(c) 2008 William Lawrence

During our trip to Death Valley, we stopped at Badwater Basin, the lowest point in the continental U.S.  Badwater is a salt flat, essentially the remnant of an ancient salt lake.  You walk out on the a crust of crystalline salt overlying mud and dirt.  The area is surrounded by mountains, with Dante’s Peak rising over 5,700 feet above Badwater Basin.  Below, the park (quite amusingly) has placed a marker on the cliff overlooking Badwater marking where sea level is (that little sign you see in the photo near the top of the photo).  It does give you a sense of perspective as to how low the land is here.

(c) 2008 William Lawrence

The area heading out to Badwater is quite desolate; mainly fields of rocks with the occasional desert holly or sage.  Below is a shot of the road heading out to the salt flats showing the landscape.  Bill included the empty road dwindling towards the mountains in the haze as part of the shot as he thought it added nicely to the feeling of solitude in the photo.

(c) 2008 William Lawrence

As with much of Death Valley, the terrain was quite unusual, contributing to the feeling of being in another world.  The photo below shows the sculpted foothills at the edge of the salt flats.

(c) 2008 William Lawrence

We photographed a sunrise at Badwater Basin, to get the salt flats in the morning light.  We were lucky to have a brief but spectacular sunrise, with the sky lighting up in a variety of pinks, purples, and oranges over the course of a few minutes.  The color of the sky is reflected off the salt formations of the salt flat in the photo below.

(c) 2008 William Lawrence

We hope you’ve enjoyed Bill’s photos of Badwater Basin. My photos from Badwater will be up later in the week.