Death Valley: Rare Water in Badwater and Two Summit Attempts

A rare chance to walk in water in Badwater Basin, attempts to climb Artist Palette Peak and Sheephead Mountain, and a wrap-up of 2023 hikes.

Sunset on Badwater Basin, Death Valley National Park, 12/23.
photo by Fred Birnbaum

Trip Stats
Peaks Attempted:  Artist's Palette Peak, east Death Valley National Park, and Sheephead Mountain, Ibex Wilderness (southern Death Valley).
Dates hiked:  December 15 and 16, 2023.
Maps and Apps:  Trails Illustrated Death Valley National Park #221.  Used Stavislost.com for Artist's Palette Peak and Sheephead Mountain routes.
​Lodging:  Shoshone Inn  at Shoshone Village, southwest of Death Valley NP.
Geology:  Tectonic processes relatively young; rocks are old
Precambrian - 1.8 billion years ago.  Schists and gneisses that have been uplifted and exposed, located in the Panamint Mountains to the west of Death Valley and Badwater Basin.
Paleozoic - 550 million years ago.  Limestone and dolomite in warm shallow seas.
Late Paleozoic/Mesozoic - 225-65 million years ago.  Pacific plate subducted under North American plate, causing melting ---> magma and volcanism.
Jurassic and Cretaceous - magma chamber production ---> cooled intrusions that formed the Sierra Nevada mountains ---> some of these plutons spread eastward to Death Valley.  Compression caused thrust faults (older rock thrust over younger rock).  
Cenozoic - 66 million years ago - present.  Extension (spreading) caused volcanism

Our GPS tracks for Sheephead Mtn. and Artists Palette Peak

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One of the photographers at Badwater Basin's lake.

Our Trip - Badwater Basin, Artist's Palette Peak, Sheephead Mountain
On August 20, 2023, Tropical Storm Hilary dumped a year's worth of rainfall on Death Valley National Park, transforming famous Badwater Basin into a spectacular sight: a huge turquoise-colored, salt-rimmed lake reflecting massive mountains on both sides.  This rare occurrence is reminiscent of Pleistocene Lake Manly, a deep ice-age body of water that once filled this basin and dried up about 10,000 years ago.  Although not as deep and extensive as its predecessor, it was still an amazing sight to see, especially at sunset.  Badwater Basin, the lowest point in North America, is normally a salt flat cut into hexagons, and freeze/thaw hummocks - soft yet crunchy to walk on.  Fred and I had hurried from Shoshone Village, a 45-minute drive to the southeast, to get there by sunset.  There were a few other photographers, their mirror-images appearing unbroken in the still, shallow, and salty water.  It was so quiet and remote that we could hear their conversations.  

​For the past three years, we have stayed and hiked in the Death Valley National Park area during the Christmas holiday.  In 2021, we hiked Pahrump Point out of Chicago Valley in the Nopah mountains with our friend Scott.  In 2022, Fred and I hiked the awesome Pyramid Peak in the Funeral Mountains, and in 2023 we got to experience the magic of Badwater Basin's reflections and also hike Artists Palette Peak and Sheephead Mountain in the Ibex Wilderness. Hikes are challenging in Death Valley, a rough and rocky place - remote, stoic and mysterious.  That's why we love it.  A land that has experienced a lot of turmoil, yet stands defiant.

How Long will Badwater Basin's Lake Last?
The depth of the lake was about four inches where I stood after walking through thick (and sharp!) salt deposits at  the lake margins.  The evaporation rate in Death Valley is 120-150 inches per year.  I read one source that stated the depth was two feet right after the storm.  The evaporation rate is the highest in the U.S., so get out and see it soon!  The Landsat images below show relative evaporation in 10.5 weeks (images 2 and 3).  Note that the northern, smaller body of water appears to have mostly dried up already.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Landsat Images of Badwater Basin in Death Valley National Park.  Water appears in shades of blue.  Image #1 taken 7/5/23 shows little moisture.  Image #2 taken 8/22/23, two days after Tropical Storm Hilary's record rainfall.  Image #3 taken on 11/2/23,  10.5 weeks after the flooding, shows some evaporation.
NASA Earth Observatory images by Wanmei Liang, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. 

Sodium chloride (table salt) crystals accumulated around the perimeter of this year's lake that filled in part of Badwater Basin, a rare event.  This lake has the greatest evaporation rate in the U.S.  

Fred at the salty Badwater Basin, the lowest point in North America - a sublime setting.

Artist's Palette Peak and Sheephead Mountain
Our experience with gnarly-looking loose, slippery scree slopes (Idaho's Leatherman Peak is one) and Class 3 boulder obstacles made us turn back once we got closer to these summits.  Both of these hikes involve Class 2 and 3+ route-finding, as there are no trails or markers.  I frequently go to stavislost website to plan summits, and study topo maps to understand the terrain.  Maybe we are, in our 60's, getting too old for these treacherous scrambles - or we just don't want to put ourselves through the frustration!  Seems like we've had more "grudge peaks" than usual this year.

Tough Terrain to Artists Palette Peak, top of image (looking south).
  Another Grudge Peak!  Our GPS tracks in blue.  Twenty Team Mule Canyon to the left, we ran into Class 3+.
Steep and loose talus slope out of canyon to the right.

We began ascending Artist's Palette Peak via Twenty Mule Team Canyon heading mostly south, after parking on 20 Mule Team Road, accessed from Highway 190.  Evidence of a recent heavy wash-out with a freshly-carved stream (maybe from Tropical Storm Hilary?) coursed through the canyon floor.  Huge boulders had been dropped into the canyon.  We scaled a small waterfall and had no difficulty until we reached a Class 3+ boulder obstacle, blocking our progress.  Shortly before this, we were able to hoist ourselves over a huge tilted boulder by standing on unstable rocks piled up against it to make a platform (glad I had Fred to help me place my feet in the right spot on these tippy rocks on the way down!).  Hoping we were golden but discovering we were not after the next canyon turn, we tried a few ways to get past the next boulder array but decided to descend and try a different canyon.  It would have meant climbing a very steep and loose slope of gravel, where I was slipping more than I was ascending.

The canyon floor had signs of a recent wash-out.

Huge conglomerate layer on top of finer sediment

Looks like petrified stream bed ripples

Canyon closing in

Easier to climb to the left of waterfall

Twenty Mule Team Canyon 

Toward the top of Twenty Mule Team Canyon - we were able to ascend this narrow, wobbly stack of rocks to hoist over this boulder but then met up with Class 3+ moves after this that proved too intimidating.

The obstacle in the above photo is where another Artist's Palette Peak hiker who recorded his trip on Peakbagger website turned around.  Stav Basis, in his route description of this hike advises that if you are hiking Twenty Mule Team Canyon to ascend it rather than descend it to make sure you can maneuver the Class 3+ stuff and you don't get stuck.

​The next canyon we attempted to the northwest of Twenty Mule Team Canyon had footprints in it, possibly from a group of hikers we saw at the trailhead.  We followed it, fun scrambling over easy walls, until we were diverted out of the canyon to see a steep and loose talus slope with no end in sight.  It's frustrating to know that "obstacles" like this get in your way of seeing your intended peaks and knowing there was less-steep terrain above.  But that's why off-trail route finding in Death Valley is so rewarding - you have really earned the view from the summit and the access to the peak register.

There is no other place like Death Valley's terrain - mostly devoid of vegetation.  Rocks and sky predominate, but sometimes you get a remarkable surprise, like the blood red and magenta Desert five-spot flower growing in the gravel (photo below).

Conglomerate boulder containing mostly rounded cobbles from long-ago streams.

Desert five-spot
Eremalche rotundifolia

Route up canyon on the right - fun scrambling.

Looking down a "rock ladder" we climbed from the canyon floor.  Shortly after this we came to the steep and long loose talus slope and decided to turn back.

Sheephead Mountain  (13 ascents on Peakbagger - A Sierra Club Desert Peaks Section Peak)
I had been looking forward to hiking in the Ibex Wilderness, so the next day when we hiked to Sheephead Mountain, we were remote and alone, except for the occasional motorist on Highway 178, which begins at Shoshone, then heads west through two passes to turn north as it becomes Badwater Road, hugging the east side of Death Valley.  We parked in a pull-out at Salsberry Pass, about 12 miles from Shoshone.

The faint trail that headed southeast toward Sheephead soon became non-existent, so the approach was a maze of red washes and rubbly hills.  We located our daunting-looking mountain to the south.  We ascended a rotten, slippery and steep ridge of yellow scree too soon.  Once we got on top of this yellow high point, we realized it would have been easier to ascend the red ridge just to the south, leading more directly to the saddle on the final ridge to Sheephead, which looked like a tower with more loose scree slopes flanking its sides.  We didn't have the motivation in us to attempt the rock piles.  From the saddle we found an easier way down over a ridge and then dropping into a wash.  We instead walked back to the highway, crossing it and wandering on a ridge toward Salsberry Peak, seeing occasional bighorn sheep signs.

Wrap-Up of 2023 hiking - The Year of Grudge Peaks
This year we did more remote desert route-planning and finding on unmarked terrain with no trails in Utah's Zion Wilderness and San Rafael Swell, Nevada and Death Valley.  Occasionally we see cairns that let us know some other hardy souls had stood in the same place.  Walking without a trail takes more time.   As a result, we had more "grudge peaks" this year - ones where we did not make the summit.  Mummy Mountain was the most frustrating;  we were within 200 feet of the summit and ran into a deep and steep snow-filled gully with no great footing to get out of it to a narrow shelf to the top.  Scott, Fred and I will hopefully try this summit again but from the more-used trail on other side of the mountain.  Other "grudges" this year were Hepworth in Zion, and Bearing Peak in Lake Mead National Park.  Moapa's knife's edge we're not sure we would attempt again.  Successful summits included Shelly Baldy in the Tushars, Mt. Kimball in Tucson, Jackson Peak near Boise, and Burger Peak in Pine Valley Mountains.  And, the summit of Angels Landing was sweet because we got to hike it with my sis and bro-in-law.

One of my favorite authors, Willa Cather famously said, "The road is all, the end is nothing."  As far as reaching summits, I would have to respectfully disagree.  The way to the summit is a great experience, but to stand on the summit after you've worked hard to climb it is even sweeter.

So, is it our age or the pursuit of more technically challenging hikes that are preventing us from reaching our goals?  I like to think it's a little of the first and mostly the last of those two reasons.  Should we focus less on goals and more on appreciating just "being out there?" - not to always define "success" as achieving a summit?  Of course, I love being out there in our American West, but my goal-driven trait wants more.  At any rate, it's been fun to try something different and work on navigation skills in more remote country.  I count myself as one of the lucky ones who gets to even consider this conundrum in the first place.

Keep On Exploring!

Walking southeast toward Sheephead Mountain (with notch on horizon 1/3 in from left).

Sheephead Mountain on horizon to the right.

The loose and steep yellow scree slope we ascended, but didn't descend.

Reaching the top of the yellow scree slope and the ridge leading to Sheephead Mountain.

Ridge leading to Sheephead Mountain.  We descended down the red slope to the right.

Fred at top of yellow ridge.  Sheephead on horizon!

Looking southwest toward Talc Hills and Black Mountains.

On our descent over red rocks - looking at our ascent over the not-so-fun loose yellow rock.
Looking toward the northwest.

Parting shot - the ascent (Sheephead on the right) looks manageable from here!

Bright cobblestone lichen?

A few more images near Zabriskie Point in northeast Death Valley National Park...

References
Fish, N.  From Indiana University.  https://sierra.sitehost.iu.edu/papers/2008/fish.html
Doermann, L.  NASA Earth Observatory.  Floodwaters Fill Badwater Basin.
Hunt, C.B., et al.  1966.  Hydrologic Basin Death Valley California.  Geological Survey Professional Paper 494-B.