Badwater - Kind of a strange name for a place until you get a close look at it. This shallow pool of brine 283 feet below sea level is everything its name implies. In the 80 degree "cool" of autumn the walk out onto the salt pan is a must. It's about a mile out to the fresh white stuff that hasn't been trampled into table salt by thousands of feet beating a path across it. As you get further from 'land' an eerie feeling sets in. The salt begins to cake onto your shoes like snow. Cracks begin to develop in the ground. The white fluffy salt crystals begin to look like snow. The salt begins to develop an uncanny transparency. Suddenly you are overwhelmed with a sense of being a mile from shore on a frozen lake that is beginning to break up.

 


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