Activities - Hiking

Mosaic Canyon       Golden Canyon & Gower Gulch Wildrose & Telescope Peak       School Trail Hike Amargosa Canyon

Hiking opportunities are limitless in our region. In the Tecopa and China Ranch locale there is the scenic Amargosa Canyon with its many intriguing features. In Death Valley one can find places that are wheelchair accessible at Salt Creek, Harmony Borax and Scotty's gravesite to longer hikes that take you out into the backcountry and winding canyons. The listed trails only give you a glimpse into the possibilities for exploring the Death Valley and surrounding wonderlands. Mosaic Canyon      Located just west of Stovepipe Wells Resort, Mosaic Canyon is a marble canyon with beautiful rippling walls created by flooding from the Tucki Mountain. Noonday Dolomite is the most common rock formation in the canyon. This impressive moderately difficult canyon hike can be 1/2 mile to 2 miles before the passage is blocked. It is most enjoyable during the fall, winter and spring months. If you hike in both Golden and Mosaic canyons you will begin to see the vast diversity of Death Valley's canyons. A two mile gravel road leads to the entrance of Mosaic Canyon.

Golden Canyon & Gower Gulch      The two-mile round trip easy hike into Golden Canyon is only one of three ways that you can go for an outing in this canyon. You can travel from Golden Canyon over to Zabriskie Point and back through Gower Gulch for a 5 1/2 mile moderately strenuous hike that explores the badlands, narrows and old borax mines. Or, if you prefer a shorter version, you can go from Golden Canyon through Gower Gulch and back to the Golden Canyon parking area in a 4-mile walk. A handout with the map for these routes is available at the Park Visitor Center or the Death Valley Chamber/Shoshone Museum office. Recommended for fall, winter and spring months. Be sure to take lots of water with you as you traverse the badlands.

Wildrose & Telescope Peak      There are some areas in Death Valley that are at a high enough elevation to make summer hiking safe and enjoyable. Wildrose and Telescope Peaks are the two main summer hiking trails. During the winter months they are generally snow-covered and inaccessible. Both hikes come out of the Charcoal Kilns area. Wildrose Peak is a moderately strenuous 8-mile round trip hike and Telescope Peak is a strenuous 14-mile round trip hike. If you don't have a vehicle that can get to the trailhead at Mahogany Flats campground, you will need to add 2 miles to the Telescope Peak hike. Both hikes afford splendid views of the valley floor from the Panamint Mountains. Telescope Peak will reward the visitor with views of the ancient bristlecone pine trees.

School Trail Hike      You can access this moderately strenuous trail in the northwestern end of Shoshone just west of the RV Park. The trail winds up a wash, past an old cabin and into the rolling hills about 3 miles. You will come out in the Dublin gulch area by the Dublin caves and Shoshone cemetery.

Amargosa Canyon      If you follow the signs to China Ranch out of Tecopa you will be at the starting point for hiking into the Amargosa Canyon. The trails vary in length and difficulty from the Badlands trail, which is an easy 1 1/2 miles round trip to the four-mile round trip challenging Crack trail. This trail passes an historic saloon building, an ore loading site, the railroad grade from the Tonopah and Tidewater railroad and leads to a narrow slot canyon. Trips into the Amargosa Canyon, which is a Bureau of Land Management area, are best made during the cooler months from October to April.