For many years now, one of the destinations which was at the top of my To-Do list in Death Valley was the hike to the Actual Lowest Point. For the sake of my friends and family who will be reading this trip report but have not visited Death Valley very much, or at all, let me explain a few things which will tell you why this destination is so important. As you can probably guess, the lowest spot on the planet is the shoreline of the Dead Sea, which is a salt lake in between Israel to the west and Jordan to the east. Current estimates (as of January 2013) put the elevation of the Dead Sea shoreline at -1,388 feet, (or 1,388 feet below sea level.) However, the Dead Sea is dropping down at a rate of about 3 feet per year, which it has been doing for the past 50 years or so. This means that the lowest point on earth continues to get lower by 1 foot every four months. (In fact, the sign at Badwater states that the Dead Sea is at -1,360 feet.) Moving over to Death Valley National Park, there are at least 2 spots on the Badwater Basin salt flats which register -282 feet, (or 282 feet below sea level.) The reason this is important is that this happens to be the lowest spot on this side of the planet, otherwise known as the Western Hemisphere. As you can imagine, it is quite a thrill to walk out to the exact spot which is the Lowest Point and know you are standing on the lowest spot of North America, South America, and all other places which are found on this half of the planet. The problem is... this spot is not easy to find or get to, for most people at least. The casual tourist who arrives in Death Valley planning to visit the lowest spot probably drives his car out to Badwater, parks in the parking lot, and walks down the stairway and across the boardwalk to the Badwater sign. The sign there reads "Badwater Basin -282 feet". What that tourist doesn't realize is that he's not standing at the Actual Lowest Point, he's really standing at -280 feet. To find the Actual Lowest Point, he would have needed to hike out across the salt flats approximately 3.2 miles to get to it.
In order to accomplish this remarkable feat, a long-time friend of mine who works in Death Valley kindly loaned me his GPS unit for the day. He also programmed the coordinates I would need and briefly showed me how to use the device, which many people are very familiar with, but I had never used before doing this hike. Armed with the GPS, Daria and I set out at the Badwater parking lot one hot morning to find the Actual Lowest Spot. And sure enough, our GPS led us right to it. When we got there, we took photos with the 2 markers which are there: the -282 stone and the Actual Lowest Point plaque. When we were finished, we wrapped the plaque back up in the salty plastic bag and left it on the salt for the next visitor to discover. (2010 update-- since the time of writing, the plaque was likely washed away in a flood, but the rock remains.) (2013 update-- the original -282 rock is now gone but another rock is in its place-- see pictures at bottom.)
In order to accomplish this remarkable feat, a long-time friend of mine who works in Death Valley kindly loaned me his GPS unit for the day. He also programmed the coordinates I would need and briefly showed me how to use the device, which many people are very familiar with, but I had never used before doing this hike. Armed with the GPS, Daria and I set out at the Badwater parking lot one hot morning to find the Actual Lowest Spot. And sure enough, our GPS led us right to it. When we got there, we took photos with the 2 markers which are there: the -282 stone and the Actual Lowest Point plaque. When we were finished, we wrapped the plaque back up in the salty plastic bag and left it on the salt for the next visitor to discover. (2010 update-- since the time of writing, the plaque was likely washed away in a flood, but the rock remains.) (2013 update-- the original -282 rock is now gone but another rock is in its place-- see pictures at bottom.)
Starting point at the Badwater parking lot.
The GPS coordinates to reach the Lowest Point at -282 feet are:
N36 14.515
W116 49.535
The GPS coordinates to reach the Lowest Point at -282 feet are:
N36 14.515
W116 49.535
This sign shows the lowest spots at different points around the world:
Once we had left the Badwater vicinity, the salt terrain quickly changed from being smooth to uplifited blocks with ridges:
Here is a close-up of several of the ridges which broke off:
A short time later the terrain changed again and the salt was smooth, being split into sections by small salt dividers:
Next the salt terrain changed and as you can see it is now divided by small dips below ground, instead of being divided by salt above ground:
Daria stopping to get her picture along the hike. We didn't stop much during this hike, because we knew it was going to be a hot day and we needed to finish early:
The next two photos reveal two more changes in the salt landscape as we moved from the halfway point to the finish of the hike:
A close-up of the terrain close to the end of the hike:
Our borrowed GPS unit reads -283 feet (near perfect accuracy for a low cost unit):
Proof we are there with the Lowest Point plaque:
Steve finally accomplishes this hike which he has wanted to do for a long time:
View of the salt flats looking north at the Lowest Point:
Eeyore made it too, and he got his picture next to the -282 rock:
Putting the plaque back on the ground for the next visitor. Hopefully the next person will do the same. (2010 Update-- since the time of our original hike, we have received multiple e-mails that the plaque is no longer there. I think it's safe to assume that it floated away in a flood. But the rock still remains.)
One final view of the Lowest Point salt terrain at the spot where the -282 rock was placed on the ground:
In early 2013, we received the following two pictures from a hiker named Larry, which reveal what the Lowest Point currently looks like. As you can see, a new -282 rock is now marking the location:
