middle of the road in death valley

It was a tough decision for which picture to use above. Check out the mascot playing in Death Valley. And another. Did I choose correctly?

I have always wanted to go to Death Valley. Come on, with a name like Death Valley, I had to see it once, preferrably in the winter. I studied the map and talked to Garrett to find out what I should do. In other words I had a plan and on March 4th I attempted to execute it.

I leave Lone Pine around 8am and head into the park. I was either going to head the Raceway or possibly to “the lowest place in the U.S.”. But right from the start my plan is in trouble. As I am driving down RT190, I notice a turn off for Darwin Falls. And then I notice a pipe running along the side of the canyon. Hmmm that means there must be a spring that feeds these falls. My interest is peaked.

It is maybe 1 mile till I reach the first falls. Here is where Garrett would have been proud. I keep eyeing the area above the falls. There has to be something up there. I start looking around for a trail. There is none, but I do notice that there may be a way up the cliff on the left side of the canyon. Some scrambling, some rock climbing and some wrong choices and I am up above the first falls. Some more scrambling along the canyon wall and I find the 2nd falls. Again, I look above the falls and think, “there must be something up there”. So a little more scrambling and I find the third falls. Underneath the third falls there is a nice waist deep pool. I stripped down and take a dip. I spend the next hour or so lounging in the sun reading what the guidebook had to say about Death Valley and Lake Tahoe. It was fantastic. On the way out, I run into another guy hiking in. He tells me that there is another falls and finally the spring above the pool I stopped at. Damn!

Ok, so it is now around 1pm as I leave the trailhead. I get to Stovepipe Wells and see a sign for Mosaic Canyon. I figure what the hell, it will be a short little canyon (as the parking lot is filled with lots of cars and in National parks no one travels more than .5 miles from their car). I scan the sign at the trailhead explaining the hike and notice “1/4th of a mile”….. I should have read alittle closer. Since I believe it is only a 1/4th of a mile, I do not change and just grab some water and my camera(this means I am hiking in a tshirt and gap jeans). So I start hiking in. The beginning of the canyon is pretty impressive. And I keep hiking and hiking and hiking in. 2 miles later I come to wall of rock. I figure, “oh well, I will have to head back”. But as I turn around I notice a trail that climbs straight up one of the walls of the canyon. So I look at it and debate. Climb to see what lies above or head back and do see something else in the Valley. Again Garrett would be proud, as the desire to see what is above the rock wall wins out. I climb up the wall to the ridge line. The canyon just keeps going and going. I only go in another 1/2 mile or so. Here (and here)are a few pictures looking down the canyon towards Death Valley. On the way back, I follow a small footpath that ran along the ridge line down into the a 2nd canyon to the north. So I can offically call this a loop trip

So this little escapade takes me another 3 hours and now it is after 4pm. There is no way I will be hitting either the Raceway or “lowest point” as they are +50 miles away Oh well, will have to do it next time.

I took some other interesting photos during the hiking and while driving around.

View from the mouth of the Canyon
New format of self portrait. Taken on the center line of RT 190 in Death Valley
New format of self portrait. Taken at my personal summit inside the canyon
Route 190 in Death Valley
Exposed rock formations on a scale I have never seen
cactus 1
cactus 2
Runner Up for Journal Picture 1
Paramint Range