By Lynn O’Rourke Hayes
From FamilyTravel.com
Make a scenic waterfall the centerpiece of your next getaway. Here are five to consider.
Death Valley National Park, California
Darwin Falls, Death Valley National Park, California. (Doug Meek/Shutterstock)
It’s a land of startling contrasts. In this expansive, hot, dry, and diverse landscape, rare rainstorms manifest fields of wildflowers, and spring-fed creek waters harbor rare and tiny pupfish, creatures that have survived beyond the era when water covered Death Valley. Nearby, within a narrow gorge, a spring-fed waterfall flows year-round. Darwin Falls, named for an Army physician Erasmus Darwin French, who came to the west in 1846 during the Mexican American war and prospected for silver in the area, can be reached via a 2-mile round-trip trail that launches near the tiny town of Panamint Springs in the western part of Death Valley….