Reflections in Badwater Basin in Death Valley, CA
About this photograph
- Creator
- Margery H. Freeman
- Date created
- Unknown
- Location
- Death Valley, California
- License
- This photograph copyright ©2009. All Rights Reserved
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Sculpted rock reflected in Badwater Basin. Normally a broad landscape of salt flats, a temporary lake can form in the basin after rare heavy rainstorms, as it has in this picture.
Death Valley National Park is located east of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. It is home to the lowest point in North America here at Badwater, which is 282 feet below sea level, but it also encompasses parts of several mountain ranges. Its highest point is Telescope Peak, at 11,049 feet. Located in an rainshadow exaggerated by the presence of four major mountain ranges between it and the ocean, Death Valley receives less than two inches of rainfall a year and is famous as one of the hottest and driest places in North America. Summer temperatures often hover around 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
