Icy Mud Cracks - 20 Mule Team Road - Dec 2021

[DeathValleyDazed]

Corkscrew Canyon, to the southeast, has a much bigger drainage, mostly flowing to 190. But there is a side channel that goes into 20 Mule Team.  I have never witnessed it, but I suspect that in heavy flow a bunch of the Corkscrew water flows in there and that causes the problems.  Sort of a bit like Gower Gulch diverting Furnace Wash in big floods.

As usual you bring up some cool details that I am not aware of. In my mind I've not put the Corkscrew Canyon drainage into my mental map of the Twenty Mule Team drainage. I'll check that out again my next visit and when I again try to locate the exact camera spot of that vintage video of the old car driving up to Corkscrew from 20 Mule Team.

I am aware of that steep sided slot channel just southeast of Zabriskie Point parking lot flowing into Gower Gulch. I now want to check it out again to see how much erosion is taking place because much water flows through it. It's a good thing that the Golden Canyon and Zabriskie Badlands are spared most the flooding otherwise they'd be all eroded by now.