This past weekend I went to Death Valley to meet with a group. However, things didn't work out quite as planned, due to mis-communication with posted meeting times. The group was camped at different sites within the Furnace Creek Campground and some of us stayed in hotels. (Obviously I need to re-think about groups I chose to hike with.) Anyways, my friend Elyse and I ended up hiking a badass ridge which was not part of the boring choice the group planned as an alternate option. The original plan was to hike Mt. Perry and Dante's View but it was closed for maintenance. The backup plan was to meet at Golden Canyon Trailhead. As I mentioned, the group was unorganized and as a result we were all spread out.
I parked at the trailhead, arriving around 9am. We gathered our things and started hiking at 9:05am. As we entered the canyon, we were surrounded with amazing rock formations in various colors.
As we walked through the canyon, there were so many "no trail" signs posted, and I was so tempted to climb to the top of several points, that I actually darted up a steep trail very quickly before the ranger who was giving a tour behind us saw me. lol
We approached a sign where the trail splits off and one could continue on a flat boring loop trail below or head up a steep ridge to Zabriskie Pt. We decided to take that route. To add, if you are driving on the CA-190, you can actually drive to this point, as many tourist do, and walk a short distance or begin at the Golden Cyn trailhead hiking about 3 miles up a steep trail with switchbacks.
Posing at Zabriskie Point.
More views of the path before heading towards Zabriskie Point.
A partial view of the Red Cathedral ridge in the background.
After hiking up to Zabriskie Point, the choices are to descend the same trail and continue below the ridge as a loop hike or ascend up a steep narrow ridge towards Red Cathedral. We found out later that very few hikers go this route because the ridge is a bit dangerous. There are some very sketchy parts of the ridge with lots of exposure and steep drop-offs. We didn't know what we were about to encounter. It wasn't until we hiked the entire ridge that we came to an agreement that this ridge wasn't for everyone. As daring as I am, there were sections of this ridge that frightened me. I saw shoeprints and there were a few cairns along the way so I knew that this route was doable. Thank God for the cairns even though they are not always reliable. But there were some sections where one could easily make a mistake of scrambling down and completely miss the exit points and perhaps get lost. Nevertheless, the two of us badass chicks continued along this route and succeeded in facing a few of those challenges with confidence.
After descending Zabriskie Point, we found the use path and ascended towards Red Cathedral. As we continued to climb up and over many bumps along the trail, we were surprised by curvy parts of the trail that we couldn't see ahead of us at certain points.
As we walked along the ridge we were surrounded by beautiful views. This was the easy part of the trail which seemed too easy and was neverending.
After descending the highpoint of the Red Cathedral this part of the trail was very narrow. It might not look as sketchy as it actually was, but I couldn't stand up straight because of the slant of the trail. In addition, there was no trail above and this path actually curved around the ledge of the ridge.
After reaching a section of the ridge where I could stand up, I was trying to look beyond the ridge and find the point where we would start descending. This was another section of the trail where the dropoff was pretty steep. We actually sat on our butts across a small section of this part. There were lots of loose rocks. In the distance I could see a flat section where we took a break.
At this point we really had to discuss our options because looking to the left we couldn't see or find a good place to descend, and to the right there was absolutely no safe place to scramble down. However, we knew we had to hike across. There was a cairn, but the view along this section looked dangerous. We could see the main trail of the canyon below. So, once again we sat on our butts for a bit. The terrain crossing this part of the ridge was very soft, and with every step our feet sunk into the soft gravel.
We noticed two hikers below watching us as we crossed this last part of the ridge. It wasn't until we crossed over that
I noticed a very small cairn to my left and found our exit point descending a very rocky gully.
It has been many years since we did the Golden Canyon - Gower Gulch loop. The "no trail" signs are more recent. The hills were all being marred by use trails which spoil the view from Zabriskie Point. I imagine that the signs are trying to keep the ridge lines more pristine as well as preventing people from thinking that they are actually a trail. Thanks for the report. Nice pictures.
Thanks Richard, yes there was tons of "no trail" signs. My problem is that sometimes I don't like to follow the rules because some of these areas are so tempting. Anyways, it was a very beautiful area.
Death Valley is so cool. It sounds like an awesome trip. The Red Cathedral trip was a good call. It is a whole world and I've only visited once. I'd really love to get back there maybe at the end of the year.
