Rainbow Canyon

Rainbow Canyon, on the western edge of Death Valley National Park in eastern California, is a steep desert canyon shaped through volcanic rocks from the Darwin Hills, with older granite, marble, and hornfels exposed in its depths. Those layers create bands of red, gray, and pink along walls that rise up to 1,000 feet above the floor. The canyon also preserves hundreds of petroglyphs made by the Coso people. From World War II until 2019, it became widely known for low-level military flight training and photography, until a July 31, 2019, Navy crash led to suspension of below-the-rim flights and stricter altitude limits.

California · United States