From the freezer to the furnace: a postcard’s journey

10/07/2025

Last season, we sent a postcard from Port Lockroy, the world’s coldest post office, to Death Valley, the world’s hottest post office.

Once again, UKAHT is proud to have worked with Gerhard Freund, a keen philatelist from Italy, on another historic postal journey. This time, we collaborated to send a postcard from Port Lockroy (which, as the world’s southernmost post office, is probably the world’s coldest one too) to the world’s hottest post office in Death Valley, California, USA.

A postcard’s journey…

Gerhard has a special interest in pushing the boundaries of global postal systems and connecting some of the world’s most unusual post offices. He has collaborated with UKAHT several times to send postcards to unique locations around (and above) the globe.

1. Port Lockroy to the International Space Station, 2020
2. Port Lockroy to the world’s highest post office, 2021 
3. Port Lockroy to the world’s northernmost post office, 2023
4. Port Lockroy to the world’s only cave post office, 2024
5. A postcard’s journey from Port Lockroy to Europe's highest post office, 2025

An ISS crew member holds up a Port Lockroy postcard in orbit above Earth (UKAHT/Igor Rodin)

The world’s hottest post office

Perched at the edge of the Furnace Creek village in Death Valley National Park, California, the United States Postal Service (USPS) Death Valley Post Office (ZIP code 92328) serves as a vital lifeline for the residents, park staff and intrepid travellers passing through one of the hottest places on Earth. 

Furnace Creek holds the record for the highest reliably recorded air temperature in the world at 56.7°C (134°F) on 10 July 1913. Death Valley is also the lowest point in North America at 86m (282ft) below sea level and the driest place in North America with only 38mm (1.5in) of annual rainfall.

Death Valley is one of the world’s hottest places (Maurie Hill /Dreamstime)

Established in 1908 and relocated to its current site during the mid‑20th century, the post office offers a full suite of USPS services, from first‑class mail and package delivery to PO boxes, bulk mail handling, money orders and, naturally, philatelic (stamp‑collecting) offerings.

Despite its scorching temperatures, the facility supports both tourists and the local Timbisha Shoshone community, providing essential communication links in an area that once suffered the isolation of early mining eras. The post office building and tiny village are surrounded by the vast openness of Death Valley, with scenic views of Badwater Basin and the Panamint Range nearby, making it a memorable waypoint for tourists to the region.

The journey 

The postcard began its journey at Port Lockroy on 14 December 2024, when the UKAHT team stamped the postcard with the base cachet. This printed design features the date, location (Goudier Island, Antarctica, 64°49'S 63°29'W), HSM no. 61 – referencing the Historic Site or Monument designation under the Antarctic Treaty, UKAHT web address, and, of course, the Port Lockroy penguin logo. They then wrote out a short message to their counterparts in the Death Valley Post Office, and all signed their names. 

“Greetings from the southernmost post office in the world to the hottest post office in the world! We hope this finds you well. All the best from the Port Lockroy team. George, Lou, Aoife, Maggie, Dale.”

The team's message (UKAHT/George Clarke)

The postcard was then placed inside an envelope featuring four British Antarctic Territory stamps that were hand-cancelled by applying the Port Lockroy postmark with the date 16 December 2024.

The postcard at the start of its journey (UKAHT/George Clarke)

Soon after, the postcards were collected by a visiting cruise ship and transported from Port Lockroy to the Stanley Post Office on the Falkland Islands, a British Overseas Territory. There, the mail was hand-sorted by country before boarding the twice-weekly plane to RAF Brize Norton in the UK. The mail was forwarded via Royal Mail to the United States via Air Mail, where it entered the USPS system.

The postcard at Death Valley(Barbara Taylor/USPS)

Sixty days after leaving Antarctica, the letter arrived at the Death Valley Post Office on 14 February 2025! The postmaster there snapped some shots of the occasion before forwarding the postcard to Gerhard in Italy. Gerhard received the envelope on 21 February 2025, completing another quirky post office collaboration.

The postcard with its complete collection of stamps and postmarks (Credit: Gerhard Freund)

UKAHT would like to thank Gerhard Freund for his hard work in getting yet another awesome postal project off the ground, the postmaster and staff at Death Valley Post Office, and, as ever, our dedicated team at Port Lockroy.