while trying different lenses. I kept going back to the 8mm. I also spent time working out exposure lengths for multiple exposures and trying to find the Pleiades.

The trouble was aircraft. I kept getting long, bright trails across the frames. The sky over Death Valley sits inside the R-2508 Complex, which the Park Service describes as the largest single area of overland special-use airspace in the country. Edwards Air Force Base, Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, and Fort Irwin manage it jointly (NPS: Joint Airspace; Military Flights Over Public Lands). The military voluntarily keeps flights 3,000 feet above the part of the park that was the original Death Valley National Monument, but areas added to the park after 1977 are not covered, and flights there can be as low as 200 feet (Military Flights Over Public Lands; R-2508 Pilot Guide). I had been blaming Edwards for my trails, but the traffic could come from any of the three. Expect to see some of it on any clear night here and plan to shoot extra frames.

Standing up there I kept wondering how anyone started doing astrophotography, since it couldn’t have worked well on film. The answer goes back further than film. J. W. Draper’s 1840 daguerreotype of the Moon is the earliest surviving astronomical photograph, and the first photograph of a star was of Vega, taken at Harvard College Observatory in July 1850 by W. C. Bond and J. A. Whipple (Smarthistory; High Point Scientific).

Badwater: bring a flashlight, watch for wet salt

From Dante’s View I drove down to Badwater Basin and walked out onto the playa for a couple of shots. Nothing spectacular, but I think I got some good frames. It was fully dark and I had forgotten my flashlight, so finding my way out and back was harder than it should have been. A headlamp belongs in the car for this stop.

It was fairly humid down there, and I think the salt may have been wet. That’s plausible after rain, and it matters. Footprints in wet playa crust last a long time, so when the surface is damp, stay on the established paths near the parking area.

The state-line signs

On the way to Rhyolite I stopped at the Nevada welcome and “thanks for visiting” signs for a quick shot. It takes five minutes and makes a good marker for the trip.

Rhyolite under the Milky Way

At Rhyolite I spent a while photographing each building against the Milky Way and various star clusters. The best images have a clear subject with stars behind it. I like to “paint” the building with a flashlight during the long exposure so it reads against the sky.

Before you plan a visit like this, know the site’s rules. Rhyolite Historic Area is managed by the BLM’s Tonopah Field Office, about 4 miles west of Beatty on NV 374, and BLM lists it as day use only, no camping (BLM: Rhyolite Historic Area). Third-party guides disagree about access after dark. If you want to photograph there at night, ask the Tonopah Field Office first. In 2023 BLM also extended the protective withdrawal of 277 acres around the townsite for another 20 years (BLM press release), so treat the ruins as the protected site they are.

After Rhyolite I drove straight home and got in very late. It was an uneventful trip, but a productive one.

Before you go

• Entrance pass. Death Valley requires one, and the park is cashless. Card kiosks are at Badwater Basin and other points (NPS fees).
• Photography permits. Death Valley treats commercial and non-commercial filming and still photography the same way. A group of eight or fewer generally needs no permit if it stays in areas open to the public, carries its equipment by hand, needs no exclusive use of a site, and causes no harm to park resources or other visitors (NPS: Filming and Photography). A solo night shoot like this one fits that description. Questions go to the park’s Office of Special Park Uses.
• Roads. As of the park’s October 22, 2026 road status update, a storm that day had closed North Highway and the Beatty Cutoff, and Badwater Road was marked caution for flood debris. Dante’s View Road was not listed. Check the current conditions page before any night drive.
• Light. Carry a headlamp or flashlight for the playa and the ruins.
• The drive back. The return from Rhyolite is long and dark. Budget for it, or stay in Beatty.

Sources

• National Park Service — Death Valley named an International Dark Sky Park
• DarkSky International — Death Valley National Park
• National Park Service — Experience Death Valley at Night
• National Park Service — Fees and passes
• National Park Service — Filming and photography
• National Park Service — Current conditions
• National Park Service — Joint airspace and Military flights over public lands
• Edwards AFB — R-2508 Complex pilot guide (2020)
• Bureau of Land Management — Rhyolite Historic Area and 2023 withdrawal extension
• Smarthistory — Whipple and Bond, The Moon
• High Point Scientific — History of astrophotography