Christian Kemp's USA travelogs

< Previous | List | Next > Hiking from Zabriskie Point down Gower Gulch Canyon, and up Golden Canyon, then heading to Las Vegas

After a good night's rest (comparatively - I slept on the collapsed rear seats and trunk of the car, as usual in Death Valley), I got up and drove down towards Stovepipe Wells, and then to Zabriskie Point, where I parked the car.

The weather was better, for a change, and at that moment could see some blue sky inbetween the clouds. I was planning to hike down to the valley floor via Gower Gulch Canyon, and back up via Golden Canyon. This proved to be a slightly tiresome, but worthwhile hike.

As I hiked up, the sky began to fill with clouds, and by the time I reached the car it was completely overcast again. I abandoned my plan to exit the park via the Greenwater Canyon (a long dirt road that should be driveable with 2WD), and instead drove up to Dantes View, and then out of the park on paved roads.

I stopped for lunch in Shoshone, and then headed on towards Baker. By this time, I was starting to get a headache, so I was looking for a place to get some early rest (and a shower). Unfortunately, I didn't find a motel in Baker that suited my taste, so on a whim I decided to head east on I-15, hoping that either one of the casinos near the Nevada state border would have cheap accommodation. It turns out that one of the places I decided to stop at was so cheesy that I decided to skip (you had to sign up for a club membership to get a room at a decent price), so I opted to head to Las Vegas instead (seeing how gas is cheap and what's an additional fifty miles, right?).

Being closer to Las Vegas also meant I would be closer to Valley of Fire, which I had tentatively planned to visit anyway.

I got a room at a Motel 6, seeing how they offered the cheapest rooms I could find and my headache implied that I wouldn't really get to enjoy the more atmosphere of one of the larger casino hotels, anyway.

Motel/Hotel Accommodation: Motel6 (Las Vegas, NV): $34.87