Golden Canyon (Death Valley National Park, California)

With the heavy rains, the park service had closed off and gated a number of gravel roads within the park, which left Bill and my choices a bit slimmer than normal for doing some day hikes in Death Valley. After camping the previous night at Stovepipe Wells and exploring Mosaic Canyon, we decided to make Golden Canyon, just south of Furnace Creek, our next adventure of the day.

This is a very popular trail and while the road just north and just south of the trail head is covered with muddy run-off, it doesn't stop visitors from parking along side the road when the parking lot is full. Luckily, the trail head sits a little above the flooded areas.

Entering the canyon, it's no wonder how it acquired its name. The canyon walls are shades of gold and sulfur yellow, and the wash is much like we found Mosaic Canyon - a bit soft, but easily passable.

Making our way up the richly colored canyons, we notice a large number of side canyons and semi-dry waterfalls from the cliffs above and in the distance, some beautiful red sandstone cliffs. This canyon is obviously more popular than Mosaic, as there are dozens of people walking up the wash alongside us. 

Reaching a sign post at a fork in the trail, we opt to head towards Red Cathedral. The canyon twists and turns as it makes its way towards the red cliffs we have seen from the distance, eventually reaching an area that requires us to do a little climbing both under and through the damp rock formations. While it appears to be a bit dangerous, seeing people on the top of a large red knoll sticking out from the cliff, makes me think the views from there would be fantastic. Bill agrees and we make our way up the steep trail.

Reaching the top, we join a number of other adventurers looking out over a sea of undulating golden hills. It reminds me very much of the view from nearby Zabriskie Point, but not quite so grand. It was still well worth the climb. As we make our way down, Bill notes and comments on a middle-aged woman ahead of us wearing high-heeled boots, not exactly the style to take into the back country. We chuckle and move on.

We finish our descent and follow the wash back out to the trail head, logging nearly 3.4 miles on this little trail. Not a long distance, but lots of short trails can add up to big mileage.