Badwater is a site in California's Death Valley noted as the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere, with an elevation of 282 feet (86 m) below sea level.

The site itself consists of a small spring-fed pool of water next to the road; however, the accumulated salts of the surrounding Badwater Basin make it undrinkable, thus the name. The pool does have animal and plant life, including pickleweed, aquatic insects, and the Badwater Snail.

The pool is not actually the lowest point of the basin, which is several miles to the west and varies in position. However, the salt flats are hazardous to traverse (in many cases being only a thin white crust over mud), and so the sign is at the pool.

Badwater is the starting point of the Badwater Ultramarathon, which ends high on Mount Whitney, 135 miles to the north.

Badwater Panorama. The salt flat is the white road in the middle left, and the pool is on the right.

External link

• Photographic virtual tour of Badwater Basin. (http://www.Untraveledroad.com/USA/California/Inyo/DeathValley/Badwater.htm)