{"id":4557,"date":"2016-01-23T06:51:17","date_gmt":"2016-01-23T06:51:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.backroadswest.com\/blog\/?p=4557"},"modified":"2022-09-21T19:28:58","modified_gmt":"2022-09-21T19:28:58","slug":"desolation-canyon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.backroadswest.com\/blog\/desolation-canyon\/","title":{"rendered":"Desolation Canyon Hike in Death Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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We\u2019ve all heard how remote and desolate Death Valley is with its stark and lifeless landscapes but often it is difficult to really experience it in that way because of all of the tourists.<\/strong>\u00a0 Desolation Canyon is a place where you can get that remote feeling and it\u2019s only a few miles from the Death Valley Visitors Center and just off of busy Badwater Road.<\/p> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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Desolation Canyon is not well known but offers a fairly short and easy hike into one of the Park\u2019s more colorful and oddly eroded canyons where plant life has still not been able to gain a foothold.<\/p>

Getting There<\/h3>

Getting to the trailhead for Desolation Canyon is straightforward.\u00a0 From the Furnace Creek Ranch area, which is the center of the park with its visitor\u2019s center, campgrounds and hotels, take Hwy 190 to Badwater Road.\u00a0 Reset your odometer to zero and then turn south onto Badwater Road.\u00a0 Continue down Badwater Road for 3.7 miles, past the popular Golden Canyon trailhead.\u00a0 Turn left (east) onto a lonely dirt road and in about half a mile you\u2019ll reach a small parking area.\u00a0 There is no sign, official trailhead, or even an improved trail here so just start hiking east and then southeast (uphill and in the wash) towards the obviously narrowing canyon.\u00a0 That is Desolation Canyon.\u00a0 Watch the\u00a0virtual video tour (below) to get a visual on how the area around the hike looks.<\/p>

The Death Valley – Star Wars Connection<\/h3>

Back around 1976, the sense of remoteness and desolation of this canyon, along with its unworldly scenery, brought a then little-known filmmaker here.\u00a0 George Lucas was finishing up a movie that told an epic story he had written a few years earlier.\u00a0 That movie was Star Wars<\/em> (now known as Episode IV: A New Hope<\/em>).<\/p>

After filming in England and Tunisia, Lucas was back in Hollywood and needed to shoot a few more scenes.\u00a0 Along with neighboring Artists Palette and Golden Canyon, Lucas used Desolation Canyon for several scenes which appear in the first 20 minutes of A New Hope<\/em>.\u00a0 Remember when R2D2 and C3PO were roaming through a \u201cdesolate\u201d canyon and the sequences of the alien Tusken Raiders?\u00a0 In one scene, a Tusken Raider is riding a large animal and Desolation Canyon is clearly visible in the background.<\/p> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Although you won\u2019t find any droids or Tusken Raiders there now, hiking into Desolation Canyon is still fun.\u00a0 It has many twists and turns and the views are constantly changing, causing you to wonder \u201cwhat\u2019s around the next corner?\u201d\u00a0 In some places, the canyon narrows down to only six feet wide and there are a few places where you\u2019ll have to scramble up a five to eight foot rise (see video).\u00a0 But don\u2019t let that stop you.\u00a0 Look for the carved out steps in the rock.\u00a0 There are also many small side canyons that are ripe for further exploration.<\/p>

This is a great canyon for children to explore on their own.\u00a0 It would be even more fun if they have just recently watched Episode IV of Star Wars.\u00a0 After making the rather ordinary hike from the parking lot, they (and you) will be rewarded with this intriguing little canyon.\u00a0 Except for a few side canyons, there is nowhere else they can go and the only way out is the way you came in.<\/p>

More…<\/p>

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Pictures<\/h3>

Below are some pictures of what you will see along the way.<\/p> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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