Gary-Summer: November 18, 2021 -Death Valley: Artist Dips

Thursday, November 18, 2021

November 18, 2021 -Death Valley: Artist Dips

Title: November 18, 2021 -Death Valley: Artist Dips
Hike Info : Description : Trail Lessons : Background : Extra Photo's : Animals : Flowers and Plants

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking
Trail: No Trail
Trail head: Artist Dip
Destination: Loop
Actual Destination: end of canyon and back.
Distance: 5.26 miles ¹
Start Time: 9:47
End Time: 2:27

Travel Time: 4:40 (1.13 mph)
Moving Time: 3:33 (1.48 mph)
Elevation Rise: 1,147'
Descent: 1,137‘
Maximum Elevation: 944'

GPS Tracks

¹There is about half of a mile where the GPS turned itself off. So there is a gap in the tracks.

Car Mileage: 40 miles

Description:

Sherri walking to Dip 1

I woke up to a glorious sunrise this morning. The time would be around 6:20. The sun rose with an array of colors lightening both the eastern and western skies. When Sherri got up, she makes pancakes and bacon.

Now we have not decided on what to hike today. We had talked about a hike called the Artist Dips^*. It is to the west of Artist Drive, going down one wash and coming back up another. But the concern here is the book’s^** description of this second wash: first a five foot dry waterfall, followed by a harder seven foot wall. Are we really up to this? After talking about other options, we decided this is the one we will do. We even leave camp a bit earlier than usual: 9:15.

Gary walking the wash

We get to the Dips at 9:55. The book says to go 0.4 miles beyond the first dip and park at a wide place in the road. We walk the road back to the first dip. Here we observe a pretty curious scene. A person is walking back down the middle of the road to his car. The car is parked right smack on the road where it will be hit if anybody comes along. Ever hear of the phrase, an accident waiting to happen?

We do not stick around, but neither do we hear the crunch of metal, so we assume nothing happened. We start out going down this first canyon. Within a hundred yards we hit the remains of the old road which must have been washed out by a flash flood. The book talk about how the road propagates erosion. But in my mind, it is how it inhibits it. We have to work around a 5’ shear wall of dirt being held together by asphalt. If the old road was not there, there would have been a decline several yards back.

Asphalt holding back erosion

Walls of the wasg

We continue our walk along the wash. The book gives several benchmarks about what we expect to see. The canyon did not disappoint. It slopes downward at a reasonable pace. The canyon walls turn colorful, maybe not as much as the hills of Artist Palette, but enough to satisfy with the greenish-blues, red, yellows and other colors in-between.

The canyon narrows a bit and changes colors to more shades of chocolate brown and tan-almost like a sundae. Looking at the tans, we realize this is where floods have thrown mud on the walls, in places going up 15-20’. If a flash flood happens, how do you escape that?

Mud on brown walls

The book says to do a sharp right turn when you see an expansive view of the Badwater valley floor. We start seeing a view of the floor and there is a promising canyon going to the right, but the view is more of a narrow V. The book warns not to be fooled by canyons which are too soon. So we continue on.

Besides, there are foot prints going further. Shortly afterwards we come out onto the alluvial fan of this wash. This is what I would call an expansive view. But not a sharp right turn, but we do go right around the bottom of a ridge. And then we keep on going. After about 20 minutes of this, we are trying to identify which draw to try to go up-none looks promising. We stop for a break-it is warm and no shade. I start trying to identify places on the GPS and am quickly coming to the conclusion we have gone too far. The footprints continue on, but we do not.

After resting and discussing, we start back the way we came. We are unsure if we want to go up the second canyon since we would still have to go over those two dry waterfalls or turn back around.

Wash's Walls

Shortly after re-entering the canyon, there is a promising wash we could go up. Looking at the
GPS, I think this one is the second dip canyon as it goes close to our starting place. There are no distinct footprints up this way, but the surface is pretty hard. We think it is good just to continue up the original canyon.

Gary heading past the wash opening

A little ways further, we come to some shade, so we stop for lunch and discuss our tactics. One thing which we are getting concerned about is which wash to go up. We are coming to several washes which looks promising. Coming down, we knew we just wanted to go down the main wash. But going up, it is a different story as there are splits in the washes with many of them look like they could be the main one. Fortunately we can make out tracks in the gravel on the one we are following and no tracks in the other washes. I need to understand a bit more how to navigate at the bottom of a canyon in the desert where I do not understand the geography as much as the Sierra. Also next time, make sure I bring topo maps of the area.

As we progress up our canyon, the colors are not as vivid as when we came down. The sun is more overhead, washing out the colors. It is harder going up the canyon as well. But we are doing good. I will confess that I am thinking that we should be coming to the end soon. But each bend gives us a new leg to continue our journey on.

Looking up the wash of Dip 2

Then around another turn, we spot the wall which the old road is built on. We get to it. Instead of continuing up the canyon, we follow the old road back to Artist Drive. Now it is only the third of a mile back to the car. This is a relief.

We take our time getting ready to move on. It is only 2:45, but we are pretty much pooped out. I guess we can do something if we can just drive to the place. A friend of ours talked about the Devil’s Golf Course as being an interesting place. We drive there. This is where salt has been raised gathering and forms tufts for as far as we can see. The tufts are covered by dirt, so there is a not a feeling of pristine white which you would expect from a plain of salt rather something which needs to be washed down. Still it is impressive just watching out across this wide expanse.

We got back to our campsite in time to relax for a little while. I read and watched my next door neighbor put up his tent. At first I thought this was the first time he had put up any tent-it is a gigantic tent. But he seemed to know what he was doing, just carefully following instructions.

Devil's Gold Course

Sherri fixes us a dinner of polish dogs topped with chili and cheese. While not high cuisine, it is filling and just what I needed for tonight’s meal. About the time I finish cleaning up, our next door neighbor comes over and we start talking. His name is Eric and he is a planner/communications person from Phoenix. In his spare time, he writes travel articles for various publications. We talk for over an hour, trading stories back and forth. He had a long drive and I had a long day. So about 8:30 we say good night and head our separate directions.

Trail Lesson: Pay attention to your surroundings, particularly when you are in unfamiliar territory.

Background

^*If you are looking for someplace on a map called Artist Dip, you will not find it. When you go along Artist Drive, you will now which is Dip 1 and Dip2, as long as you can count to two. They are obvious.

^**Best Easy Day Hikes Death Valley National Park. We went on a hike listed in this book on this day:

The "expansive view" of Badwater

Artist Dip. This is a hike which shows great promise, as long as you do not mind scrambling up two dry waterfalls. Also, there is not any recognizable trail, so do not expect any signs to say where you are going. The book tells you that. Having said that, there is a bit of interpretation issue when reading the book. It does say, If any junction tempts you, check where you can see the Badwater Valley floor ahead in the distance. If you don’t see it, don’t turn out of the main canyon yet. Fair enough. There are a lot of tempting washes coming into this canyon. It then goes on and says At 2 miles from Dip 1 you can finally see all of the Badwater Valley floor far below. … Here you take a sharp right turn to head back. Advice: pay attention to the 2 miles on your GPS. If you can see all of the Badwater Valley floor, you have gone too far.