The main picture here is the setting sun at Badwater Basin, the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere at 282 feet below sea level.
I kept thinking what a strangely beautiful place it was out there. Everyone wants to know how hot it was. Make no mistake, it felt like an oven and the boisterous wind only served to dry us to the bone. For the area though, it actually wasn’t too hot. When I checked, it was right around 102 degrees, the same as what we had been getting in Las Vegas.
Other than a wide, smooth path created by people walking, the basin wasn’t the flat, tile-shaped blocks of salt and earth that I expected. In many places, the ground was all rough and broken up. However, it is quite possible I was simply in the wrong area for those pristine shots of the honeycomb-shaped flats.
After walking out on the flats, my friends and I decided we should head to the sand dunes. According to the National Park Service brochure, the dunes could reach as high as 120 feet. When we arrived the sun had already set. We walked the dunes barefoot, enjoying the warm sand and the expansive view of the stars. But we never found any big dunes and lacking flashlights we didn’t venture too far out.
The sky was stunning though. I may have seen more stars than when I lived in Kalispell, Montana but in Death Valley there was nothing to obstruct the view.
If you ever get the opportunity, check out Death Valley National Park. It was a blast.
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