Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Death Valley

To celebrate Susan joining me with the permanent rank of pensioner we headed to Death Valley for the excellent flower displays and some hiking.  


Fall Canyon


Bird Lists:

Map Link



Entrance to Fall Canyon

We came in from the north end of Death Valley and stopped at the mouth of Titus Canyon for a short hike up Fall Canyon. The flowers at this elevation have not peaked yet but there was a good mixture. The hike up the canyon was fun and interesting. 8 miles.




Golden Evening Primrose


















Desert Five-Spot



Once reaching the dry waterfall that requires a class 3/4 climb to get above we turned around. It was a good warm-up for the hiking we would do for the next few days. Besides, there were lots of flowers to see at the southern end of the valley.


We spent the afternoon driving south with the most extensive displays all beyond Badwater. The heavy fall and early winter rains made for some spectacular views.



Desert Sunflower


Death Valley Phacelia
Purple Mat






Desert Five-Spot

We made our way up Warm Spring Canyon at the south end of the valley in the late afternoon and explored the old mining site. Since primitive camping is allowed in this part of the park we were home for the evening, and staged for a hike the next morning up the canyon.














Warm Spring Canyon


Bird Lists:

Map Link


Up early we headed west up the canyon on an old mining/jeep road to the pass between this canyon and Butte Valley. The flowers were excellent all the way. Rock Wrens were the bird of the day, seemingly one every quarter mile singing on territory. We also had several small groups of Chukar, including one bunch who were descended upon at high speed by a hunting Golden Eagle. At the top we had lunch and looked upon Striped Butte and Manley Peak. We backtracked to the car making for a pleasant 17 mile hike.  We drove down canyon to near the valley floor to set up for the following day hike. Sunset over the Badwater Basin was gorgeous.


Fremont Phacelia
Warm Spring Canyon
  


Rock Nettle


Golden Evening Primrose


Fremont Phacelia and Fiddleneck


Golden Evening Primrose


Pincushion






Locoweed




Phacelia


Rock Nettle


Striped Butte and Manly Peak


Golden Desert-snapdragon and Desert Star


Sunset over the basin





Wingate Wash


Map Link (tracked one way - 18 total miles)


Bird List


This hike was a whim, picked at random from the map. We had no idea starting out what we would find, but the large fields of flowers drew us in. We mostly followed the alluvial run-out of Wingate Wash climbing ever higher until it was time to turn around. This wash goes for many miles, we managed only 9 miles of it before turning around. We couldn't have asked for a better day - the flowers were epic, the scenery fascinating. The surprise of the birding day was the sheer numbers of Sage Thrashers. Obviously in peak migration now, we eBirded 28 but could easily have seen double or triple that number. 



Wingate Wash


Wingate Wash


Interesting mud formations from recent flooding










Gravel Ghost








A happy flower peeper


Golden Desert-snapdragon


Phacelia








Desert Velvet




Says Phoebe nest with 4 eggs


Old mine


USGS bench marker at mine










Phacelia


Do they get lonley?






Purple Mat


Desert Five-Spot


Desert Five Spot








Another mine entrance


Lunch time


Lava flow


Desert Gold Poppy




Bigelow's Monkeyflower


Desert Five-Spot




Shoe pollen!


Broad-leaved Gilia

Broad-leaved Gilia



Dodder (Cuscuta) - a parasitic vine 
Desert Dandelion






Phacelia
Spotted Langlosia



Sage Thrasher tracks?


Another beautiful sunset


Sidewinder Canyon


Map Link


Bird List


Our final morning had us hunting for keyhole slots in a very interesting canyon. There are many internet resources with GPS waypoints on the location of these slots, so we took advantage and headed in. The main canyon starts out very wide and narrows to nothing a couple miles in. Along the way the keyhole side slots are there for exploring. Point-and-shoot photography of these dark spaces is 'iffy at best, so I encourage you to make this fascinating place a destination if you have a chance. We had a lot of fun! Reaching the back of the alluvial section of the canyon, we climbed the wall and traversed down along the south rim. It was time to head home.








































































Sidewinder Canyon from above




Traversing the canyon edge






Looking north toward Badwater Basin




Final descent to the car

2 comments:

  1. Wow, a very interesting trek. So many excellent photographs really helped tell the story of the area when on rare occasions the flowers are in magnificent bloom. Thanks for sharing.

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  2. OK, that was effin amazing. Couldn't have done that trek in a life time.

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