Uploaded February 2024 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
From the perspective of geologic time, in which mountains rise up and valleys fall away as trap doors hidden the stage, this is more normal than how Badwater basin has presented itself on a human scale.
While Lake Manly is prehistoric and has been mostly dry for the last ten thousand years, It has re-emerged from the groundwaters; temporary though it may be, so we took a quick trip to experience the rarity of water in the desert.
The channel from the Badwater Basin Trailhead is packed down by foot traffic, so it held enough water to make us think we could paddle out. Instead, we drug the paddle boards out to the start of the “deeper” water to float them.
Many explorers came out to see the lake, but we were by no means besieged by crowds. It’s hard to say what the attraction is here. The water was neither warm, nor cold, but it was so saturated with salt that every drip that dried on your skit left a frosting of crystals. The kids were ashey with it and had to be hosed off when they got out.
Still, Death Valley is always like that. Travelers get out of their cars, walk to the vista point, or briefly out into the dune, or hillside, or salt flat, whatever it may be, and look around; they’re pilgrims confused by the sacred relics. Then they get back in their cars and drive to the next point on the map. The beauty can be hard to appreciate when the harshness of the landscape and climate can make you fear for your own safety while you’re searching for it.
But here, there is water, for now. Something everyone can use, appreciate, and even love. Or at least splash around in and float on in a boat, as long it has a very shallow draft. And that’s pretty much the same thing.
From the perspective of geologic time, in which mountains rise up and valleys fall away as trap doors hidden the stage, this is more normal than how Badwater basin has presented itself on a human scale.
While Lake Manly is prehistoric and has been mostly dry for the last ten thousand years, It has re-emerged from the groundwaters; temporary though it may be, so we took a quick trip to experience the rarity of water in the desert.
The channel from the Badwater Basin Trailhead is packed down by foot traffic, so it held enough water to make us think we could paddle out. Instead, we drug the paddle boards out to the start of the “deeper” water to float them.
Many explorers came out to see the lake, but we were by no means besieged by crowds. It’s hard to say what the attraction is here. The water was neither warm, nor cold, but it was so saturated with salt that every drip that dried on your skit left a frosting of crystals. The kids were ashey with it and had to be hosed off when they got out.
Still, Death Valley is always like that. Travelers get out of their cars, walk to the vista point, or briefly out into the dune, or hillside, or salt flat, whatever it may be, and look around; they’re pilgrims confused by the sacred relics. Then they get back in their cars and drive to the next point on the map. The beauty can be hard to appreciate when the harshness of the landscape and climate can make you fear for your own safety while you’re searching for it.
But here, there is water, for now. Something everyone can use, appreciate, and even love. Or at least splash around in and float on in a boat, as long it has a very shallow draft. And that’s pretty much the same thing.
