Death Valley In January

[Paul Wagner]

Country United States
State California
Trip Month (01) – January

Report / Notes
We’re back home from spending a week in Death Valley: camping, hiking, and enjoying the desert. We did a series of great hikes: Little Bridge Canyon, Willow Creek Canyon, Kaleidoscope Canyon, Corkscrew Canyon, and an attempt at Grapevine Springs. That one was inspired by our trip to Ash Meadows Wildlife Refuge. And we walked the road out to Salt Creek (the road is closed–it was heavily damaged during the floods) and were impressed with how much had changed since we were last there. Manly Lake was full of water at Badwater.

Not only that, but there were plenty of flowers blooming, and almost nobody out hiking. That’s a great combination!

Here’s the whole trip report and a link to the photo log: https://www.backpackthesierra.com/post/back-from-the-dead

[Terran]

Not what I think about when I think about Death Valley. I’ve past by several times, but never stopped. It’s a tough decision when you come to a short falls. You can maybe get up, then you have to get back down and risk spraining an ankle. Pretty steep canyon, I wouldn’t want to be limping out.
Good report. I enjoyed the pictures.

[Link .]

. Back from the Dead .

. Death Valley 2024 PHOTOS .

[Paul Wagner]

It’s an amazing place to hike, but not in the summer!  And you are right, especially at our age, a dry fall can mean a nasty fall!

[Jeff McWilliams]

That boulder pic with the trickle waterfall – is that in Marble Canyon?

My wife and I did the Cottonwood Canyon – Marble Canyon loop at the end of January 2020. We spent 3 nights on that loop, doing about 7-8 mile days.  It was a cool trip.  We also did some day hikes, but didn’t get to see, for example, anything up near Scotty’s Castle or Ubehebe Crater.  Artist’s Palette and Zabriski Point were also great despite being more touristy destinations.

We’d definitely go back.  We felt like there was more to see that we didn’t have a chance to explore.

[Author]

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