Death Valley Adventure

Online Travel Vietnam: “People do die there.” My mother thought our trip to Death Valley was foolhardy.

Undeterred, we loaded the car with camping gear, food, and three very large water containers and then set off for California. Our goal: to hike the canyons of Death Valley National Park and live to tell the tale.

We expected to find remote wilderness, bad roads, cactus, and lots of nothing. We found all that, but we also found paved roads, stores, gas stations, motels, restaurants, campgrounds, water, and even a castle. This made for a much easier trip than we expected, with great access to some of the most breathtaking scenery in the American Southwest.

All That and More

At the north end of the park, we bumped along a washboard gravel road in Eureka Valley. The spectacular Eureka Dunes rose against distant mountains. At the foot of the dunes, a small campground provided space for four or five vehicles; ours was the only car there. We climbed up and spent a quiet hour sitting on the knife-edged peak of a 700-foot dune, watching sand blow across its rippled surface.

Ravens wheeled overhead. The setting sun turned us and our surroundings golden. At dusk we ran down the face, knowing the wind would erase our footprints by morning. Our first night in the desert was still and cold, the stars so bright and numerous we could barely pick out familiar constellations.

Death Valley

The next morning we drove through dry mountains bound for Death Valley proper. We passed by rusty old mining machinery, reminding us that people were numerous in this lonely place during the mining boom times.

Rounding a curve, we saw it spread far below us. Death Valley, its undulating floor dotted with grey-green desert shrubs, fell away into the distance. Rocky mountains rose on either side, their sedimentary layers tilting at odd angles. Broad alluvial fans spread down from canyon mouths to the valley floor.

Proceeding south, cars became more frequent. Suddenly, at Grapevine Junction, we were on a paved road that rises to the rim of the spectacular Ubehebe Crater. The interior caldera walls are deeply gullied through layers of black, orange, and yellow. A few intrepid hikers descend to the crater floor 600 feet below. We circled the rim, enjoying spectacular views of the surrounding volcanic field and the Grapevine Mountains beyond.

Moving Mystery

Continuing 27 miles along a rough gravel road, a strange phenomenon greeted us at the Racetrack Playa, a perfectly flat, dry lakebed. When seasonal rainstorms turn the cracked clay into slick mud, rocks move across its surface, presumably pushed by the wind.

No one has ever observed or filmed the rocks in motion, but their long straight or curving tracks tell the tale. At sunrise and sunset, it is a photographer's dream.

Signs of Civilization

Death Valley is 130 miles long, with numerous steep, winding, gravel side roads leading to the park's hikes and viewpoints. We needed to fill our gas tank a few times in order to hit the highlights.

At the village of Stovepipe Wells, we found a gas station, ranger station, and campground, which we expected. To our surprise, it also offered a grocery store, gift shop, motel, showers, free drinking water, restaurant, bar, airstrip, and even a swimming pool. Later during the trip, we stopped at Furnace Creek further south to find similar amenities and even a golf course!

Fueled, fed, and armed with an excellent map, we followed the rough Cottonwood Canyon road until driving became impossible. Then we continued on foot to the narrow mouth of Marble Canyon. We hiked on a gently rising floor of loose gravel between towering rock walls that arch inward here and there, hiding the sky from view.

Hiking the Canyons

Colorful little lizards scuttled across our path. When a huge boulder wedged between the canyon walls blocked our progress, we scrambled around beside it to continue on. At the end of the narrows, we stopped for lunch, observed closely by a pair of ravens.

Where the canyon widens to admit more light, cactus studded the mountain sides and we saw our first plant in bloom, bearing small orange poppy-like flowers.

Some of the best canyon hikes started right off the paved road, making them easily accessible by any vehicle. Fall Canyon is possibly the most gorgeous in Death Valley, with high, smooth, red-, black-, and white-striped walls curving in graceful arcs through the Grapevine Mountains. At the end is a dry waterfall, 15 feet high, and so well polished it cannot be scaled.

As we stood gazing up and scratching our heads, three hikers appeared at the top of the falls. They showed us, since we were feeling nimble and brave, where to scale the canyon wall, inch along a narrow ledge high above, and emerge to peer over the top of the falls ourselves.

Sidewinder Canyon offers a different experience. Three slot canyons branching off the main canyon were steep and so narrow that we could touch both walls at the same time. We had a great time scrambling, edging past huge boulders, shimmying up steep parts with our backs on one wall and feet on the other, and then catching our breath in sunlit chambers under lovely rock arches.

Before heading home, we drove to Dante's View-5,000 feet above the desert floor-for a panoramic vista of Badwater Basin, the lowest point and hottest place in North America. The crystalline salt flats shone pure white, the fierce wind whipped my hair, and I realized that instead of killing me, Death Valley had made me more alive.

Ah, I thought, Mom would be relieved.

Source: theepochtimes.com/Oratrip.