Furnace Creek is a small village at the center of the park, as an oasis in the desert with many trees. It has Visitor Center, gas station, 2 lodgings, general store, restaurants and a golf course !!! A company called Xanterra operates every facilities except Visitor Center and gas station. I wonder who would be playing golf at this extremely hot golf course and why here? There are two lodging facilities - one is Furnace Creek Inn which is very expensive resort hotel ($400-$500 a night) operated in winter only (closed in summer) and another is Furnace Creek Ranch which is a motel ($100-$200 a night), both operated by Xanterra.