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| Manly Beacon and Red Cathedral |
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| Panamint Mountains beyond Golden Canyon |
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| Red Cathedral above Golden Canyon |
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| Starting down the Old Road |
Sneaking just over the state line, Rita, Mike & I drove to Death Valley in California for a little fun in the sun! It would be a warm day and very little wind. Can we all say "shorts?" We arrived at the Zabriskie Point Trailhead on SR 190, almost down to Furnace Creek, just before 9am. Cars were already filling the lot. The hike begins on a trail that leads to the right as you near the climb up to the overlook. This is an old mining road. The view at the top of the little hill sets the stage for the day. (See photo to the left.) The road drops down steeply with curves and arrives at Gower Gulch where there is a sign for "Zabriskie Point Junction." The first part of our hike would be a descent down through the gravel of the wide wash of Gower Gulch. We turned to the right.
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| Zabriskie Point Junction (Gower Gulch, Old Road, & Trail) |
Crunch, crunch, crunch. The gravel was loud under our feet. But, soon, we were able to walk on the silent side islands of dry mud.
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| Gower Gulch |
Going from island to island, the landscape opened up to white and brown hardened and ancient sand dunes. The colors were other-worldly.
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| Mine #1 Visit and View of Mine #2 |
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| Hiking down Gower Gulch |
We passed the junction (complete with a sign) that led to the crossover to Golden Canyon. Then we passed an area where there are a few mines. We found one mine (today's Mine #1) up and over a low hill on the left side of the wash. This one was new to us. There was enough light inside to take a decent photo from behind the iron gate protecting the entrance. We also noticed that there is very warm air coming from inside the hole. After our mine visit, we soon passed the mine we usually visit up on the hill to the right. Next, the gulch enters into its narrows. The wash curves and drops down easy moderate scrambles. Then, the wash opens out into tall red and green walls. Not too far ahead, we came to the end of the wash at a high dry fall that flows into Manly Lake, the dry lake at the bottom of Death Valley.
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| Gower Gulch Narrows |
Just before the dry fall drops, the trail climbs up and out of the wash to the right to sidle above a deep ravine. It then curves around the corner to continue straight across the base of the foothills to our right.
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| Mike exiting Narrows |
To our left was the wide basin of the dry lake with Badwater Road between. Badwater could be found behind us and Furnace Creek in front.
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| Dry Fall transition at Manly Lake |
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| Nearing Golden Canyon Trailhead |
Arriving at the packed Golden Canyon Trailhead parking lot, we sat in shade for our break. Here, there were a large amount of hikers with masks hiking up and down past us. Some hikers did not wear a mask but everyone was keeping a very good distance from other hikers. After our break, we began climbing up Golden Canyon staying far to our right on the trail. It is a wide wash. The landscape offered gorgeous colors and geology. Soon, we were passing the Red Cathedral Junction. Knowing the trail narrowed ahead, we donned our masks and headed up through the scrambles. We climbed all the way up to the overlook at the base of Red Cathedral and took our photos. From there, we started to take the usual "descent by Mike."
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| Break in the Shade |
This trail was a little washed out so we returned up to go down the usual way. Then, Mike and Rita spied another alternate descent. I stayed down. Someone has to take the photos!
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| Hiking up Golden Canyon |
I scrambled down through the narrow canyon and met Mike & Rita at the junction below. Fun was had by all! Then we continued back down to the signed junction and turned to the left.
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| Masking up for the Narrows Scramble |
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| Tenacious Trio on Red Cathedral Overlook |
Manly Beacon rose pointedly in front of us for another group photo. Then, suddenly, we noticed that we were the only hikers around! I got all the photos I ever wanted without other hikers! We climbed up to the base of the beacon and traversed underneath. This section of the hike is the most beautiful! And, with no other hikers around, Mike compared the desolation of the landscape to Karakoram Pass located on the borders of India, China, and Pakistan! After several photos and around 325' of gain, we arrived at the top of a ridge where we would immediately descend to the other side. Closely following the trail, we came to the Badlands Junction sign and turned to the left. The trails are well marked at this point in time.
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| Rita and Mike finding an Alternative Descent |
The trail begins a long climb of another 200' of gain up through the sand dunes and onto the old mining road. Here, we began seeing more hikers that had come down from Zabriskie Point.
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| Manly Beacon from Red Cathedral Junction |
As we neared the old road at the top of the ridges, our view of Manly Beacon was exceptional! The first photo of this entry was taken from this area.
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| Tenacious Trio ready for the Climb |
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| Rita and Kay hiking past Beacon Base |
The trail curved around on top of the hills then dropped down to Zabriskie Point Junction, the first signed junction that we had passed. At the sign, we turned to the left and began another 150' of gain on the old mining road to the top of the hill near the trailhead. This hike seems easy until you get to the climb out of a total of 625' in elevation. For this reason, I would suggest to choose a day that isn't too hot to hike this route. We were warm today but when we returned to our cars, it was only 67 degrees! Beautiful day! Excellent choice for getting away from city madness!
Stats: 7.6 miles; 1525' gain; 4 hours
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| Beautiful View at Base of Beacon |
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| Manly Beacon from Old Road Trail |
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| Zabriskie Point Junction Below (Gower Gulch & Old Road) |
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