Death Valley, February, 2022

[trailhound]

This report is as much a personal reflection as a trip report. I spent two weeks in the hospital in Nov 2020 (pneumonia). I resolved to get back to Death Valley one more time before I couldn't. I didn't care if all I could do was to spend a week in the visitor's center. I just wanted to be in Death Valley. I was quite weak on discharge. I put in a lot of effort to regain some strength and stamina. I was only partially successfully.

We were there around President's Day weekend. I didn't even realize that. I was just trying to fit in a week around doctor's appointments and out of town visitors. The park was very crowded. The Atomic Inn in Beatty was booked full. Popular places were mobbed.

We didn't want to try too much the first day. So I planned on Mummy Canyon. How hard could it be for a 1 mile round trip? We parked directly in line with the canyon mouth and scrambled over the berm. The mummy feature is unmistakable.



With the right lighting, it really does look like a mummy.



Looking back at the mummy feature and where the canyon narrows.





The end of the canyon has this incredible natural bridge. It look like a wave crashing over.



The view of nearly peaks was not bad either.




Now the canyon floor was full of large rocks. It was a lot of step up, step on, and step over. I found out in a hurry that the soft, flat, sandy trails of South Florida don't compare to cross-country in Death Valley. My legs were killed. The next day needed to be something easy. We decided to try for Darwin Falls. A few YouTube videos I watched made the trail in look pretty flat.







Unfortunately, there was a rocky section with more step up, step on, and step over. My legs were really weak. I stopped at this small waterfall and said "It's water flowing over a rock. Good enough." The disappointment was crushing and embarrassing. Still, I can do only what I can do.




I figured that I needed an absolute do nothing day. So we drove though Twenty Mule Team Canyon and visited the pupfish. A day like that should give me some time for recovery. Besides, I hadn't seen Twenty Mule Team in a long time and we always visit the pupfish.

I forget just how crazy the scenery is in Twenty Mule Team.


















The pupfish were all concentrated at the upper end of Salt Creek. We did find one small school under the boardwalk.








We had to abandon a 2019 hike to Red Wall Canyon when it started pouring rain on the summits in the Panamints. What if it were also raining in the Grapevines? A slot canyon would not be a good place to hike. Besides, the day was overcast. You need sun to make the colors in this canyon pop. I resolved to return. Red Wall would be our last hike this trip. I didn't give myself much chance of success, but "damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead."

The canyon mouth is just left of center in this photo.



This close up shows the canyon mouth. Once you are couple of hundred feet away from the road, aim for the light splotch left of center.



The footing across the desert here is misery - a bed of fist sized rocks. Progress was slow. I checked the GPS after two and a half hours. We were just over 1 mile in leaving another mile to the canyon mouth. There was no hope of completing the hike. To add insult to injury, the sky clouded over. What do you have to do to win this game?



On the way out of town the next morning, we stopped at the Beatty Museum. You should stake out a few hours to see this place. They have a little bit of everything.

From the cars, this picture looks like the 1940's. Beatty was hopping.



The bear and wolf guard the museum.




I still need to go back again. All I can do is work harder still. Wish me luck.