Dantes View at Death Valley reopens after renovations

After four months of renovations, Dantes View at Death Valley National Park in California has reopened. (National Park Service)

Dante's View, in Death Valley National Park, Calif., features a bird's-eye view of Badwater Basin below. (Charlotte Wall/Special to View)

After four months of renovations, Dantes View at Death Valley National Park in California has reopened. (National Park Service)

A park visitor enjoys the scenery from Dantes View in this undated photo. The overlook at Death Valley National Park has reopened after four months of renovations. (National Park Service)

The popular Dantes View overlook at Death Valley National Park is open again after a four-month face lift.

The site in California, 125 miles west of Las Vegas, now features a broad viewing area, benches, a safety barrier with a railing and a retaining wall to stabilize the eroding hilltop. A bronze tactile map of the surrounding landscape by artist Bridget Keimel has also been added.

The improvements were funded with park entrance fees and private donations.

Dantes View sits more than a mile above Badwater Basin, providing one of the most expansive vistas of Death Valley.

The overlook draws more than half a million visitors a year, but some visitors were excluded because because the narrow sidewalk was crumbling in places and there was no barrier to keep people from falling off the steep mountain ridge, the National Park Service said.