Death Valley is a desert valley in Eastern California, in the northern Mojave Desert, bordering the Great Basin Desert. It is thought to be the hottest place on Earth during summer. Death Valley's Badwater Basin is the point of lowest elevation in North America, at 282 feet below sea level. It is 84.6 miles east-southeast of Mount Whitney – the highest point in the contiguous United States, with an elevation of 14,505 feet.