Backpacking California by Expert authors of Wilderness Press

Author:Expert authors of Wilderness Press
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wilderness Press
Published: 2020-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

At the eastern end of Cottonwood Springs, the creek sinks underground and the vegetation ends abruptly. In a few seconds you emerge from a shady and humid jungle into bright waterless expanses. For the next mile, you follow a sandy wash down to the middle spring. Although much drier, it is still a delightful place, invaded by dark, muddy swamps where thrive plants totally unexpected in the desert, like watercress and a mushroom called desert puffball. Below this spring, there is another half-mile stretch of open wash to the lower spring. This one has several good flows of shallow water 1 or 2 feet wide. In late October, I once estimated its flow to be a hefty 30 gallons per minute. In the shade of tall trees, grasses, cattail, and willow shoots jostle for sipping rights along the creek. Here as at the middle spring, you might get wet crossing the brush-choked stream. Animal tracks on either side help reduce bushwhacking and damage.

The lower spring ends at the upper end of the Cottonwood Canyon Road. The rest of the canyon is dry, so fill up in preparation of the home run the next day. Camping is allowed anywhere in Cottonwood Canyon except within 200 yards of the springs. Water at the springs is usually abundant year-round, but treat it before drinking.

The rest of Cottonwood Canyon down to Marble Canyon (8.4 miles) is fairly wide, straight, and less eventful—except for the narrows and the side canyons. The narrows start 1.5 miles below the lower spring. For no less than 2 miles, the wash meanders tightly beneath rugged stone walls. The scenery changes gradually along the way as the gorge first cuts through dark-gray dolomite, then tilted strata of interbedded dolomite and limestone, and finally limestone. In the west wall, about 1.4 miles down the narrows, there is a nice breccia stream-polished into a fine panel of black-and-white mosaic.

Cottonwood Canyon has about a dozen side canyons. They are often narrower and windier than the main canyon, and all very different. A short hike into one of them may well turn out to be a highlight of your hike through this canyon. Try the side canyon on the west side just above the narrows. It is quite pretty, it has two beautiful tight narrows, and finding a route around its high falls and chokestones poses stimulating challenges.

Do not miss the unusual 70-foot-deep overhang in the east wall about 1 mile below the narrows. From there only 3.9 miles of hiking remain. It is open the whole way, but the surrounding hills are quite scenic, and because the grades are uncommonly gentle, the walking goes at a good clip—a good thing if you are low on water.

BUILD-UP AND WIND-DOWN TIPS

For a good meal in an Old West setting, go to the one and only restaurant in Stovepipe Wells, the Toll Road Restaurant (760-786-7090). If you are new to Death Valley, check out the Mesquite Flat Dunes just east of Stovepipe Wells, and at least the lower reaches of nearby Mosaic Canyon and Grotto Canyons.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.