Badwater Basin – Death Valley

Just as Half Dome is to Yosemite or Old Faithful is to Yellowstone, Badwater Basin is the iconic image that everyone associates with Death Valley National Park. At 282 feet below sea level, Badwater Basin is the lowest point in North America, but is more than just this superlative that attracts thousands of visitors every year. The expansive salt flats surrounded by mountains in all directions are a surreal sight to behold…just be ready for some intense heat.

Getting There

Badwater Basin is not difficult to find. Take Route 190 (the main road through the National Park) to Furnace Creek. From here you’ll get on Badwater Road heading south. You’ll drive for about 18 miles before noticing a parking area on your right…you can’t miss it. If you’re coming in from south of the park, you can take Route 178 to Ashford Junction and drive north on Badwater Road for 29 miles.

The first thing you’ll encounter when you walk down the ramp/stairs from the parking lot is a boardwalk that leads you straight out into towards the salt flats. The boardwalk juts out to the right where you’ll see the iconic Badwater Basin sign and the small spring-fed pool of water for which the area is named. The salts from the surrounding basin make the water undrinkable, hence, “bad water”. The pool was very small when we visited in late-August, and it is sometimes completely evaporated in the heart of the scorching hot summer.

After checking out the pool, you can venture out into the salt flats which cover nearly 200 square miles and extend as far as the eye can see.







How Were the Salt Flats Formed?

According to the National Park Service, the salt flats were formed as follows:

The source of Badwater’s salts is Death Valley’s drainage system of 9,000 square miles—an area larger than New Hampshire. Rain falling on distant peaks creates floods that rush ever lower. Along the way, minerals dissolve from rocks and join the flood. Here, at the lowest elevation, floods come to rest, forming temporary lakes. As the water evaporates, minerals concentrate until only the salts remain. After thousands of years, enough salts have washed in to produce layer upon layer of salt crust.

When you look around, you’ll notice that you’re surrounded by tall mountains, including some such as Telescope Peak that stand at over 11,000 feet. This is all the more impressive when you consider that you are significantly BELOW sea level. With mountains in all directions, it is easy to understand how so much runoff makes its way into the valley.

Google satellite view

Temperature

Death Valley is one of the hottest places on earth. The highest temperature ever recorded was recorded in 1913 in Furnace Creek Ranch in Death Valley at 134 °F. While it’s more bearable in the winter, daytime temperatures in the summer are regularly well over 110°F. When we visited in August, our weather apps said 118°F and the car thermometer said 124°F. It was a heat unlike anything we’ve ever experienced. If you explore the salt flats in the summer even for just 10-15 minutes, wear sunscreen and bring water.