Existing comment:
Badwater Pool
Good Life in Badwater
Water is rare and precious in Death Valley. Imagine the disappointment when a surveyor mapping this area could not get his mule to drink from this pool. He wrote on his map that the spring had "bad water," and the name stuck.
Badwater Pool is not poisonous, just salty, as the presence of pickleweed, aquatic insects, and larvae proves. It is also home to one of Death Valley's rarest animals -- the Badwater Snail. These tiny mollusks exist only in a few springs at the edge of Death Valley salt flats. To protect these creatures, please view the pool only from the boardwalk.
Ancient Aquifer
Ancient water fills this pool year-round. Much of it began as Ice Age snow and rain hundreds of miles away in the mountains of central Nevada. The runoff seeped into porous limestone bedrock and began a long underground flow through a regional aquifer. It emerges here at Badwater along the faultline at the mountain's base. Salts dissolve from old deposits and flow to the surface, making the spring water "bad."
The area around Badwater Pool has seen better days, as shown by this photo from the 1930s. Curious visitors have trampled the salt crust and thrown debris in the water. By viewing the pool only from the boardwalk, you can protect its inhabitants and help this area recover. |