If you find Death Valley’s heat uncom­fortable on a leisurely visit, spare a thought for the miners who worked deposits of borax here from the 1880s, and the 20-strong mule teams which hauled 10-ton wagonloads of the mineral across 165 miles of unyielding desert terrain to the nearest railway station. A small museum filled with large pieces of mining machinery and explanatory displays, and some ruined adobe buildings, remain from the Harmony Borax Works, which was active into the 1920s.

Detour – Death Valley Junction

Ballet and Death Valley are not as mutually exclusive as you might expect. At Death Valley Junction, a hamlet near the junction of Highways 127 and 190, 50 miles east of Furnace Creek, the tiny Amargosa Opera House (http://www.amargosa-opera-house.com)finds former New York-based ballerina Marta Becket staging dance and mime performances on Friday, Saturday and Monday evenings throughout the winter. For details, tel. +1 760 852 4441.