Cottonball Basin, Death Valley National Park

Cottonball Basin is a Death Valley playa located 100 to 150 feet below sea level — home to amazing life and anomalies. The basin is an ancient ocean with salt bearing evidence of what was once a sea bed. The salt content and alkali levels remain high, making it hard to imagine life surviving in 130-degree summer temperatures. Yet it does.

Walking on the basin, the ground crackles like broken china plates and is mushy in places — giving the playa its name. After rains it can be dangerous; you can get stuck in quicksand. Do not go out after rainfall or storms, as it will also damage the formations. Once you get 1/2 to 4 miles from the highway, silence envelops you in an alien world of oblique circular formations as far as you can see.

Under the salt layer is a green algae-like organism that exists in intense temperatures and high salt — yet another sign of how life finds a way in the most hostile conditions. Death Valley sunsets never disappoint, and this was no exception. The sun cast a beautiful hue over the playa that brought this dreamlike place to life.