Death Valley
A couple of hours' drive from Tonopah, and we dropped down into Death Valley. Stark, but beautiful. And BIG (the biggest National Park in the lower 48).
Stopped at the ranger station in Stovepipe Wells to get some advice on weather (since there was still a chance of rain) and camping. No ranger, but the friendly camp host who was substituting for the ranger said there weren't any storms of significance, so canyons were ok. The 3-4 mile hike up and back Mosaic Canyon felt good, and had some amazingly smooth (aka slippery) rock created by the water flow. Nice colors, and a few obstacles to get around, too!
We arrived at our reserved camp site (at Furnace Creek Campground), only to find it totally exposed to the sun (now, who woulda thought that!). But, the very helpful ranger suggested that we "extend" our site's boundaries toward the unoccupied adjacent site, and scoot our tent over under the shade tree! Worked like a charm! We enjoyed a simple, earlyish dinner, and drove to Artists Drive for sunset. Very relaxing. A little campfire action (not too windy), then off to slumberland. But wait ... the crew next door rolled in at 10:30 and set up their tent by car headlights. Other than being woken up, it was fairly entertaining. The women didn't want to put their tent under the tree because they were afraid of the snakes (I didn't realize that's where they hid)! Plus, I just had to peek out to watch them try to stuff in 2 full-sized, inflated mattresses through a little tent door ... Monty-Pythonesque!
A not-so-early start the next morning. Checked out the Mesquite Dunes for a bit, which were very cool, but probably not much different than any other dunes. However, the sand patterns and dune shapes are always mesmerizing. Our "Daily Canyon Hike" was Fall Canyon. Again, lots of big walls and a variety of colors and rock patters. A quick swim and shower, and an early dinner, before heading up to Zabrinski Point for evening light. WOW! The badlands had just an incredible variety of shapes, shades of brown, and gorgeous light.
The final day of our stay was spent visiting the salt flats at Badwater Basin, 280 ft below sea level. Incredibly big (probably 5 miles across and 15 miles long). And our Daily Canyon Hike (at high noon, no less) was up Gower Gulch, through the badlands (that we saw from Zabrinski Point), and back down Golden Canyon. The hot slog up Gower was somewhat interesting, but the badlands between the two canyons were very cool ... a maze of steep but rounded soft mounds, and big vertical walls above. Golden Canyon was also as beautiful as advertised.
All-in-all, we found Death Valley to be a very interesting place. Quite different from anything we'd spent much time in. A wide variety of different forms, patterns, and colors. Canyons varying from very broad to 8-10 ft wide. We certainly didn't expect an 11,000 ft peak (still snowed in, of course). And very dry (only 2 inches of rain a year, on average ... sometimes they get absolutely none!). We were disappointed that we missed the super-bloom flowers (a bit too late), and the flowers up a bit higher were sparse. And we didn't get any good star action, between the half moon and clouds. But we'd highly recommend it ... perhaps in the somewhat cooler temperatures of February or March.
Stopped at the ranger station in Stovepipe Wells to get some advice on weather (since there was still a chance of rain) and camping. No ranger, but the friendly camp host who was substituting for the ranger said there weren't any storms of significance, so canyons were ok. The 3-4 mile hike up and back Mosaic Canyon felt good, and had some amazingly smooth (aka slippery) rock created by the water flow. Nice colors, and a few obstacles to get around, too!
We arrived at our reserved camp site (at Furnace Creek Campground), only to find it totally exposed to the sun (now, who woulda thought that!). But, the very helpful ranger suggested that we "extend" our site's boundaries toward the unoccupied adjacent site, and scoot our tent over under the shade tree! Worked like a charm! We enjoyed a simple, earlyish dinner, and drove to Artists Drive for sunset. Very relaxing. A little campfire action (not too windy), then off to slumberland. But wait ... the crew next door rolled in at 10:30 and set up their tent by car headlights. Other than being woken up, it was fairly entertaining. The women didn't want to put their tent under the tree because they were afraid of the snakes (I didn't realize that's where they hid)! Plus, I just had to peek out to watch them try to stuff in 2 full-sized, inflated mattresses through a little tent door ... Monty-Pythonesque!
A not-so-early start the next morning. Checked out the Mesquite Dunes for a bit, which were very cool, but probably not much different than any other dunes. However, the sand patterns and dune shapes are always mesmerizing. Our "Daily Canyon Hike" was Fall Canyon. Again, lots of big walls and a variety of colors and rock patters. A quick swim and shower, and an early dinner, before heading up to Zabrinski Point for evening light. WOW! The badlands had just an incredible variety of shapes, shades of brown, and gorgeous light.
The final day of our stay was spent visiting the salt flats at Badwater Basin, 280 ft below sea level. Incredibly big (probably 5 miles across and 15 miles long). And our Daily Canyon Hike (at high noon, no less) was up Gower Gulch, through the badlands (that we saw from Zabrinski Point), and back down Golden Canyon. The hot slog up Gower was somewhat interesting, but the badlands between the two canyons were very cool ... a maze of steep but rounded soft mounds, and big vertical walls above. Golden Canyon was also as beautiful as advertised.
All-in-all, we found Death Valley to be a very interesting place. Quite different from anything we'd spent much time in. A wide variety of different forms, patterns, and colors. Canyons varying from very broad to 8-10 ft wide. We certainly didn't expect an 11,000 ft peak (still snowed in, of course). And very dry (only 2 inches of rain a year, on average ... sometimes they get absolutely none!). We were disappointed that we missed the super-bloom flowers (a bit too late), and the flowers up a bit higher were sparse. And we didn't get any good star action, between the half moon and clouds. But we'd highly recommend it ... perhaps in the somewhat cooler temperatures of February or March.
Activities
- Hiking: Mosaic Canyon, Mesquite Dunes, Fall Canyon, Gower Gulch > Golden Canyon Loop
- Sight Seeing: Artists Drive, Zabrinski Point, Devil's Golf Course, Badwater Basin
- Swimming at Furnace Creek Resort
5-Star Moments
- Evening light at Zabrinski Point
- Views on the traverse between Gower Gulch and Golden Canyon
Tom's Daily Stress Points
- Will it rain while we're in the canyons, and will we die?
- If we get past the canyon obstacles, can we get back down?
- Does Karen have a plan to come back down that little scramble (Red Cathedral)? Am I supposed to go up there?
Sleeps
- Furnace Creek Campground (sites 106-110 have nice shade trees)
Eats
- Karen's camp fare!
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| Badwater Basin Sunset |
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| Sunset at Artists Palette |
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| Mesquite Dunes |
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| Mesquite Dunes |
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| Fall Canyon |
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| Evening Light from Zabrinski Point |
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| Evening Light on Badlands from Zabrinski Point |
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| Evening Light on Badlands from Zabrinski Point |
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| Evening Light on Badlands from Zabrinsky Point |
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| Evening Light on Badlands from Zabrinsky Point |
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| Salt Flats in Badwater Basin |
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| Artists Palette |
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| Badlands Above Gower Gulch |
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| Badlands Above Gower Gulch |
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| Traverse Between Gower Gulch and Golden Canyon |
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| Descent into Golden Canyon from Gower Gulch |
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| Golden Canyon |
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