Icy Mud Cracks - 20 Mule Team Road - Dec 2021

[DeathValleyDazed]

Mid December 2021 a winter evening flash flood washed out the lower portion of the Twenty Mule Team Canyon Road. The muddy residue remaining in the upper portion on the road combined with frosty nights creating unusual icy mud cracks. 

[MojaveGeek]

Rather strange, but I can't figure out the scale. How big / long are those cracks?

[DeathValleyDazed]

The setting is about a quarter mile in from Highway 190 where the mud puddle spanned nearly all the way across the graded Twenty Mule Team Canyon Road so those deep, long, straight cracks are about six feet in length and several inches deep. It was early morning and they were still frozen on the surface. I'm glad I did not attempt to drive through this spot because my Subaru Crosstrek would have become mired down. I drove in on the graded road the wrong way because I knew the gate was closed at the entrance to the canyon and I would not encounter any vehicles driving up the correct direction. You can see someone's foot prints in the mud as the road turns south. The last scene you can see two people walking up the road from the closed gate entrance to the canyon where the road is completely destroyed by the flash flood waters.

[trailhound]

Is Twenty Mule Team Canyon now open? I don't see it listed as closed on the park's website. Only Wildrose Road, Bonnie Claire Road, and Jail Canyon are mentioned.

[DeathValleyDazed]

It is probably open by now because I doubt it would have taken a road grader even one full day to regrade the road because the sand, gravel and clay probably dried out quickly and so the fix is relatively easy.

[Daymoth]

It opened around new years

[MojaveGeek]

Thanks for the clarification, Dazed.

That road floods a lot, but is usually cleared quickly.

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.

[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.

[MojaveGeek]

If you go down Gower Gulch to the valley floor, you'd expect a gradual alluvial fan, but at the end there is an abrupt drop off. First time I went down (carrying my 3 yr old daughter on my back) on what was supposed to be a loop, having parked at Golden Canyon, I had an "Oh sh**" moment - I was going to get cliffed out! But there's a cute little ramp to the right so it is no problem. But my understanding is that the drop off is caused by recent erosion of Gower Gulch carrying much more water load now than what carved it in the first place. IIRC that cut out was intentional, as a "relief valve" from Furnace wash. Well it sure didn't work in the big flood some years ago that washed away the Zabriskie vault toilets, and tore out a bunch of the 190 pavement!