Zabriskie Loop - (Death Valley National Park) - 2/3/22

Manly Beacon from Golden Canyon

Badlands and Lake Manly from Manly Beacon Base

Side Slot Canyon

Trails from Parking Lot

It's about two hours from Las Vegas to Death Valley National Park by car. And, at 9am, fourteen hikers converged on the Zabriskie Point Trailhead parking lot ready for a day in the sun! The temps were very decent today; around 60+/- degrees for most of the hike. The fourteen hikers were all friends looking for an opportunity to share a beautiful hike together after so much pandemic separation. From the parking lot, we could see the trail for the Red Cathedral climbing up the red hued hill to the right. The small saddle between the red and the white hills held the Zabriskie Loop trail. We peaked that saddle and the first fabulous Death Valley badlands view displayed itself below us. A snow-covered Telescope Peak rose beyond the valley.

Fourteen Hikers starting the Loop

Heading down Gower Gulch

Gower Gulch

Entering Gower Gulch Narrows

The old road/trail zigzagged down and junctioned with Gower Gulch where we turned to the right. The first half of the hike was a simple descent through the wide gulch decorated with colorful hills and a couple of old mines that are barred off from the public. Simple, that is, until you reach the gulch's narrows that weave through the mineral-filled sand and mud stone. There are a few scrambles in this section breaking the monotony of the fast wide wash. The fourteen skilled hikers affably bottlenecked here. Then, we finished out the wash in another colorful section that poured down to a high dry fall flowing into Lake Manly, the playa that flows through the valley. At one time, millennia ago, this "lake" flowed down from the Amargosa River. The geology of this area is long and interesting. If you wish to learn more about Lake Manly and its history, go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Manly Apparently, it was quite large, deep and had its own eco system.

Down through the First Scramble

                                                                                     

Coming out from the First Scramble

Nearing bottom of Gower Gulch

Transition to Crossover Trail

The trail leads right up to the edge of the pourover and makes a right turn up to follow along the side of the valley wall. Soon, the trail is traveling along the floor of the valley at the base of the hills. The deepest part of Lake Manly playa is still 3.5 miles of open desert away. It is fascinating to see these incredible views, year after year. The hiking distance between Gower Gulch and Golden Canyon Trailhead is 0.8 miles. However, 1.5 miles of this lower part of the hike is below sea level; the lowest level being -184 feet. We took our break at the Golden Canyon Trailhead where the parking lot was only around 80% to capacity. One of our hikers, Tony, mentioned that tourism in this area was very low due to the pandemic. Unusual for a national park at this time.

Crossover Trail & Views

Fun Group of Hikers

Taking a Break at Golden Canyon Trailhead

First views of Red Cathedral from Golden Canyon

After our break, we started up into Golden Canyon on the remnants of an old mining road. It is a beautifully sculpted golden colored canyon with higher dark brown hills above. As we rounded a narrow corner, the Red Cathedral formation came fully into view. The side canyons were inviting but we never seem to have time to explore when we are here. At 1 mile, we came to the signed Red Cathedral Junction. This would be our meeting point after the Red Cathedral Overlook exploration. So, from there, everybody began hiking up the canyon that narrows more and more until a small scramble begins. Too curious about another side slot, I turned off from the back of the line and came to a place I could see the rest of the group up on the overlook.

Hiking up Golden Canyon

Narrows of Golden Canyon

Golden Canyon to Red Cathedral

Red Cathedral Overlook from K's Side Slot

We all returned to the junction a while later and made the turn up toward Manly Beacon. The hike started its main ascent here. But, before we got into it, we posed for our group photo! Onward and upward, we climbed to hike the trail that runs along the base of the huge beacon of sandstone. (Btw, Manly was the name of a man from the olden days' version of SARS, search and rescue.) I reminded the group, knowing they would all be way ahead of me, to turn and look back at the view. It is incredible! The group didn't stop until they came to a questionable turn to the left. Putting me in front, we continued our climb up to the left, down and around to the next signed junction, Zabriskie Point Junction. If you continue down the wash, you reach Gower Gulch.

Jim and Mark climbing to Overlook

Fourteen Happy Hikers

Climbing the Manly Beacon base Trail

Badlands from beacon base Trail

Of course, we needed to return to Zabriskie Point so we made the left turn and began another huge climb that afforded more simply incredible views of the Badlands, Manly Beacon, the Red Cathedral, Lake Manly and Telescope Peak. At the top of the badlands ridges, the trail circles around and drops back to the junction of the old road and Gower Gulch where we started the gulch section of the hike. A left turn brought us to the last hill up to the small saddle and back to the cars. It was a fast hike but it is a hike that is always beautiful. So fun to see friends from pre-pandemic days.

Stats: 7.5 miles; 1350' gain; 3.5 hours

Manly Beacon from the Badlands Trail

Circling around on the top of the Dunes

Descent to close the Loop (Gower Gulch - R)