Badwater Basin Salt Flat, Death Valley National Park, California
© Andre Erlich/iStock/Getty Images Plus
How low can you go?
Death Valley National Park is the largest national park in the contiguous United States, located on the California-Nevada border. It's known for being the hottest, driest, and lowest national park, with Badwater Basin marking the lowest point in North America at 282 feet below sea level. On the rare occasions that rain falls here, it accumulates over portions of the 200-square-mile salt flats. The rainwater dissolves some of the salts on the ground, then dries up, and quickly. In fact, the area is believed to have the greatest evaporative potential in the US. Rainwater doesn't stand a chance, and as it vanishes, it re-deposits salt crystals in its wake.
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