Backpacking Training Trip: Cottonwood-Marble Loop, Death Valley National Park: Day 1

Cottonwood-Marble Canyon Loop.  Red: Day 1, Blue: Day 2

Today was the first day of my second attempt to backpack the Cottonwood-Marble Canyon Loop in Death Valley National Park.  On my first attempt about 1.5 weeks ago, I took a “detour” into a side canyon, and then, at the end of Cottonwood Canyon, I got stuck trying get through the vegetation around Cottonwood Spring. I first tried to skirt around the vegetation along the highly sloped canyon walls, and then tried bushwhacking my way through it. I did not make it out of the canyon that first day. Since I had only given myself 2 days to complete the trip, and hadn’t even made it to what was advertised as the “difficult” part of the route, I decided to backtrack through Cottonwood Canyon on day 2 and go home.

The struggle is real.  This was from my first attempt at this hike.  I could not make it through the thick cottonwood growth at the end of the canyon.

Now that I have scheduled 3 days for backpacking, and have brought extra food, I am trying this again. I left southern California just before 3 am in order to get to the trail in the early morning. I had to take a high clearance vehicle down the unpaved road to the mouth of the canyon. If I had a 4 wheel drive vehicle, I could have driven 2 more miles to get to the intersection of the Cottonwood and Marble canyons. But, I don't have a 4WD vehicle, so I had to walk those extra 2 miles like a sucker.

The first part of Cottonwood Canyon is a fairly wide, kind of boring, exposed wash. I definitely wanted to do this part early in the morning to avoid the harsh sun. A couple miles in I bumped into two backpackers practically running out of the canyon.  It turns out that they had gotten horribly lost in the route between the two canyons and decided to backtrack into Cottonwood to find their way back. They had pulled a 20 mile day to do so and were still leaving a day later than they had planned. I told them I was attempting this a second time and that I couldn't get out of Cottonwood Canyon the first time. They said they didn't have any trouble getting out of the canyon. This did not give me confidence.

A little while later I bumped into another couple that had gotten horribly lost in between the two canyons. They were actually still a bit lost since they thought they were in Marble Canyon. They had somehow navigated into the wrong drainage and spilled back out into Cottonwood Canyon thinking it was Marble Canyon. When I broke the bad news to them the woman joked, “I think Marble Canyon is a myth.” I told them about this being my second attempt at the loop and apparently they also had no problem getting out of Cottonwood. This also did not give me confidence.

I wound my way through the canyon and to the first set of cottonwoods near the end of the canyon. Here the path transitions from a 4WD track to a foot trail.  The trail isn't so bad in the first two groups of cottonwoods, but gets a bit difficult to follow in the sandy stretch before the last set of cottonwoods at the end of the canyon. There are footprints everywhere, so you had to pay close attention for other markers like lines of rocks.

Cottonwoods near the end of Cottonwood Canyon

I started getting knots in my stomach as I approached the large cottonwoods near the source of the spring, where I had gotten frustrated during my first attempt. However, when I got to the edge of the cottonwoods I noticed that in addition to the well pounded trail leading straight into the grove I had taken last time, there was another trail to the right that went up the hillside. I decided to take that trail instead and it lead me up and around all that thick vegetation I had gotten stuck in before. I blew past it! At one point, the trail dipped down, crossed the stream created by Cottonwood Spring, and then continued skirting around it on the other side. I was beyond elated that I was actually going to make it out of the canyon this time!

Breezing over the top of the cottonwoods with the end of the canyon in sight. Much easier this time!

Unfortunately, when I got out of the canyon the tricky part started again. There seemed to be quite a few “trails” to choose from. I started down what looked to be the most well defined path only to find a line of rocks across it, which usually means “don't go.” However, there was an arrow drawn into to the dirt pointing across the rock line as if to signal keep going. When I came across another set of rocks in a line, I checked my topo map along, in addition to some cached Google Earth imagery, and backtracked to the trail that lead across a hill to Cottonwood Spring. There were, again, lots of trails to follow so I wasn't sure if I was supposed to follow an “official trail” or just make my way around the Cottonwood vegetation.

I ended up walking in circles a bit until I found a path to an area of the spring with good water flow to filter and refill my water supply. It looked like people tend to camp near the spring, but knowing that the “tricky part” was still to come tomorrow, I wanted to get as far up the valley as I could to try and navigate the two important passes needed to make it to Marble Canyon.

The clear, cold water of Cottonwood Spring.

I made my own way around the cottonwoods at the spring and found the wash that leads up the valley. Based on footprints, it looked like the wash itself was the official trail. I could see the dip in the mountain range where the first of the two passes should be. I was losing light and was pretty exhausted, but I decided I would keep walking until I ran out of light and see how close I could get.

Looking up the valley after Cottonwood Spring. The pass I am headed to is the low dip just left of center.

Jackrabbit in the evening. The valley was full of these guys.

It turned out that there was enough light to make it just below the first pass. When I was about to turn uphill from the wash, I saw a cairn marking the spot to turn. I was very thankful to have spotted that. There were signs along the route, but they were clearly for the old miners who had to navigate the area. All the park service marking appeared to be in the form of rocks.

Navigational signs from the valley's mining days.

I turned uphill from the wash and found the best campsite I could. It was not ideal, but I was tired, low on light, and it was getting very cold. Tomorrow is supposedly the “tricky part” where everyone gets lost. That's not a stressful thought at all...