Death Valley Turned Into a Lake You Could Kayak On

In February 2024, visitors pulled kayaks out of car trunks and carried them across ground that is normally crusted with salt. They weren't lost. They had come to paddle across a lake that should not exist.

The Lowest, Driest Spot in North America

Death Valley's Badwater Basin sits 282 feet below sea level, the lowest point in North America. The valley averages less than two inches of rain a year, and in 1913 a nearby weather station at Furnace Creek recorded 134 degrees Fahrenheit, still the hottest air temperature ever measured on Earth. Rangers describe the basin as a place built to stay dry.

Two Storms, Six Months Apart

That changed after two unusual storms. The remnants of Hurricane Hilary dropped 2.2 inches of rain on August 20, 2023. An atmospheric river added another 1.5 inches between February 4 and 7, 2024. Over six months, the valley floor collected 4.9 inches of rain, more than double its typical yearly total. Water that normally soaks into the salt flats within hours had nowhere fast enough to go.

A Six-Mile Lake Called Manly

The runoff pooled into Badwater Basin and formed a temporary lake that people nicknamed Lake Manly, the same name given to a much larger ice age lake that filled the valley thousands of years ago. Both took their name from William Lewis Manly, a pioneer who helped rescue a stranded wagon party from Death Valley in 1849. By mid-February 2024, the modern version stretched about six miles long and three miles wide, though it was only around a foot deep. That was still enough. On February 9, park photographers captured visitors paddling kayaks across water sitting on top of one of the driest places on the planet.

Why This Almost Never Happens

Death Valley has no outlet to the ocean, so water that collects there can only leave by soaking into the ground or evaporating in the heat. Park ranger Abby Wines put it simply: "You might think with no drain to the sea, that Death Valley would always have a lake. But this is an extremely rare event." Most years, any rain that falls is gone within days.

Gone by Spring

The window did not last. Flood damage from Hurricane Hilary had already closed roads to the basin for two months, and once visitors finally reached the lake, rangers gave it only a couple of weeks before it grew too shallow to paddle. A stretch of strong wind between February 29 and March 2 spread the water thinner and pushed it miles north, and boating was closed soon after. The salt flats of Badwater Basin were left to dry out again, waiting for the next storm rare enough to fill them.