Unique geology, beautiful canyons and a desolate desert, Death Valley National Park has a ton of hiking opportunities.
Third times a charm. When life gives you a chance to visit Death Valley National Park, you have to take it and when you have a friend that lives there. You must take advantage of it. This was my third visit to Death Valley, and I decided to do a bit of hiking.
The first trail I accomplished was the Natural Bridge Trail. Honestly, it was harder to drive the road to the trail than to hike it. The trail is easy, short and ends at a lovely natural arch.
Back to hiking. Now off to Fall Canyon, located on Titus Canyon Road, a passable by sedan dirt road (only if you know how to drive on dirt roads though and only from the Death Valley side). The Fall Canyon Trail takes you up through the wash of Fall Canyon. It can be a bit tricky to hike in a few places because the stone bed of the canyon is made of loose pebbles. I gave up maybe halfway up, but it was an easy hike back.
Next up is one of Death Valley’s most famous sights, Ubehebe Crater. I came up here on my first visit on my way to the Racetrack. Ubehebe is the result of a volcano that erupted between 2,000 and 7,000 years ago. This time, even though it was really cold and windy, I decided to hike all the way around it.
The final hike of my visit to Death Valley was in Mosaic Canyon, although I found it much more marbley. The trail starts out in a wide wash that eventually narrows down to a small canyon with slick marble-like sides. It widens out again and then comes to areas that requires some scrambling. I made it up the first scramble but got stuck at the second. (I was too short, and the rock was too slippery.)
Before I left, I had one more viewpoint to stop at, Zabriskie Point.
I’ve been to Death Valley National Park three times now and it still amazes me. The park is full of such diverse landscapes and vegetation. Last time I visited I found a waterfall. This time I hiked canyons. So many different places to explore in this giant national park.
Check out my next update where I explore boomtown gone bust!
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