I know it sounds like no big deal to say there is water in a place named after water. Badwater Basin in Death Valley National Park is the lowest point in the continental United States. Death Valley is also one of the driest places on earth. So though the location is named after water, there is rarely enough water to speak of. After the large rain storms in Southern California in December, there was a large lake that was accessible in Badwater. Here is what it looked like.
Badwater Basin is 282 feet below sea level. It is about 7 miles long and 5 miles wide. Because of the combination of freezing cold and scorching heat, as well as the evaporation of water, the salt pan creates hexagonal shapes that appear with water and especially dry.
Death Valley has a north-south orientation such that the valley features look good both for sunrise and sunset. Because of the water, Mary and I shot there 4 times in three days. The sun never really came out and we had very low cloud cover so that the Panamint Mountains were shrouded, but we did get some spectacular reflections.
One night we had a beautiful lenticular cloud over the mountains.
Here’s what the sunrise looked like.
It was pretty cold in the evenings and mornings, but thankfully no wind so we could make these reflection photos.
You will have company. Mary and I liked some photos with people, but most of the time, I took them out. Even though it was a mile walk out to the lake, hundreds of people made the trek.
To see more of (and buy) our photographs, please go to www.pamphotography.com or click on the We Sell Our Photos Tile on our homepage.
pamphotography 