Desert Treks: Hiking Adventures in Death Valley National Park
by Naimul Karim (originally posted on naimul.net)
Death Valley is an apt name. This is what Oscar Denton, the caretaker of the Furnace Creek Ranch in Death Valley, had recorded on July 1913, "It was so hot that swallows in full flight fell to the earth dead and when I went out to read the thermometer with a wet Turkish towel on my head, it was dry before I returned." Fortunately, when we went, it was February in 2018. The temperature hovered around a blissful 60 - 70F (16 - 21C) during the day, and the days were bright and sunny. Perfect conditions for hiking, and we did quite a few of them.
But first, we had to survive passing through the notorious Area 51, which we did successfully. We ended up staying in a hotel in a deserted, rather strange place. It was Jack Longstreet Hotel, named after a notorious gunfighter and renegade. All I can say is that it had seen its better days in the 50s. But to its credit, it did have a character and a line-dancing floor to boot.
Back to hiking. We started the first one at Zabriskie Point and went along the northern flank of Badland Loop, past Manly Beacon, with an incursion to the Red Cathedral, back to Golden Canyon, then Gower Gulch, and then back to Zabriskie Point along the southern flank of Badlands Loop.
I have never been to the moon, but this is what it'd probably look like up there. To make the experience more dramatic, we met just three pairs of hikers the entire day (except at parking lots).
The next day took us to Mosaic Canyon Trail. It is a family favorite because the trail goes along beautifully polished and mosaicked marble walls. What the prospectus doesn't tell is that this is true only for the first segment of the trial. It is also not well marked. Pretty soon the narrow trail becomes quite challenging because the smoothly polished marble boulders are extremely difficult to climb. But we made it alright all the way to the "dry waterfall" (that's what I call it). There was no way I could climb the posted marble wall. Besides, it was getting late - so we retraced our path.
The next day was reserved for Bad Water Basin, which is a huge dry lakebed covered with the most amazing salt crystals. The Bad Water Basin is 282 feet (85 m) below the sea level. It is the lowest point in the entire Western Hemisphere.
We spent the final day visiting the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes. That was the great finale of our Death Valley trip. We drove back to Las Vegas, where we stayed overnight to fly back to Minnesota the next day. But not before hitting the jackpot in Red Rock Casino!!!
Click here to see Photos in Lr of the DeathValleyNationalPark
