We’d spent yesterday bouncing around in a 4×4, so today we needed to hike. A long, long time ago (i.e., 1974), Wayne, Diane, and I climbed Telescope Peak, the highest point in Death Valley National Park. That proved to be a truly memorable trip but one we weren’t interested in repeating. But, inspired by nostalgia enhanced by memory loss, we decided it would be fun (loosely defined) to hike to a closer, lower peak within sight of Telescope. Rogers Peak (9,993 ft / 3,045 m) is only 5 miles round-trip (8 km) from and 1,800 feet (549 m) above Mahogany Flat. And you can see Telescope from its summit. Plus it’s slightly taller than nearby Bennett Peak. So summiting Rogers became Adventure #4 of our adventures in Death Valley.
Up until 2008, our adventures were retained only as memories and on 35mm slides. While our memories may have faded (just a bit), the slides haven’t – and we have a lot of them. So we’re digitizing a select few to bring some of our past adventures into the 21st Century. The photos below are some of those old slides.
Telescope Peak, at 11,049 feet (3,368 m), is the highest point in Death Valley National Park. My recent trip with The LovedOne to the park rekindled long dormant memories of my first (and only) climb of this peak. It was Thanksgiving 1974 and Wayne and I (miraculously in my case) were recent college graduates; Diane had a year to go. I think Wayne had even found a job! Why is lost in the mists of time but we decided to use the holiday weekend to climb Telescope. Today it’s typically done as a long (14 miles round-trip, 3,000 feet of gain) day hike from the trailhead at Mahogany Flats Campground. We, on the other hand, opted for an overnighter, with a camp on the ridge just short of the summit.
As wave after wave of wet storms swept across Southern Oregon, we began to yearn for sunnier climes. Eventually it occurred to us that we hadn’t been back to Death Valley National Park since 2013. As few places say “sunnier” than Death Valley, we made some arrangements, and were soon heading south. As luck would have it, our five days in the Park coincided with a spell of utterly clear, cool, dry weather wedged in between storms (to even out this good karma, we got to drive home in one of the worst rainstorms to hit California in a decade). For this visit, we decided to do hikes we hadn’t done before, rather than reprise old favorites like Darwin Falls. After pouring through Michel Digonnet’s excellent guide (Hiking Death Valley, Second Edition, 2016), we settled on four hikes, the first of which was to the seasonal waterfall in Willow Canyon.
“…the first impression remains a just one. Despite variety, most of the surface of Death Valley is dead … a land of jagged salt pillars, crackling and tortured crusts of mud, sunburnt gravel bars the color of rust, rocks and boulders of metallic blue naked even of lichen.” ~ Edward Abbey
“No place is ever as bad as they tell you it’s going to be.” ~ Chuck Thompson
Last week was our (almost) annual pilgrimage to Death Valley National Park in California in search of heat and dryness. March in the Valley can be fickle – cold and rainy has happened in past years – but this year didn’t disappoint. Amongst the usual tourist activities (a tour of Scotty’s Castle, a drive through Titus Canyon, and a long, bone jarring drive to the Racetrack), we got in some actual hiking. All of these hikes are at or above 3,000 feet so temperatures ranged comfortably between 50º and 75º F, usually with a mild wind. But full sun and very low humidity (8%) called for lots of sunscreen and water.
Once again we slipped the damp caresses of an Oregon winter to wallow in the harsh, but sunny, landscape of Death Valley National Park. Even with soaring gas prices ($5.18 at Furnace Creek!), the trip was, once again, worth it. Plus this year we were joined at times by our friends Wayne & Diane and Alan & Janet, so this one was an extra special get-away. We allowed ourselves plenty of time each day to enjoy the sunsets while sipping appropriate adult beverages on the patio of the Furnace Creek Inn (liquid intake being an important part of desert hiking). Overall, another great trip – cloud-free sun most days, daytime air temperatures between 65º and 75ºF, plus fun hikes. Definitely a winter refuge for these water-logged, sun-starved Oregonians.
I spent a lot of time hiking and climbing in Death Valley National Park back when I lived in California and today’s Park was then just a Monument. Then we moved to northern Oregon and talk of a “winter get-away” suddenly gained a lot of traction. Despite time-off from work being at a premium, we finally managed to spend a few days sightseeing and hiking in Death Valley – where there was a great deal of sunshine and only a tiny bit of rain (despite it’s being a wet year in California).
Sightseeing
We spent one day just warming up (literally and figuratively) by doing some classic tourist stuff: Scotty’s Castle, the Goldwell Open Air Museum in Rhyolite, Rhyolite itself, the bar at the Furnace Creek Inn, etc.
Scotty’s Castle
The Glass Bottle House in Rhyolite
The Goldwell Open Air Museum in Rhyolite
Darwin Falls
Then we overcame inertia for a hike at Darwin Falls, which is west of Death Valley near Panamint Springs (and one of my favorite hikes in this area). The hike starts on an old road in a dry wash which looks as though it hasn’t seen water in ages. The old road is actually an old toll road to the mines at Darwin, California.
The mouth of Darwin Wash
However, after less than a mile, the old road goes uphill to the left while a use trail continues on up the now narrowing sandy wash. Soon we came to open water,
Water in Darwin Wash
Water in Darwin Wash
and then the first waterfall, which is about 30 feet high.
A small waterfall in Darwin Wash
A lot of people stop here because the canyon has narrowed and there’s no obvious trail on which to continue. But there is a moderate (a few 3rd class moves) scrambling route on the left wall (facing up canyon) that got us up to the level use trail to the upper falls.
Climbing the canyon wall in Darwin Wash
The LovedOne makes some moves to get up the wall
After a short walk, we reached the base of the upper falls, which is actually a series of pools and drops totaling at least 100 feet. These are the lowest falls and pool in the upper fall complex,
The lower part of the upper falls
and this is looking down from the top of the falls. We reached this point by hiking up a scree chute on the right canyon wall – no climbing, just loose rock.
Looking down the upper part of the upper falls
The water runs here year-round but the intensity of the falls (and they can be spectacularly intense) varies considerably in response to rain events upstream.
Mosaic Canyon
This is a readily accessible canyon near Stovepipe Wells, which includes both ridge walks and slots.
Along the ridge above Mosaic Canyon
The narrow defile in Mosaic Canyon
Fall Canyon
This is another very accessible narrow canyon in the Grapevine Mountains north of Furnace Creek.
Twisted geology in Fall Canyon
The water (when there is any) polishes the rock on the canyon walls into an amazing array of abstract images.
Water polished rock in Fall Canyon
Here the “falls” are typically dry and only about 20 feet high, but are steep and slick. There’s a use trail around them if you want to go further up-canyon, but we didn’t.
The falls in Fall Canyon
Badwater & Dante’s View
I convinced The LovedOne to get up real early so I could attempt to photograph the reflection of Telescope Peak (11,050 feet) in the waters at Badwater (-282 feet) – one of the iconic photographs in Death Valley. However, just as the sun started rising, a photography tour group parked on the road, marched out to the edge of the water, and set up their tripods and themselves in a line across the view. After a Zen moment searching for inner peace, I restored my karma by taking a picture of the photographers taking the iconic shot.
Photographers become the iconic shot
Later we drove up to Dante’s View for a more unobstructed view of Telescope Peak.
Telescope Peak over Badwater Basin from Dante’s View
The body of water here is ephemeral “Lake Manly” – a water feature that exists only in those years when there is unusually high rainfall in the Valley – they’ve had several inches so far this year. These wet years are also when you can expect a “super bloom” of wildflowers in and around the Valley.
Lake Manly in Badwater Basin
Sky Gazing
The rest of the time we just spent wallowing in the huge expanses of sky and land that constitute Death Valley and the Mojave Desert.
Near Rhyolite, Nevada
Death Valley from Fall Canyon
Clouds
Badwater Basin, Death Valley
Sunset from the Furnace Creek Inn
This was also a trip in celebration of our 20th wedding anniversary (hence the Furnace Creek Inn), which Nature decided to help us celebrate in a unique way.
BOOTS on the TRAIL 