Death Valley National Park - February 2018 - Part One

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"Is this a holiday weekend? I blurted out to the Lady. It was Saturday afternoon. I was driving as we rounded the bend on highway 190 at Black Point and Stovepipe Wells came into view below. A sea of white filled the parking lot style campground.

"Let's see," the Lady answered, "You know, I think this might be the President's Day Weekend holiday!"

"Oops!" I replied.

We had gotten a bit of a break from our responsibilities back at home and saw a short window of opportunity to return to Death Valley for a few days. I don't think we even looked at the calendar as we were anxious to spend a few days out.

"Where should we spend the night?" the Lady asked. "Do we have a plan?"

We once again missed the turn off for the 4x4 road. It is easy to miss and missing it repeatedly seems to be our fate. After turning around, we headed out the narrow road and were pleased to find this section of the Park empty.

There was no holding the Lady back after our quick set up of camp and many hours in the truck.

"How far is it to the big falls in Monarch Canyon?" she asked.

"Probably a little less than two miles." I answered.

My distance estimate was based on walking the road. The Lady had a different mindset. Why use a conveniently placed road?

"We can go over that hill." She pointed to the south. "And then work the gullies on the other side to either connect with the road or lead into Monarch."

We intersected back with the road, walked down the upper part of Monarch Canyon, and were soon at the top of the 100 foot pour over carved into wildly folded rock.

We were surprised, and of course pleased, there was no one here hiking or camping.

As we walked back up the canyon, the rock continued to amaze us.

We returned to camp as the shadows lengthened and called this day to a close.

It was a cold night but we bundled up, watched the sliver of moon set, and gazed in awe at the brilliant star filled sky. Occasionally a vehicle topping Daylight Pass to the north would wash the mountainside with their headlights.

The quiet of the night settled into us as we slept. Any place hushed of the sounds of man and civilization is a sacred place, a cathedral of the finest sort, and a joy to experience.

We embraced the warmth of the sun as it moved across the landscape the next morning.

We had spoke with a new friend a couple of weeks prior to this trip. He worked several years as a guide in Death Valley.The enjoyable conversation moved, of course, to a mutual discussion of favorite places. When Craig mentioned the climb of Thimble Peak as one of his favorites, Thimble Peak vaulted to the head of the Lady's list.

Access to Thimble Peak is via Titus Canyon Road and Red Pass.

We got an early start as we remembered this was the Sunday of President's Day Weekend and Titus Canyon Road would be busy. Also, a weather front would be moving in overnight with increasing winds in the afternoon. The parking at Red Pass is limited and tourists love to stop and take in the incredible views.

The Lady reported only a couple of vehicles parked at Leadfield below.

An unmarked use trail quickly climbs the ridge south of Red Pass.

Thimble Peak did not come into view until we were out along the ridge line.

There is a deep saddle along the ridge before starting the route up Thimble Peak.

Both of us could see the route up would be a lot of fun.

One comment we read either on line or in Digonnet's Hiking Death Valley book, was along the lines of "It looks scary but it's not."

The route climbs the shoulder and traverses out over and climbs above the cliff bands.

There is one small step to climb.

The exposure may intimidate some folks. The step is just above the Lady in the photo below - that was taken on our descent.

Above the step is a short, steep, easy to climb chute.

The limestone, etched by windblown particulates and acidic rain, is exceedingly rough. "Sticky" the Lady called it, "And easy to climb".

"Oh, we're on the top already!" the Lady said above me. There was almost disappointment in her voice.

"What, no more "up" for us? " I asked. I wanted to sound like a member of the club too.

The air quality to the south, down Death Valley, was very poor. It looked like a line of air pollution from the southern California cities and Las Vegas.

 

The Lady down climbed a bit to the south to enjoy a view down into Titanothere Canyon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Someday we'd love to hike the length of Titanothere Canyon from Titus Canyon Road down into Death Valley. Anybody care to drop us off some early morning?

 

 

The views are outstanding and include the Mount Whitney summit in the Sierra Nevada Range to the west.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Yes, that is an old threadbare wool shirt of mine. She will not let loose of it.

 

 

 

 

 

In the above photo, if you are curious, Red Pass is in the center, far left side of the photo.

 

 

If you'd like to include the summit of Thimble Peak to your drive of Titus Canyon Road, it took us an hour and ten minutes to reach the summit from Red Pass.

 

 

The wind was not too bad but was building. We enjoyed a long lunch on top - there was no one else on this route today - then it was time to start the climb back down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Safely back down to the saddle we climbed another high point on the ridge and took in the hazy view to the south.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Corkscrew Peak, another fun Death Valley summit is to the right of the Lady in the above photo. We visited Cockscrew's summit back in December 2015.

 

 

It was a beautiful hike back to Red Pass along the ridge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Titus Canyon Road was busy upon our return to Red Pass. As I down climbed back to the road a young woman stopped her SUV, opened the door, and vomited. I was concerned and asked the Lady to approach with water and to check her out. Not that I have a problem with vomit - I've seen a lot of it - but I thought the woman would be more comfortable being contacted by another female. The woman thought it is was "elevation" or "maybe we did too much on Mesquite Dunes yesterday".  She had a child in the backseat. She recovered and said she was fine. The Lady told her we would be coming behind her down Titus Canyon if she needed help.

 

 

It was time for the Lady to enjoy backcountry driving so she took us down into the narrows of Titus Canyon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stopped at the famous display of breccia.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were surprised at the warmth as we descended into Death Valley. We drove up Hole in the Wall Road to overnight at one of our favorite camp spots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were several other camps along Hole in the Wall Road this holiday weekend. Several were blatantly disregarding the regulations covering backcountry camping in Death Valley National Park - illegal campfires, group size limits, driving off road. It was disappointing and verged on disgusting. I will spare you the rest of my rant. If you visit Death Valley National Park, please be informed and follow the precautions in place to preserve this outstanding environment and our opportunities to backcountry camp within a National Park.

 

 

The wind built during our night walk. It was roaring down canyon as we returned to our camp. The wind rocked us in our sleep as we dreamed of the adventures ahead for us our next day in Death Valley.

 

 

Our adventure continues in Part Two - Please Click Here