Badwater and Some Good Trails

Looking west from Badwater, the lowest point in the United States at 282 feet below sea level, my eye is drawn to what appears to be a shallow stream flowing across the valley floor. But this flow is a mirage caused by the strange terrain and deceptive colorings for which Death Valley National Park is known.

Light plays upon the valley floor, from the gray and gold of sunrise to the lavender and purple of sunset. Visiting the lowest parts of Death Valley is often a colorful experience.

Badwater--and some of the nearby canyons off Badwater Highway--offers lessons in Death Valley geology in action, as well as shifting patterns of light and iridescent colors that make hikes in this part of the national park memorable.

A hike across the barren salt flats to Badwater and beyond may be the definitive Death Valley experience because it’s an excursion into extremes--the lowest land in North America and one of the hottest places on Earth. Because temperatures increase as elevation decreases, Badwater is no place to linger in the summer, when temperatures of 120 degrees are regularly recorded.

While Badwater is not the planet’s lowest land (that distinction belongs to the Dead Sea in Israel, about 1,330 feet below sea level), its proximity to adjacent high country makes its low elevation seem quite pronounced. The high point in the national park, Telescope Peak (11,048 feet), is located less than 20 miles west of Badwater.

A “Sea Level” sign posted high on the cliffs above Badwater helps visitors visualize just what a depression 282 feet represents. These cliffs thrust skyward all the way up to Dantes View, 5,775 feet above sea level.

As the story goes, an early map maker named the briny pools “Badwater” when his mule refused to drink the water. Badwater’s water is indeed bad--as is most surface water in Death Valley--because of an extremely high concentration of salts; undrinkable it is, but not poisonous.

While Badwater’s environmental conditions are hostile to life, some plants and animals manage to survive. Patches of grass and clumps of pickle weed edge the shallow pools, where water beetles and the larvae of insects can be observed.

Directions to trail head: From the junction of California 190 and California 178, head south on the latter (Badwater Highway) for 16.5 miles to the signed Badwater parking area on the west side of the road.

The hike: A causeway leads onto the salt flats. To really get a feel for the enormity of the valley floor, continue past the well-beaten pathway farther out onto the salt flats.

Desolation Canyon

Deeply eroded hills, a rainbow of color on the lower slopes of the Black Mountains and a twisted, narrow canyon are among the highlights of a walk to and through Desolation Canyon, a 2.2-mile round trip with a 400-foot elevation gain.

Judging from the canyon’s proximity to Badwater Road and Artists Drive, you might doubt the appropriateness of Desolation’s name, but, in fact, the deep, colorful canyon offers some surprising solitude to hikers. It is isolated and austere in places, but no more desolate than any other in the rugged foothills south of Furnace Creek. Desolation, like the better-known Black Mountains canyons, offers a marvelous geology lesson to the willing walker.

Directions to trail head: From the junction of California 190 and Badwater Road near the Furnace Creek Inn, take the latter road 3.6 miles, then turn left (east) on a dirt road that leads a mile to the trail head.

The hike: Join one of the distinct paths that climbs northeast over a minor ridge to the mouth of Desolation Canyon. Follow the wash into the hills. After a quarter-mile the walls of the canyon, dramatically sculpted by rushing water, close in and soar more than 100 feet above you.

Keep right at various forks in the twisted canyon to stay within the main wash. Look for a couple of minor (3- to 5-feet-high) dry cascades. Your hike through the main canyon will be halted by a dry waterfall a bit more than a mile from the trail head. You can continue another half a mile up a narrow right-forking tributary canyon.

Natural Bridge

An intriguing short path (three-quarters-mile round trip) off Badwater Highway offers hikers a landscape similar to southern Utah’s--an eroded canyon rim and large natural bridge formations. Long ago, water surged through a canyon wall, stripping away weaker strata and leaving behind a 50-foot-high rock bridge spanning the canyon. Beyond the bridge, you can explore other water-cut formations--grottoes and benches, chutes and spillways.

A very detailed trail head display of Death Valley geology will delight those geology buffs fascinated by such topics as slip faults and mud drips.

Directions: From Badwater Highway, about 15 miles south of the Furnace Creek Visitor Center, follow the signed dirt road 1.5 miles to the Natural Bridge trail head.

The hike: Head up the gravel-floored canyon bottom. Before long the volcanic walls of the canyon narrow, and you’ll see the natural bridge.

Walk under the bridge and continue up the canyon. Note the textbook examples of slip faults and a couple of fault caves as you continue your journey. A dry waterfall, three-quarters of a mile from the trail head, can be climbed, but a 20-foot-high dry waterfall a mile out halts this hike.

McKinney’s book “Day Hiker’s Guide to Southern California” is available through The Times for $16.45 (including tax, shipping and handling) by calling (800) 246-4042.

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Badwater, Desolation Canyon, Natural Bridge Trails

WHERE: Death Valley National Park

DISTANCE: Across the Badwater Salt Flats is 1 mile or so round trip; through Desolation Canyon is 2.2 miles round trip with 400-foot elevation gain; to Natural Bridge is 0.75-mile round trip.

TERRAIN: Lowest elevation in the United States.

HIGHLIGHTS: Fascinating geology, one of hottest spots on earth.

DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY: Easy to moderate.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Death Valley National Park, Death Valley, CA 92338; te. (619) 786-2331