Scotty’s Castle in Death Valley resumes flood recovery walking tours

If you’ve been waiting to visit Scotty’s Castle amid years of historic flooding at Death Valley National Park, you now have the chance to visit the nearly 100-year-old landmark.

The National Park Service and Death Valley Natural History Association announced this month that park visitors can reserve a spot for a flood recovery walking tour of the castle’s grounds on select Sundays through March 10, 2024.

Scotty’s Castle is a Spanish-style mansion built between 1922 and 1933 by Albert Johnson and named after Walter Scott, also known as “Death Valley Scotty.” Scott and Johnson became friends, despite Scott’s reputation as a con man, after Scott convinced Johnson to come to Death Valley and Johnson fell in love with the isolated landscape.

The attraction saw significant destruction from flooding in 2015, a fire in 2021 and after mass flooding events this summer and in 2022. The park service announced in August that Scotty’s Castle would be “unlikely to open before late 2025.”

The park service hosted flood recovery tours in 2018 after the 2015 flood. Death Valley Superintendent Mike Reynolds said in a statement at the time that the flood tours give visitors “the increased chance of wildlife sightings and the opportunity to see evidence of the flood.”

Tickets for the tour are $35 per person (with a ticketing fee) and last from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., according to the Death Valley Natural History Association’s website. Fees go toward preservation work in the area.

Tour groups are limited to 20 people, and dates may change depending on construction on roads in the area or road damage from flooding, the association said.

For more information and to book a tour spot, visit dvnha.org/program-events/scottys-castle-flood-recovery-walking-tours.