Death Valley – a 2-day explore
April 14, 2023
So, Death Valley. As ever I did little research before arriving (Jackie is the researcher of the team). I knew it would be arid, dry and hot. Yep, that’s about it.
A few Death Valley facts
- Death Valley is in the Northern part of the Mojave Desert in Nevada.
- During the summer, it’s the hottest place on earth. It recorded 56.7 degrees celsius in July 1913 at the aptly named Furnace Creek.
- It is the driest place in Nevada, with an average rainfall of less than 2 inches per year.
- Badwater Basin is the lowest elevation in the USA at 85 meters below sea level.
- The highest point is Telescope Peak at 3,366m
The drive to Death Valley
We drove from Cambria on the California coast to Death Valley, which took about 7 hours. The drive was pretty boring on busy highways until we turned into the Mojave Desert. We have done a lot of rainforests, mountains, rivers and coasts, but deserts have been infrequent on our travels. It’s amazing just how beautiful this simple landscape is. The colour palate isn’t broad but with the changing light it was fascinating. As we headed further into the desert I began thinking back to a book I’d recently finished. It details the journeys the early pioneers took and how they managed to navigate this terrain with little food and water and certainly no air-conditioning. Thank goodness for modern luxuries.
As we entered the Northern edge of Death Valley National Park we climbed higher into the mountains and eventually stopped at the first of many sights:
Rainbow Canyon
This is a deep canyon and pretty narrow, which gave it a sort of vertiginous pull downwards to the valley floor. Out of nowhere (I still don’t know where he came from) a park ranger appeared and explained that the US Airforce used to train their combat pilots by flying down this canyon, and people would stand where we were standing to watch. No Way! That is until the day a pilot misjudged the turn. Needless to say it didn’t go well for him or a number of people watching. Since then this flying feat is no more, but the canyon is still a sight to see and gave us a great starting point for our Death Valley adventure.
Day 1 in Death Valley
We planned 5-stops for our first day, all arranged to enable us to be at Mesquite Flat sand dunes in time for sunset. In order not to rush anything and become clock watchers, we were prepared to push the penultimate stop, Mosaic Canyon, to day two. There’s nothing worse than feeling time pressured and rushing things. We want a stress-free experience where we can truly take our time, take-in the sights and take some amazing photos.
1. Natural Bridge Canyon
The drive from the road to the car park is up a (bumpy) dirt-track but once there, the views back to the valley floor and distant mountains are quite something. From the car park it’s only a short 0.3 miles to the natural bridge along a dry river bed. Formed by flowing water, this natural bridge straddles the path providing framed pictures of the ravine on either side. We continued along the river-bed to a dry waterfall (without water, I guess that changes dramatically if it rains) and then onwards up the canyon until its end at a near impassable 15 ft wall. Only a total walk of 3km.
2. Badwater Basin and Salt Flats
Imagine the delight of an early surveyor mapping this area with scarce water where his mule could drink, only for the animal to refuse when it got to this pool. The surveyor wrote on his map that the spring had “Bad water” and the name stuck. The pond isn’t poisonous but very salty…smart donkey I say.
Beyond the pool and stretching out to the distant mountains are the salt-flats. This was a first for us and after walking out as far as we could my boots were pure white. I Think I’ll let the pictures say the rest.
3. Artist's palette
This is a lovely 9-mile drive along a one-way road. En-route there are wonderful colours in the rocks and plenty of stopping places to pop-out and take photos. The road itself is a fun curved affair with some entertaining dips and twists. I’m not sure the photos we took really captured the colours, but we saw an array of green, pink, mauve, grey and yellow, all natural from the minerals in the rock.
4. Mosaic Canyon
I really wanted to see another canyon as they are such a unique experience, so we squeezed in Mosaic Canyon. This is a fun walk that goes through narrow canyon walls (called ‘narrows’) and large wide gullies. There’s a bit of scrambling as we got deeper in and finally we reached a 20 ft wall. It could be traversed but we had seen enough and for us, it was time to go to the sand dunes. Below you can walk with us as we scramble through the narrows of Mosaic Canyon:
5. Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes
You guessed it, sand that has blown into dunes. We decided to go an hour or so before the sun disappeared so we could find a prime spot for the golden shots of the dunes. It’s a very popular spot at this hour, so we walked out into the dunes to find some isolation. If you have time and are feeling fit (walking the dunes is surprisingly hard work) you can walk all the way out to the highest dune.
P.S. For any Star Wars fans out there, this desert was used as the Tatooine Dunes in Star wars: A New Hope. Remember when C3PO and R2D2 crashed their escape pod and went their separate ways? That’s where we’re standing. Cool or what.
Day 2 in Death Valley
Day one was a complete success and we managed to fit in all our planned sights for the day. The plan for day two was just one activity, all be it a 13KM, 4-hour hike with 400 meters of climbing. It’s actually several hiking loops that can be joined together; Zabriskie Point, the Golden Canyon, Gower Gulch and the Badlands Loop.
For the curious among you a ‘gulch’ is a narrow, steep sided ravine which shows the route of a fast-flowing stream.
We started from Zabriskie point car park and walked the very short 0.2 mile up-hill to the “point”. For a few minutes effort you are rewarded with amazing views over a landscape of canyons, past which we could see the Badlands and the salt flats from the previous day. This point is a popular coach stop, so we were glad we made an early start before the crowds arrived.
We then retraced to the car park and headed for the Badlands Loop. We followed its southern side to join the Gower Gulch, then onto Golden Canyon before re-joining the northern side of Badlands Canyon.
We even took the spur off towards the Red Cathedral, an uphill climb with some light scrambling, but well worth the effort to see the amazing towering red rock mountain.
As this was the only activity on this day (and armed with 4 litres of water) we took our time and hiked it all. Join us for some amazing and unique views of Death Valley:
Know before you go:
- As with all US National parks you need a daily park pass to be anywhere within the park. In Death Valley it’s very easy as there’s a self-service machine signed from the road (kind of like a parking machine). No queuing like you get with the Rockies or Yosemite.
- A visit to the information centre in Furnace Creek is very useful as sometimes there are road closures and they highlight anything not open. We were in Death Valley in November and there were a few roads shut due to storm damage.
- We spent 2 days exploring Death Valley and managed to see a lot. Perhaps 3-4 days may be needed if everything is open.
- There are no major supermarkets in or near Death Valley. If you’re self-catering (we were), buy before you arrive (we did, phew).
- It’s hot and very very dry. Plan accordingly. Drink lots of water, use moisturizer by the gallon and carry tissues at all times for (almost daily) nosebleeds. Ok, maybe that was just Jackie.
Where next?
This was just one of the stops as part of our California road-trip. From the desert to the snowy peaks in Yosemite and the sunny climes of Highway 1 on the California coast.
Amazing photos, especially love the ‘ Star Wars’ one. Looking forward to the next chapter x
Loved seeing the videos and listening in to the “tour leader” !!! Sounds like an amazing adventure (as always)!