Death Valley Part 2

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We’ve been really enjoying our stay in Death Valley NP. Our original plans to dry camp for 4 nights in the Furnace Creek Campground has already changed to just 2 nights of dry camping and 3 more nights at a full hookup site. We are able to be flexible with our plans since we still have over 2 weeks before our next reserved spot in Lake Havasu City on January first. We still have lots of other things we would like to see and do here in Death Valley so I have been keeping my eye on the reservation system. Turns out there was another cancellation of a full hookup site that would get us 3 more nights. The only issue we have is a one night gap between the current three nights and the following three.

Just across the main road from Furnace Creek is the Sunset camping area. This is a very large dry camping area that is first come first served and almost never fills up. We had driven in one day and there were maybe 20 rigs in the 200 or so campsites. So we reserve the additional 3 nights with plans to move over to Sunset campground for one night in between. With that reservation in place, we have changed from a 4 night stay in Death Valley to 9 nights with 3 nights of dry camping and 6 nights of full hookup. Of course it will require us to move into 4 different campsites but at least our travel days are under a mile!

Saturday morning as we were getting ready for the days activities, I noticed the power was out at our site. I checked to see if I had somehow blown the breaker at the pedestal but that looked fine. A quick check with my meter showed no power at the plugs. I walked over to our neighbor that was sitting outside and he commented there is a note on the restroom door that power was going to be cut from 8 AM to 4 PM for scheduled maintenance. Since we tend to use our own shower and bathroom, we typically don’t head over to the park restroom to see these notices. As long as the power is out for just 8 hours, we won’t have any issues with the motorhome.

Today’s plan was to head to the east side of the park for a hike and some sightseeing. One of our destinations was to Dante’s View so we were looking for a hike in that general area. AllTrails has a few hikes but two of them are rated as hard and looked to be more difficult than we were willing to commit to. Coffin Peak is just under a 3 mile out and back hike with 700 feet of elevation gain. Reviews mentioned that there really isn’t a marked trail for the first half of the hike and having access to the trail map was quite helpful. The trailhead starts at a small pullout with a vault toilet just down from the Dante’s View parking area. We had a pretty but somewhat chilly morning for a hike but we liked the idea of a hike on a mountain as opposed to the canyon and wash trails we had tried so far.

As we come from the dirt parking area, we are looking for some obvious starting point but don’t see any sort of trailhead sign or even a rock cairn. Looking up ahead, we can see a hill that we need to climb and based on the route on our phone app, we have a decent idea that we are attempting to get to a ridge line along the top of this first hill. We set off and let the conditions on the ground dictate the exact path to take. We occasionally check our location to the intended route and make corrections as we continue up. It was steep, rocky and there were lots of bushes and other obstacles to get past so the climb was a slow one. We eventually got within a few hundred feet of the ridge line and picked a path that looked to minimize the steepness while avoiding large rock outcroppings.

Starting Up First Hill Towards Coffin Peak

Looking Over the Valley

Rocky Terrain Heading to Ridge Line

Once on top of this first hill, we could see what we assumed to be Coffin Peak in the distance. The ridge was fairly wide at this point but pretty easy to pick a good line. It narrows down to another ridge that makes a hard left hand turn. This section of the hike is much more obvious since the ridge is rather narrow. There is a steep drop off to our left and an even steeper one to our right. The wind was blowing pretty good and I was a bit concerned this trail might be more exposed than Chris would want to hike but she managed to overcome her fear of heights and continue on.

Snow Capped Mountains Across Valley

Coffin Peak Just Left of Center

Following Last Ridge Line to Peak

Not too surprisingly, we were the only people out here. We had a very good view of the surrounding area and could see lots of cars driving by heading to or from Dante’s View but only a few even stopped at the restroom near our parking spot. We made it to the top of Coffin Peak never finding the reason for its name other than it is in Death Valley. At nearly 5500 feet elevation, we are about 100 feet higher than Dante’s View roughly one mile to the west. We noticed a container hidden under some rocks and discovered it was a visitor log.  We signed it as if we had found a geocache. After a snack, we made our way down along the narrow ridge line. Being steep and covered in loose rocks, we needed to make our way rather slowly since a slip here could cause some damage.

View Back Along Ridge Line from Coffin Peak

Dante's View Parking a Mile Away

Once we made it to the ridge line on the other hill, we could look down and try to determine the best path to descend. We had our breadcrumbs on my Garmin from our route up but then we noticed a rock cairn and a few more further down the hill. We decided to see if we could follow them down and for the most part we managed to stay on the path somebody else had marked. Back at the car we were pleased with the hike. It isn’t the best hike or even an easy one. Many people would shy away from such an undefined trail but that fact made it just that much more interesting.

Coming Back Down Faint Trail

We drive up to the large parking lot at Dante’s View and eat our lunch while sitting in the warm car. Many of the visitors have come from the valley floor where the temperature was nearly 50 degrees and weren’t prepared for the windchill at this elevation. We put on an extra layer and head out to see the views. They are quite spectacular. Being a little over a mile high and overlooking Badwater Basin about 2.5 miles to the west, the people taking the walk out along the white salt basin are nearly invisible. I take a picture with my highest zoom setting and look at the resulting photo zoomed in just to convince myself that we are indeed looking at humans down there.

Jack and Chris Selfie at Dante's View

Overlooking Badwater Basin

There is a rocky trail that leads to the south along the ridge line of mountain. It looks fairly wide and given how many people are out walking in sneakers or Crocs, we figure we should be able to handle it. The trail is listed as a half mile out losing a little over 200 feet. We made it most of the way but skipped the very last section since it was very steep and rocky and it didn’t look like the views would be that much better. Our legs were tired from the morning’s hike. There were some views from the trail that were not visible from the parking area so it was worth the effort.

Ridge Trail from Dante's Peak Parking Lot

Another Death Valley View - One Mile Below Us!

Unusual Salt Patterns in Basin

Next we head back down to California route 190 towards Furnace Creek. Twenty Mule Team Canyon is a 2.5 mile one way dirt road that is supposed to be rather pretty. Some scenes from a Star Wars movie were filmed here decades ago. The road itself was in pretty good shape. A really low clearance vehicle might run into issues but most car would likely make it. We stop a few times for some pictures. There are lots of washes and small canyons that looked inviting so we parked off the road at one of these and headed out to explore.

View in Twenty Mule Team Canyon

Heading Up a Wash

The wash we picked was pretty easy to follow. At times there were some junctions with other washes but we stayed on the more major one. Having done this morning’s hike, we were looking for a long hike but this is an area where I could see us spending several hours simply wandering around. On one side wash, we noticed some old rusty tin cans. We climbed up this one a short distance to find hundreds of cans partially buried in the wash. We suspect they were from decades ago when the borax was mined in this area well before it became a national park.

More Views in Twenty Mule Team Canyon

Colorful Hills

Jeep Grand Cherokee Poses

A few miles down the road towards camp is another “must see” spot in Death Valley. Zabriskie Point is named for a businessman that headed up one of the borax mining companies in the early 1900’s. There is a large parking area with a short paved path up a fairly steep hill to an overlook of the surrounding badlands. By now it was late in the afternoon so the sun was helping to produce great colors and shadows. Many of the ridges of the tortured landscape seemed to have foot trail worn into them although we didn’t spot any people exploring below.

At Zabriskie Point Overlook

Well Eroded Hills

We made it back to camp and found the power was back on. We had an early dinner so we could head to one of the ranger talks. We had attended one a couple nights earlier at the auditorium in the visitor center. The one tonight was to be at the Harmony Borax Works site just a few miles north of camp. This one was a night sky talk that required us to walk along a dirt trail to the meeting location. They had dozens of small red lanterns lining the trail to help direct the flow of people. The ranger giving this talk was very much into stars and the night sky and had many wonderful stories. We usually find the ranger talks at these parks are quite fun and informative.

The next morning, we needed to relocate to the Sunset dry camping area across the street. There were very few rigs so we were able to pick a spot that wasn’t too near others so we didn’t have to listen to their generator or them ours. The area is just a large gravel parking lot with lines painted on the ground to designate campsites. There was a bit of a slope but the spot we picked was good enough. There are several restrooms scattered around the nearly 15 acre campground. There are kiosks here and there where you can go and pay for the site you picked for the number of nights you plan on staying. A receipt from the kiosk goes on your site’s post. A worker occasionally walks the grounds and confirms you have properly registered. We were able to use Chris’ recently purchased lifetime senior national park pass so the site was half price ($7) - getting old does have some advantages!

Our Motorhome in Sunset Campground

After getting situated and having lunch, we head out for another hike. Desolation Canyon is another wash/canyon hike in Death Valley. It’s about 5 miles south of camp just beyond the very crowded Golden Canyon trailhead. This hike is 3.6 miles out and back with nearly 800 feet of elevation gain. The trail follows a very wide wash out of the parking area. In the first 3/4 mile, the wash slowly narrows down into the canyon portion of the hike.

Starting Up the Wash

Into Desolation Canyon

There weren’t many others on the trail but we did run into one couple that commented they apparently got lost and never made it to the end of the hike where the view is supposed to be quite good. We give them the recommendation to try out Mosaic Canyon since it was the prettiest one we had completed. We continue up and enjoy the views but hit the first serious dry waterfall. It was fairly steep but did have several places to put hands and feet. I made it up but realized that Chris was having trouble with her shorter legs to make the climb. She decided this would be her stopping point and I continued on.

Rock Patterns

Approaching Dry Waterfall

Chris Gets Part Way Up

It turns out that the rest of the canyon was fairly easy and no other difficult falls to climb. I got to one intersection with a side canyon and realized this is where the other couple likely got turned around. There was a rock cairn to denote the way to go but I think they misinterpreted it as a sign to not go that direction. Having heard there was a good view if you make it to the end, I started to pick up the pace hoping to get there before the 20 minute time limit I had imposed on myself. It was an okay canyon with limited colors. I was getting a sense that I was close to the end but after each turn in the canyon, I realized I had more to go.

Color in Desolation Canyon

Still Not Quite to the Top

I had planned to be back to Chris after a half hour, at the 17 minute mark, I recognized I wasn’t going to make it to the top so I turned back and headed down the canyon. Along the way, I ran into a group of 5 hikers with backpacks, helmets and all sorts of climbing gear. They must have been out exploring some even more challenging spots along this trail. I made it back to Chris and we managed to get back to the car without problems. As we drove past the Golden Canyon trailhead, the parking lot was full and there were a dozen cars parked along the main road. If we end up going for this hike, we should expect a crowd. Our Desolation Canyon hike lives up to its name in that regard.

View Coming Back Down Desolation Canyon

We made it back to the Sunset campground and while there were a few more rigs in the lot, it probably was less than 20% full. The next morning we would be driving back over to Furnace Creek but check-in wasn’t until early afternoon. We decided to take advantage of the free morning and head over to The Ranch at Death Valley. This is a highly developed oasis just across the street from Sunset and just south of Furnace Creek campground.

Entrance to The Ranch at Death Valley

We wander the grounds and check out the gift shop to see if there is a T-shirt we need to remember our visit here. There is a museum with a large variety of displays outside mostly pertaining to the areas mining past.

Not How I Envisioned Death Valley

Old Train

Big Wheel of Yesteryear

There are quite a few casitas and cottages available to rent. I suppose that would be the way to spend some time here if you don’t have some sort of RV. There really aren’t any towns nearby so staying outside of the park would require a significant drive each day.

Rental Cottage

Nicely Detailed

We stopped at the visitor center again and then walk over to see if our next campsite was open. It was so we walked over to the entrance booth to explain our plans and see if we would we able to check in early since that site was already vacated. The ranger informed us that nobody showed up for that site yesterday so it was actually open all night and they had no problems with us coming over early. So we walked back to the rig and made the mile long drive to our fourth and final stop of our stay.

Furnace Creek Visitor Center Entrance

Visitor Center

Another Sunset Campground Shot