GOLDEN CANYON, ZABRISKIE POINT & RED CATHEDRAL RIDGE
Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2018 7:35 pm
This past weekend I went to Death Valley to meet with a group. However, things didn't work out quite as planned, due to mis-communication with posted meeting times. The group was camped at different sites within the Furnace Creek Campground and some of us stayed in hotels. (Obviously I need to re-think about groups I chose to hike with.) Anyways, my friend Elyse and I ended up hiking a badass ridge which was not part of the boring choice the group planned as an alternate option. The original plan was to hike Mt. Perry and Dante's View but it was closed for maintenance. The backup plan was to meet at Golden Canyon Trailhead. As I mentioned, the group was unorganized and as a result we were all spread out.
I parked at the trailhead, arriving around 9am. We gathered our things and started hiking at 9:05am. As we entered the canyon, we were surrounded with amazing rock formations in various colors.
As we walked through the canyon, there were so many "no trail" signs posted, and I was so tempted to climb to the top of several points, that I actually darted up a steep trail very quickly before the ranger who was giving a tour behind us saw me. lol
We approached a sign where the trail splits off and one could continue on a flat boring loop trail below or head up a steep ridge to Zabriskie Pt. We decided to take that route. To add, if you are driving on the CA-190, you can actually drive to this point, as many tourist do, and walk a short distance or begin at the Golden Cyn trailhead hiking about 3 miles up a steep trail with switchbacks.
Posing at Zabriskie Point.
More views of the path before heading towards Zabriskie Point.
A partial view of the Red Cathedral ridge in the background.
After hiking up to Zabriskie Point, the choices are to descend the same trail and continue below the ridge as a loop hike or ascend up a steep narrow ridge towards Red Cathedral. We found out later that very few hikers go this route because the ridge is a bit dangerous. There are some very sketchy parts of the ridge with lots of exposure and steep drop-offs. We didn't know what we were about to encounter. It wasn't until we hiked the entire ridge that we came to an agreement that this ridge wasn't for everyone. As daring as I am, there were sections of this ridge that frightened me. I saw shoeprints and there were a few cairns along the way so I knew that this route was doable. Thank God for the cairns even though they are not always reliable. But there were some sections where one could easily make a mistake of scrambling down and completely miss the exit points and perhaps get lost. Nevertheless, the two of us badass chicks continued along this route and succeeded in facing a few of those challenges with confidence.
To be continued...
I parked at the trailhead, arriving around 9am. We gathered our things and started hiking at 9:05am. As we entered the canyon, we were surrounded with amazing rock formations in various colors.
As we walked through the canyon, there were so many "no trail" signs posted, and I was so tempted to climb to the top of several points, that I actually darted up a steep trail very quickly before the ranger who was giving a tour behind us saw me. lol
We approached a sign where the trail splits off and one could continue on a flat boring loop trail below or head up a steep ridge to Zabriskie Pt. We decided to take that route. To add, if you are driving on the CA-190, you can actually drive to this point, as many tourist do, and walk a short distance or begin at the Golden Cyn trailhead hiking about 3 miles up a steep trail with switchbacks.
Posing at Zabriskie Point.
More views of the path before heading towards Zabriskie Point.
A partial view of the Red Cathedral ridge in the background.
After hiking up to Zabriskie Point, the choices are to descend the same trail and continue below the ridge as a loop hike or ascend up a steep narrow ridge towards Red Cathedral. We found out later that very few hikers go this route because the ridge is a bit dangerous. There are some very sketchy parts of the ridge with lots of exposure and steep drop-offs. We didn't know what we were about to encounter. It wasn't until we hiked the entire ridge that we came to an agreement that this ridge wasn't for everyone. As daring as I am, there were sections of this ridge that frightened me. I saw shoeprints and there were a few cairns along the way so I knew that this route was doable. Thank God for the cairns even though they are not always reliable. But there were some sections where one could easily make a mistake of scrambling down and completely miss the exit points and perhaps get lost. Nevertheless, the two of us badass chicks continued along this route and succeeded in facing a few of those challenges with confidence.
To be continued...