Day 3 of 2024 Thanksgiving Trip to Las Vegas, Death Valley

by admin

The third day of my 2024 Thanksgiving trip to Las Vegas. I spent this entire day in Death Valley National Park, checking out two canyons (Sidewinder and Golden) together with Badwater Basin.

Badlands around Golden Canyon

I had the entire day to myself in Death Valley today, so I decided to let my more adventurous and spontaneous side take the lead. My plan was to explore two canyons (Sidewinder and Golden) with minimal preparation, which was a pretty unconventional approach compared to my usual outdoor adventures.

Temperature Display at Death Valley Visitor Center

The visitor center was my first stop after leaving the campground where I spent the night, so that I could I charge up my phone and use their free Wi-Fi to check up emails and stay up to date with the outside world. Furnace Creek holds the record for the hottest air temperature ever recorded on Earth, set back in 1913. It remains the hottest place in the US during the summer, as its temperature display had become a popular photo spot for visitors.

Badwater Basin

On my way to Sidewinder Canyon, I made a stop at Badwater Basin. At 86m (282ft) below sea level, this was the lowest elevation point in North America.
From its parking lot, a wide but faint trail stretched out into the salt flats. Eventually, the trail faded into the vast expanse, leaving visitors free to explore as far or as close as they wished.
What struck me most about Badwater Basin was the overwhelming emptiness. The horizon stretched endlessly, with nothing to break the view. The occasional sound of passing wind or distant cars only heightened the profound sense of solitude.

Sign of Badwater Basin
The lowest elevation point of the US.
Badwater Basin
Badwater Basin
Mountains Surrounding Badwater Basin
Mountains Surrounding Badwater Basin
Badwater Basin
Badwater Basin Salt Flats
Pond
Quite appropriate for the name “Badwater” as there was still “water” around.

Badwater Basin

And here’s a video:

18 seconds, 2160p60fps, 10Mbps/29MB for H265, 11Mbps/30MB for H264.

Sidewinder Canyon

As its name suggested, these were a series (side) of winding (wind) canyons. Its parking lot was connected to the main road via a 350m (0.2mi) gravel road.

Wrong Entrances of Sidewinder Canyon

Since I wanted the day to be more adventurous and unscripted, I roughly memorized the general layout of the trail, but didn’t load the trail map onto my phone. This led to a bit of an “adventure” at the start of my hike. From the parking lot, I went straight to the most obvious canyon entrance (canyon 1 in this photo, p1-2 below). That quickly reached a dead end, so I moved to another canyon (canyon 2 in this photo, p3-4 below). This one even had faint traces of trail. It quickly turned out the “trail” led up some ridges, and I had to make a technical downclimb to reach the proper Sidewinder Canyon. The downclimb (p5 below) was likely on the upper end of YDS class 3, luckily it wasn’t very exposed.
So if one doesn’t want to follow my footsteps and get lost, just remember that the mouth of Sidewinder Canyon was very wide.

Canyon
End of “Trail”
At this time I realized I entered the wrong canyon.
Canyon
Trail against Death Valley Backdrop
Descent through Large Chute

This episode at the mouth of Sidewinder Canyon meant I caught more glimpses of Death Valley along the way.

Death Valley
Mountains around Death Valley
The striking color of red.
Mountains around Death Valley
Death Valley

Death Valley from the Mouth of Sidewinder Canyon

Once in the proper Sidewinder Canyon, I found it’s like an avenue compared to the back alleys I entered earlier.

Sidewinder Canyon
Walls of Sidewinder Canyon
Sidewinder Canyon
Sidewinder Canyon
Sidewinder Canyon
Sidewinder Canyon

It should be mentioned that Sidewinder Canyon featured many canyons that branched off from the main canyon, many would argue that these ones on the side made better adventures than the main one. However, I decided to stick to the main canyon for several reasons: it’s the most popular (it’s the only one on AllTrails), the side canyons featured more technical climbing, the main one was the most straightforward and hardest to get lost – which was important to me after already getting lost once.

The canyon soon narrowed dramatically, with winding curves shaping the trail and the smooth contours of the rock walls. I bet this was the classic slot canyon experience. I wasn’t used to slot canyons so it’s rather exciting.

Sidewinder Canyon
Wall of Sidewinder Canyon
A bit like a climbing gym, with rocks sticking out.
Sidewinder Canyon
Sidewinder Canyon
Sidewinder Canyon
Sidewinder Canyon
Sidewinder Canyon
Sidewinder Canyon

In the main canyon, there was only one climbing move (slideshow below), which I would rate as YDS 3. The main difficulty was finding footholds as the rocks were slick.

Technical Climb in Sidewinder Canyon
Overlooking Technical Climb
It’s not high, but there weren’t many footholds around.
Alternative Route

The rocks here had more texture, but the climb was higher. I didn’t know whether this was easier or harder.

Sidewinder Canyon
Sidewinder Canyon
Sidewinder Canyon
Sidewinder Canyon
Sidewinder Canyon
Sidewinder Canyon
Sidewinder Canyon
Pattern on Rock
Didn’t know what created this.
Sidewinder Canyon

The canyon opened up before the end of the trail. As a result, I turned back approximately 400m from the trail’s end.

In the end, I found the sedimentary rocks of Sidewinder Canyon to be rougher and less refined compared to the other canyons I visited during this trip to Death Valley. The walls were covered with smaller rocks jutting out like goosebumps, giving the impression that they could fall at any moment.

I turned back once the winding canyon opened up, which was a short distance from the trail’s end on the maps.

By the time I returned to the parking lot of Sidewinder Canyon, it’s 1pm. I figured I had enough time left in the day to explore something else, so I decided to head to Golden Canyon.

Golden Canyon

Golden Canyon is nestled among the striking badlands visible from Zabriskie Point, which I had visited the day before. The area boasts a vividly colored landscape, with dipping beds of rock layers creating a stunning display of hues. Over time, erosion has sculpted intricate canyons and badlands. While Zabriskie Point offers a stunning overview of the terrain, several hiking trails weave through the landscape, providing a more immersive experience.

Among these trails, the Golden Canyon Trail and Gower Gulch Trail formed a perfect loop. This loop could also be attempted from Zabriskie Point by incorporating the shorter Badlands Loop. Red Cathedral was a short spur from Golden Canyon Trail. Originally, my plan was to check out Golden Canyon and Gower Gulch loop. But I ended up spending so much time exploring the Red Cathedral area off-trail that I had to skip the longer Gower Gulch Trail and return via Golden Canyon too.

Interestingly, I felt the area’s vibrant blend of colors looked best on Google Earth’s satellite view, in my opinion better than the views from within the canyon itself. I bet the area would make great air balloon tours.

The parking lot for Golden Canyon was very limited in size (20-40 cars, depending on whether one counted the overflow parking on road shoulders). I arrived sort of late in the day (at 1:30pm) and pulled in one of the few remaining spots.

Golden Canyon
Golden Canyon
Small Gullies
Hill

Three outstanding pillars. Where I was born trios like this would be named “Three Sisters”, but since the pillars were wide and masculine, I would call them “Three Brothers”.
Golden Canyon
Hill
Manly Beacon
Trail to Red Cathedral

In short, compared to Sidewinder Canyon earlier today, Golden Canyon lacked the sinuous curves and tight turns, but it made up with a diverse range of colors along the way.

Towards the end of Golden Canyon, I went on the spur towards Red Cathedral. Red Cathedral was a series of reddish-colored rocks that resembled the towering pipes of a cathedral organ. As the trail neared Red Cathedral, it gradually faded into the surrounding badlands, so one could choose to follow the faint traces on the badland ridges or in the valleys.

Red Cathedral
Badlands around Red Cathedral
Red Cathedral
Red Cathedral
Trail on Ridges
Trail on Ridges
Badlands

A small disappointment was that, reflecting the afternoon sun, the rocks of Red Cathedral appeared more orange than red, which was not that different from the surrounding badlands. They sure looked more striking in the twilight hours as I made my way back through Golden Canyon.

Nearby, Manly Beacon stood as a towering spire, rising dramatically above the surrounding badlands. Since I had decided to make my day more adventurous and unscripted, I thought, on a whim, that climbing Manly Beacon might be a good idea.
There wasn’t an obvious path leading from the badlands floor to the top of Manly Beacon, so I figured my best option was to follow one of the many gullies in the area and aim for the ridge between Red Cathedral and Manly Beacon. After scouting around for a bit, I chose one gully (p3 below) to attempt first. Unfortunately, it became extremely steep and narrow at one point (see p4-5 below), forcing me to turn back.
After that, I picked a different path that was less direct but more open (p6 below). This path led me to a small platform/butte, but from there, I couldn’t find any way to connect to the ridge that would take me to Manly Beacon.
Just for reference, the default route to climb Manly Beacon was from the side of Zabriskie Point, not Golden Canyon.

Gullies
Manly Beacon was the high point in the background, didn’t look that hard from this angle.
Gully
One that I didn’t attempt.
Gully
One that I attempted.
Gully
This was the place where I decided to bail.
Gully
Looking back towards the direction when I came from.
Path of Second Attempt
Small Ditch
Following which I made my climb.

As for the climbing experience, the paths weren’t steep compared to the other terrains that I had encountered, but the rock qualities were very poor. The rocks were fragile, easily crumbling or breaking away, which meant handholds had to be chosen with extreme care. In a way, it felt more like climbing over mud and dirt than solid rock.

Nonetheless, this platform/butte offered great views of the badlands below, which I felt were better compared to the views yesterday from Zabriskie Point. It’s probably because the afternoon sun breathed senses of life into the “golden” color of canyons, or maybe it was the fact that I could see the trails I had hiked earlier, making the landscape feel more personal and relatable.

Small Butte

I didn’t see any obvious path from here to Manly Beacon, the prominent peak in the left, so I stopped here.
Badlands around Golden Canyon
Badlands around Golden Canyon
Badlands around Golden Canyon
Manly Beacon
Didn’t look that impressive from this angle.

12 seconds, 2160p60fps, 10Mbps/18MB for H265, 11Mbps/20MB for H264.

After making my way down to the canyon floor, it was 4:10pm, less than 30 minutes from sunset. This excursion had taken up the time I had prepared for the longer Gower Gulch Trail, so I had to follow Golden Canyon Trail back to the parking lot. By now, the entire canyon was in the shade. Without the harsh contrasts of sunlight, the textures of the canyon walls became much more appreciable.

Red Cathedral beyond Badlands
Manly Beacon from Trail
Manly Beacon
Golden Canyon
Red Cathedral from Golden Canyon
Looking Back at Red Cathedral

(I think) the green circle marked where I reached. There’s no obvious path from that spot (dashed black line) to the ridge leading to Manly Beacon.
Hill
Texture of Rocks along Golden Canyon
Golden Canyon