Part 6: Badwater and Titus Canyon

20120322

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The Trip

After a tasty dinner at the Furnace Creek Inn, we headed into the backcountry to camp for the night.  Hole in the Wall Canyon was close to the Inn, so it was a logical choice.  We arrived well after dark and setup for the night.  Next morning, we set out to see Badwater Basin.  From there, the plan was to head to Beatty, NV for a supply stop and then return through Titus Canyon.  Fuel in Beatty was only $3.99 compared with the $5.74/gallon that we saw advertised in Furnace Creek.  So, we took on all the fuel we could carry.

The Photos

The photos below are what we saw.

Since we arrived late in Hole in the Wall Canyon, we took the first possible camping area that was past the 2 miles-from-the-road exclusion zone.  The camp was basic: not fully level, rocky and nothing more than the bed of the wash.  But, it was sufficient for our needs.

Thor served as the base of operations for breakfast and coffee the next morning.

Hole in the Wall is a cut through a hogback that was eroded by the creek.

Like most of the area, HIW canyon had sections that were heavily mineralized as evidenced by the various colors in the photo above.

The uplift that caused the hogback in HIW is clearly visible in the photo above.  There were plenty of wind caves in the face of the canyon wall.  These caves "moan" when the wind blows which can be quite alarming until you understand what is happening.

We stopped for a few photos and then turned around and headed downstream to see other sights.

Upon our return to the blacktop, we could see lenticular clouds over the Panamint Range due to high winds.

We traveled south to Badwater Basin to see the lowest point in North America.  Click here to see the full-size panorama.

From the lowest to the highest in the area: 11,000 foot Telescope Peak in the Panamint Range is visible on the far horizon.

Plenty of folks felt compelled to walk out onto the salt flats.  Since it was hot and we had seen salt flats before, we elected to stay in the parking area.

The amount of surface water at Badwater was minimal.  Very saline and heavily mineralized with other salts, the water is totally unfit for consumption by man or beast.

The block fault that created Death Valley is still sinking, but the sign above lists the elevation today.

We passed a number of road bicyclists on a trip.  These are paid tours and the van provides transport and logistical supplies (like water).

From Badwater, we headed north and took a side trip into Artist's Drive.  The photo above shows more evidence of the mineral content of the formation.

We also stopped at Golden Canyon and went for a short walk.  Golden is a narrow, slot canyon not unlike the canyons in the Borrego Desert in San Diego county.

There was a road in Golden Canyon at one point, but nature had other ideas.  The erosion from the flash flood resulted in this 5 foot cliff in the stream bed.


From Golden Canyon, we headed over the Funeral Mountain range to Beatty, NV where I spotted this fine house for sale.

The house was in Jedville, the up-scale, gated community in Beatty.

After an excessively long fuel stop at the Rebel Station, we encountered every gap-toothed, asymmetricaly-faced hillbilly in the area wanting information on our trucks.  From Beatty, we headed back toward Death Valley via Titus Canyon.  The photo above was shot at the first pass that was about 5800 feet in elevation.

The road headed into the far hills and got quite steep.  You can see the switchbacks in the photo above.

We were at the front of the group and could see the remaining trucks as we got higher on the grade.  Above, Mark and Matt follow.

At the second pass, we got a great view of the hills to the north.  The road made a scary-steep descent into the canyon which required careful driving.

Some of the turns were at the limit of the turning radius of the truck.

Lower into the canyon, we could see some structures from the abandoned town of Leadfield.

A photo of Mark also shows some of the tailings from previous explorations.

The husk above is all that remains of an old car.  It was clearly stripped of everything useful.

This is a tough way to live.

The sign tells the story.

The strata in Titus Canyon was heavily deformed and uplifted.

We passed some petroglyphs near a spring in Titus Canyon, so we stopped to take a couple of photos.

There were quite a few glyphs, but none were very impressive.

At the petroglyphs, the canyon was starting to narrow.  Below a few miles, it would turn into a slot canyon.

The canyon became quite narrow and it was hard to avoid the walls.  I never got a photo, this photo was from Roberto's camera.

Badwater was worth a visit once.  But, there was not much to see.  Titus Canyon, however, will surely be on our list of places to revisit when we return to Death Valley.  The road was not that hard, but quite narrow and steep going over the passes.  The lower  canyon is a true slot canyon and was perhaps the most interesting portion of the trip.

Since it was past 5pm when we exited from Titus Canyon, we headed to the organized campground at Mesquite Springs.  The place was mostly full, and we were quite lucky to find sufficient sites so we could have all trucks close together for our dinner.

Tomorrow, we head north toward Ubehebe Crater and the Racetrack.  I am guessing that we will have at least 50 miles of heavily washboarded dirt road travel to meet our objectives.

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Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 2011, all rights reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use.