Gower Gulch

December 13, 2023

Another one, showing a crevice she squeezed through.

Much to our surprise, Rachael and I both feel fine this morning and ready to tackle what we’d been planning for the day. In my case, that means the 17 mile climb up to Daylight Pass and the Nevada border and back. Should be no problem - just one climb, but one that spans the entire distance and climbs 4,500’. I remember to pack my coat for what will undoubtedly a chilly hour-long descent.

For reasons hard to fathom, Rachael thinks she’d rather take a hike today. There aren’t too many hiking options near Stovepipe, but she’s mapped out a route that takes her up into Mosaic Canyon and then heads the other way to the Mesquite Dunes. One thing she likes about this hike plan is that it doubles back past our room where she can stop in to use the facilities.

I wait around until nearly 10 to let the day warm up a bit, but I really could have started earlier - it was nearly 60 degrees already when we woke up. It looks like another fine riding day - sunny, light winds, and a high of 70. I’m startled though when I look east at the hazy sky and low visibility when I start out though, and when I pass the Mesquite Dunes I pull off onto the shoulder to take a shot their way, thinking it was sand blowing off the dunes.

Could be the source, but when I zoom in I don’t see much action.

That’s not the source though, or at least not the primary one. The visibility worsens as I drive further east, and when I reach the Devil’s Cornfield the wind is blowing hard and sand is streaming across the road. I’ve never seen this condition here. The wind is a surprise, and it only now occurs to me that I should have looked at the weather forecast for Furnace Creek instead, since it’s much closer to my planned ride.

Doesn’t look like the best biking day, here at least.

I’ve never seen Death Valley like this, but I’ll bet it’s not an uncommon condition. We’ve just been lucky until now.

Fortunately it’s a local condition, and in another five or ten miles it’s beginning to clear along the line of the foothills - and when I get to the turnoff for Beatty Cutoff Road and park the car I’m encouraged to see it’s clear in the direction of my planned climb. When I get the bike out of the car and feel a very light breeze at my back I’m feeling lucky and optimistic. This is going to be amazing I’m thinking, looking at the barricades and imagining the 35 mile traffic-free ride ahead.

But then the wind shifts, and suddenly it’s blowing fiercely straight at me at what must be 20 mph. I walk my bike over to the barricades to pose it for a shot, first righting a blown over A-frame to prop it against. The wind is still raging a few minutes later, hard enough that it’s easy to rethink the plan for the day. I turn back toward the car and within seconds I hear a loud slap as the A-frame hits the pavement again. It’s nice that I seem to be done with arrhythmia for now at least, but it still doesn’t seem bright to take on a 17 mile climb into a headwind like this.

I’ll take credit for good intentions at least.

So the ride is out but my timing is excellent at least, as when I get back to Stovepipe Rachael is standing in our doorway, staring at her Garmin and getting her bearings intently enough that she’s not aware I’ve just driven up.

So we go back inside to talk over the situation. She wasn’t that excited about her hiking options near here anyway, so it’s not hard to talk her into something better which I can join her in. We decide on driving back past Furnace Creek to Golden Canyon, a popular hiking area through the badlands below Zabrieski Point. There are some challenging hiking conditions in these dry washes involving rock scrambles that don’t work for my sorry excuse for a left knee; but I piece together a route that does look like it will work: an out and back south and up into Gower Gulch, followed by a different out and back up into Golden Canyon. From the elevation profile, each looks like it’s relatively level for the first mile or so - far enough that I can get enough of a walk in while Rachael outpaces me and continues further up the canyons.

After a half hour drive we park the car in the Golden Canyon lot, Rachael makes use of another of the park’s few outhouses, and we start walking south along the base of the ridge toward Gower Gulch.

Starting out, with Gower Gulch maybe a mile away. Conditions are good - breezy, but that should subside when we’re sheltered inside the gulches.

We don’t get far though. Were really only about a quarter mile into it when we come to the bottom of a narrow wash that looks wide enough to walk up into a ways. It looks worth exploring, so up we go. And it’s terrific - a dramatic landscape, colorful, with something interesting around each bend that just keeps drawing you in to see what’s next. Rachael soon disappears around a bend of course, and after a ways I come to a fork where it’s conceivable that she could have gone either way. I holler for her but there’s no response and there’s no cell phone coverage, so I decide it’s best to just sit here and wait for her to come back. We didn’t think to discuss our hiking protocols before starting out, and it would be dangerous to really get separated out here.

In the meantime, I amuse myself looking around at the spectacular landscape and colorful rocks. I’m just starting to worry about her when she shows up ten minutes later, exhilarated at what a splendid spot for a hike this is.

It doesn’t take long for Rocky to leave me behind.

Maybe she went up this one? Probably not, but there’s no guarantee.

I don’t trust that boulder up there though. I start to wonder how unsafe we might be in here, and begin worrying about Rachael.

A photo she brought back from her high point, so I could see what I missed.

Outside the wash again, we continue south along the base of the hills when we come to another of these small washes. The last one was such a great experience, let’s explore this one too! This one is at least a little wider, but we’re soon facing the same situation, with me waiting for the hopeful return of a disappeared partner. I’m waiting for a different reason though, because we’ve discussed what to do if you find a fork in the road (don’t take it without waiting and letting your partner in on the plan first, which she did). I’m waiting this time because I’ve come to the end of a surface that looks like would work for me, even with the hiking pole I’m carrying. I’m sure I can make it up these next rocky lifts, but I’m not sure about getting down gracefully.

So I sit and wait again and admiring the surroundings. And just about the time I’m starting to get anxious enough she rounds the bend.

This wash is at least more manageable than the first one. It wouldn’t doo to be here if there was any chance of rain in the region though.

Something to divert ourselves with while we wait. The red one looks like petrified wood.

Really, this is an outstanding place to explore. We haven’t even gone two miles yet and it feels like we’ve had a real adventure.

Finally, we make it to the yawning mouth of much wider Gower Gulch. At its base is about a twenty foot high sheer rock wall, but the trail avoids that by climbing up its shoulder and skirting its edge on a narrow path that drops straight off just a foot or two to your right. Pretty scary, actually.

Once you’re past that though it’s wide and level - easy, safe but dramatic walking for awhile; until it isn’t. Rachael scrambles ahead and up while I wait, stopping to get her shot taken when she’s about twenty feet above me.

The lower end of Gower Gulch is much more accessible than those other narrow washes.

Because she said it’s only fair to include a shot with me in it.

The walk back to the car is prettier than in the other direction, partly because we’re walking with the sun behind us and partly because it’s later in the day and the colors are starting to enhance. With the detours and slow going though, this has all taken much longer than we’d expected. By the time we get back to the car we’ll have roughly five miles in but it’s getting late enough in the day that we scrap thoughts of hiking up into Golden Canyon. We’ve seen plenty, and Rachael is really appreciative of me coming out here with her. So really, it turns out that it was a well disguised blessing that it was so windy when I planned to start my ride. It’s been an outstanding day for both of us, much more rewarding than what we’d planned.

And after all, if we hadn’t come this way we’d have missed the coyote standing beside the road long after we start the drive home. That made the whole excursion worth it right there.

What a healthy looking animal! Look at that bushy tail! I wonder what he subsists on? Lost hikers, perhaps.

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