Lake Manly is a pluvial lake located at Badwater Basin inside Death Valley National Park. About a hundred thousand years ago, the lake covered most of Death Valley with a surface area of more than a thousand square kilometers. Nowadays, the lake only forms occasionally after heavy rain but only lasts within Badwater Basin, and most of the time, it’s just a pond.
Death Valley is North America’s driest and hottest place, with an average annual rainfall of about 2 inches. However, in August 2023, a rare tropical storm, Hurricane Hilary, hit Southern California and brought heavy rainfall, which started forming the temporary lake. In the following six months, the area continued to fill up with flood runoff from Hurricane Hilary and rainfall from several storms. During that time, the valley floor received rainfall of 4.9 inches, so the temporary Lake Manly became bigger and deeper enough for kayaking.
My wife and I were lucky enough to experience the phenomenon, which may not happen again in another hundred or even thousand years. The view of the temporary Lake Manly was astonishing; it’s hard to imagine how magnificent it was when the lake covered most of Death Valley a hundred thousand years ago.
The lake may not appear again anytime soon, but Death Valley is still worth visiting. The landscape is so unique that one might even feel they are on another planet. Besides, due to its remote location, Death Valley is one of the darkest places in America, which makes it great for stargazing.
Death Valley is an unprecedented national park famous for its extreme climate—the driest and hottest spot in North America—and its complex and diverse geology. If you come to Southern California, it is worth spending a few days there.
Death Valley National Park Service: Death Valley National Park (U.S. National Park Service)