Death Valley - Golden Canyon Hike

Hi Blog!

Today is Saturday, February 13, 2016. It was our first full day in Death Valley National Park. We decided to hike Golden Canyon to Red Cathedral and then continue on the Gower Gulch Loop Trail with a little side loop into the Badlands! As we hiked up Golden Canyon, we noticed a number of small canyons off to the side. Here Dave climbed up to get a better view.

Here we get our first look at the Red Cathedral. Being more resistant to erosion, the rocks of the Red Cathedral form steep cliffs. These cliffs are composed of conglomerate deposits of an ancient alluvial fan. The red color is produced by the oxidation of iron, similar to the process that forms rust.

Not long ago, a paved road wound through Golden Canyon. In February 1976, a four-day storm dropped 2.3 inches of rain at Furnace Creek. On the morning of the fourth day, a violent downpour sent a tremendous surge of water, rock, and mud to flow through these narrows. Sediment-laden floods work like sandpaper, cutting away and undermining the rocky canyon walls as they speed through the canyon. Pitted against the force of Death Valley's flash floods, Golden Canyon's paved road didn't stand a chance.

Manly Beacon is a towering spire that rises above the Death Valley badlands. The peak stands out in stark contrast to the backdrop of the Red Cathedral formation and the surrounding mud hills. Manly Beacon was named in honor of William L. Manly, who along with John Rogers, guided members of the ill-fated Forty-niners out of Death Valley during the gold rush of 1849.

To reach the base of the Red Cathedral, we had to squeeze between some fallen boulders and scramble over and under a few others. The view from the top was so worth it!

After finding a nice shady spot for lunch, we continued on our adventure. Manly Beacon called us forth.

On our way around Manly Beacon we noticed a lone hiker out on a side trail. As we made our way around, we meet the lone hiker. He convinced us the side trail was worth the little extra bit of hiking.

We met a couple from Massachusetts along the trail. They decided to hike out the side trail as well.  Here is a link to the 360 we took from the summit - View From the Top.  Here's a photo our friends took of us with the same view behind us:

The story of these ‘badlands' begins and ends with water. The ancient lake deposits are quite impermeable because of the clay and mud that they contain. Instead of soaking into the ground, rain quickly runs downhill, washes away any topsoil, and prevents plants from taking root. 

Zabriskie Point is noted for its erosional landscape composed of sediments from Furnace Creek Lake, which dried up 5 million years ago—long before Death Valley came into existence. If you look closely, you can see all the tourists at the lookout.

The combination of impermeable rocks, steep and barren slopes, and sporadic but sometimes intense rainfall leads to high surface run-off. The formation of the numerous gullies and ravines that characterize the badlands is simply Nature's way of efficiently removing so much excess water.

After passing Zabriskie Point, we headed down Gower Gulch. Gower Gulch is named after Harry P. Gower, an official of the Pacific Coast Borax Company and co-owner of the Furnace Creek Inn and Ranch, before Death Valley became a national monument. The gulch contained mines, camps, and roads during the late 19th century and early 20th century. We saw the remains of some.  Here Kathy tries to find the way out.

The dark-colored material capping the badland ridges is lava from eruptions that occurred three to five million years ago. This hard lava cap has slows erosion in many places and possibly explains why Manly Beacon is much higher than other portions of the badlands.

Gower Gulch was mined after the 1880s, when a 1 1⁄2-mile-long road starting at the northern side of Zabriskie Point was built by the Pacific Coast Borax Company. This road allowed wagons and autos to reach the ten borax mine claims in the gulch. Many of these mines are still visible today. We passed by several mines, but couldn't resist taking a peek inside this one.

While the entrance was barred, there was just enough room for the camera to get a good look inside.

We continued our hike down the canyon.

We soon found ourselves out in the Badwater Basin.

At first glance, the lake bed and foot of the mountains look sterile, but in the spring, with enough water and warming temperatures, brave wildflowers find root in the many drainages:

It wasn't long before we found our way back to the trailhead and our truck.  This was a spectacular 8-mile, 5 hour hike, and a great introduction to the variety of geology, terrain and wildlife Death Valley has to offer a visitor that takes time and looks carefully. We took way more photos than we can fit in a single blog. We uploaded them to Flickr.  If you would like to see more rocks that rock, just click on this Flickr Link. Happy Trails!