Most people come to Death Valley for the extremes. At Badwater, 282 feet below sea level, it is the lowest spot in the Western Hemisphere, the hottest place in the world during the summer months when temperatures over 120 degrees F are typical. Step onto the trail and you'll see that the white expanse is made up of billions of crystals of almost pure table salt! As your feet crunch along the trail that leads onto the valley floor, you are walking on the salty remnants of a much greener, lusher time in Death Valley’s relatively recent past.
When mud and salt contain water, and then dry out, they contract, producing a compressive stress that push up the overlying material. The basic form of contraction is that the ground contracts to a point in 6 directions, under ideal circumstances forming hexagons.
More travel information can be found at Desert USA
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