In many ways, watching the pilgrimage to Badwater was as interesting as the site itself. Death Valley National Park is enormous, but it also is a challenge to traverse and understand. A pool of water so far below sea level is a recognizable mark, something to check off a list.
@dejus From the Badwater Basin wikipedia page:
At Badwater Basin, significant rainstorms flood the valley bottom periodically, covering the salt pan with a thin sheet of standing water. Newly formed lakes do not last long though, because the 1.9 in (48 mm) of average rainfall is overwhelmed by a 150 in (3,800 mm) annual evaporation rate. This is the greatest evaporation potential in the United States, meaning that a 12 ft (3.8 m) lake could dry up in a single year. When the basin is flooded, some of the salt is dissolved; it is redeposited as clean crystals when the water evaporates.[6]
