Zabriskie Point Loop (Death Valley National Park) - 1/23/20

Manly Beacon & Red Cathedral

Group at Red Cathedral Overlook

Manly Lake below Telescope Peak

Beginning of Loop Trail right of Parking

 Our once a year foray into the Badlands of Death Valley National Park was attended by twelve great hikers! Gorgeous as ever, the celebrated scenery awed everyone ... especially our two newbies! The weather was absolutely perfect! Temperatures in the high 50's to the high 70's with a little bit of morning breeze. Some of our hikers were dressed in short pants and sleeves and loving every minute of it! We had six hikers coming from the north route and six from the south route through Pahrump. The two hour drive is worth it, folks! Since this hike has been blogged on almost every year of the past eleven, I will leave you to research this blogsite for a more detailed description of the hike.

Old Mining Road leading down into Badlands

Starting down Gower Gulch

Further down Gower Gulch

Starting into Gower Gulch Narrows

  This is a simple photo essay of scenery you definitely want to bring your camera to. Suffice it to say, the simple north route to the trailhead is as follows: Drive north on SR-95 to a left turn onto SR-373. At the junction, there are two gas stations and a rest stop. All bathrooms are kept nice. Drive down through Amargosa Valley, pass the entrance road to Ash Meadows NWR, pass the Longstreet Casino with the big black & white cow out front, cross the California state line and turn right onto SR-190 just before the Amargosa Opera House. (You will see a Dispensary on the right after your turn.) Twenty-five miles down this entrance road to Death Valley NP, the Zabriskie Point Trailhead will be on your left. Be sure to display your national parks pass while you are parked there.

Bottleneck into Scrambles

Narrows Scrambles

Just before High Dry Fall to Valley

Gower Gulch Wash in Valley

 We begin the loop here for two reasons. First, this trailhead is closest! Second, the loop hike is much easier from the bottom instead of the top where we begin! If we're going to drive this far, we're going to get a good workout! In other words, the last three hills coming out will challenge you so be careful of the temperatures. Bring plenty of water and electrolytes. Dress appropriately. And, take your time if you need it. Today, we found the temperature at the bottom of the hike (in the valley) to be quite warm ... maybe in the mid to high 70's. When we exited the hike at the top, they may have been around 70 degrees.

Hot Cross Trail to Golden Canyon Trailhead

Starting up Golden Canyon

Red Cathedral comes into View in Golden Canyon

Rhombus

The trail is well marked at this time. There are arrow signs all along the trail and there are distance signs placed at the key junctions. Since this was a Thursday, the trail was only moderately busy. However, there were two groups of school children that had visited Golden Canyon. They seemed very well behaved and very happy. There were plenty of adults shepherding them along. BTW, we were very impressed with the bus driver's way to spend the day! He was lounging in a chair under his umbrella next to the bus while he waited for his charges to return! (I think he's done this run before!)

Colorful Side Views of Golden Canyon

Junction Sign

Manly Beacon from climb to Red Cathedral

Trail to Red Cathedral Overlook

As usual, we took our break at the Golden Canyon Trailhead then enjoyed the scenery up the canyon and past the signed junction. We hiked up to the Red Cathedral Overlook. (A first for me!) The previously loose rock trail up the steep incline is now a nice sandy dirt trail. It is still ridden with exposure but the view is quite spectacular. We took a group photo here then most of the hikers decided to balance a descent route back down past this small canyon's narrows. They reached the main small canyon before we did since we decided to return the way we came. From here, we returned to the signed junction and started up the first of the three final hills.

Canyon Narrows Scramble

Arriving at Overlook

Hikers descending around the Narrows

Starting up to Base of Manly Beacon

The group started spreading out on these hills but I couldn't resist several photos on the first two. The first hill climbs up to traverse under Manly Beacon. The view back into the Badlands is fantastic ... still! From there, the trail travels across a hardened sand dune and starts up the second hill at another signed junction pointing out the direction to Zabriskie Point. Nearing the top of this hill, the views of Manly Beacon, Red Cathedral and Gower Gulch captivated my camera ... again. By this time, half of the group had tired of waiting for the other half. I arrived at the Gower Gulch junction and the last six hikers started up the last big hill.

Rear View from Half Way up Big Hill

Tony & Alex take a Breath on Big Hill

Rear View from Near Top of Big Hill

Crossing over to the Old Mine Road Junction

This last climb is a killer so be careful here! By the time we reached the parking lot, everyone was there with large smiles on their faces! I can't help but love these guys and gals.

As a side bit, our car was zooming along happily on SR-95 on the way home when we came upon a super double wide load escorted by two or three police cars. It was a few cars ahead of us so we pondered and pondered during our 30 minutes of 10 mph about what it could be. See photos below. What do you think? Finally, they stopped and let the build up of traffic go around.

7.6 miles; 1350 feet elevation gain; 3.5 hours

Climbing Another Big Hill to Gorgeous View

Gower Gulch from Old Mine Road

Descending to Gower Gulch Junction

What in the world? ... I mean, "Really?"