Updated Dec 16th. Day destinations are pretty firm, but some of the hike details will be added in the next couple days.
Below is a developing/tentative itinerary for December 2024. We aim to stick pretty much to the plans shown below, but occasionally time or changing road conditions require us to change.
December 28-31: Death Valley
December 28: Central valley
Today we’ll explore the area just north of our campground.
- Lake Manley Historic Shoreline: Quick roadside stop to look at evidence of historic lakeshore.
- Keane Wonder Mine: 3.8 miles, 2,000 ft gain. Trail description on Alltrails; this is an out and back, can be cut short, the first mine remnants are after about 1.3 miles. (This link shows photos and more details, but this version starts at the main road, so it’s longer than we will hike.) We’ll drive up a dirt road that should work for most cars, but we haven’t driven it yet. If the road is too difficult, we’ll switch to:
- Death Valley Buttes: 3.7 miles, 1,500 ft gain. This looks like it has a gorgeous view of the valley, but after about 1.2 miles (the first peak) it goes along somewhat precarious ridgeline. We’ll likely just do 2.4 miles out and back to this peak.
- Quick stop at Stovepipe Wells General Store for gas, snacks, and/or restrooms.
- Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes. Usually about a mile of hiking across the dunes; sometimes we have members who wish to hike to the highest dues which is about two miles total. Before we hike too far in, we’ll do a simplified sieve analysis of the sand, separating it by grain size and measuring the percent of different grain sizes (YouTube demo shown below).
- Photographers in the group may want to stay longer to catch the lighting as the sun sinks low in the sky.
- If there is time, we’ll stop at Devil’s Cornfield to examine this unique plant formation.
December 29: South end of the basin.
Today’s trip will include one main hike, with several roadside strolls where we’ll take short walks to explore geologic features near the road. Total driving is about 100 miles of between our destinations.
- Badwater Basin. Short hike into the ‘lowest place in the USA.’
- South fault scarp. Roadside exploration of a fault scarp that runs long the east side of the valley. Short hiking, probably under a mile total.
- Room Canyon 3.0 miles (out and back, can be cut short). This hike is up a canyon on the east side of the valley. We will walk about ¼ mile up an alluvial fan, then venture into the narrow canyon, including a few side canyons.
- Ashford Mill Ruins with view of Lake Manly historic wave-cut ledges in Shoreline Butte.
- Split Cinder Cone. Roadside stroll up a cinder cone that formed on a fault, then was split as the fault continued to move. Parking is about 1.7 miles down a graded gravel/dirt road.
- Ventifact Ridge. Another roadside stroll up a ridge that harbors rocks with unique shapes and pock marks due to blowing dust and sand.
- Optional depending on time: Devil’s Golf Course, short stroll just outside the parking lot (about 1.25 miles down a graded dirt road—the road was graded after the latest floods, so I’m not sure of it’s exact condition, but it should be pretty good).
Dec 30: North end of park
Again, more details will be posted soon, but we plan on the following:
- Ubehebe Crater (about 50 mile drive from the campground, then about 1.5 mile hike around this amazing steam volcano.
- East side canyon: Probably Titus Canyon, which is on the road to Ubehebe Crater.
December 31:
Hikes will be posted soon, but here’s a tentative list:
- Willow Canyon: 4.3 miles 836 ft gain, out and back. Hike up a canyon to a 20′ waterfall that runs year round.
- Golden Canyon Trail to Red Cathedral; 2.9 miles, 577 ft gain, out and back.
No-host dinner at the Last Kind Words Saloon near the hotel (and campground). We’ll gather around 7:00 so we can welcome in the new year at 9:00 when the restaurant closes.
January 1: Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge and Devil’s Hole
We’ll drive about 50 miles to western Nevada and explore the geology of this refuge. The roads we’ll be driving on in the Refuge are mostly dirt, but are well graded and packed. Should be no problem driving in any car.
Hikes will be posted soon, but we’ll definitely see some pupfish. Here’s a tentative itinerary:
- For our early morning risers, Zabriske Point is great at sunrise, and is on the way to Ash Meadows.
- Devil’s Hole Overlook. Less than a mile, but we get to look down into a ‘bottomless’ cave (they haven’t found the bottom).
- Crystal Springs Boardwalk, 1 mile, walk.
- Point of Rocks Springs, 1 mile along streams with pupfish.
On the drive back, we’ll aim to time our return to catch sunset at Zabriskie Point.
December 28: Jeeps to the north end of the park.
The Jeep rental company does not have as many Jeeps available due to the flood damage, and there were none available for us. We’re working on other plans for this day.
Optional trip to Racetrack Playa and Ubehebe Crater at the north end of the valley.
- We recommend using the rented Jeeps the group will ride in; the trip is 80 miles each way and final 20 on washboard roads – Google map showing route). Each Jeep holds four adults, so it will be a good time to get to know others.
- They claim the Jeeps can hold “up to five,” but that would only work with three small people in the back seat. Imagine yourself with two other adults bouncing down a dirt road and you’ll see why we’re limiting it to four adults per Jeep.
- You need to reserve a seat when you register; price will be in the $100-$150 depending on number of people, Jeeps, and cost of gas (we will optimize the number of people in each Jeep to keep the price lowest).
