The short version:

This was our second trip to Death Valley National Park and we had a terrific three days in the park. We chose different hikes this time that were more out of the way and we avoided the crowds while seeing some unique and interesting scenery. This was our itinerary:

Wednesday: Drive to Death Valley from the Grand Canyon, camping at The Pads (outside the eastern side of the park on Highway 190)
Thursday: Hike Mt. Perry, camping at Panamint Sand Dunes parking area
Friday: Panamint Sand Dunes hike, stop at Father Crowley Viewpoint, camping at Wildrose Campground
Saturday: Hike Wildrose Peak, scenic drive through the park back to The Pads for the night
Sunday: Drive home

The long version:

We first visited Death Valley in 2014 and had a great time. I wasn't sure what to expect on that visit and was pleasantly surprised at the variety of landscapes in the park and how much we loved it. We had a chance to revisit Death Valley this Thanksgiving and because we had already visited many of the more commonly visited spots, we picked hikes that were more out of the way. This worked out well because the hikes were terrific and we only saw a few people on the trails. When we drove through the popular areas around Furnace Creek like Zabriskie Point and Mesquite Sand Dunes, we couldn't believe how many people we saw (I suppose the combination of the trend of increasing park visitation and it being a holiday weekend).

We arrived Wednesday night and dispersed camped outside the park on Highway 190 at a spot referred to as “The Pads” (about 20 minutes east from Furnace Creek Visitor Center). This was a great spot easily accessible to the park and our first hike on Thanksgiving morning: Mt. Perry. The hike started at Dante’s View, located 5,575 feet above Badwater Basin on the ridge of the Black Mountains. Even though there is not an official trail, the route is well worn and it is essentially a trail at this point. We could see our destination as we headed north along the ridge and all the up and down in between. The hike is an out and back hike that the park lists as eight miles roundtrip with 1200 feet elevation gain. Steve’s watch clocked it closer to 9 miles and 3000 feet elevation gain (this is closer to what I map out using CalTopo as well).

Because we were hiking along the ridge, we had great views the whole way. We could see the salt flats in the basin below and red rocks on the summit from past igneous activity. At the summit it was clear enough to see the Sierra Nevadas and Mt. Whitney, which meant we could see both the highest and lowest points in the lower 48 from one spot. We had crazy winds on our hike up and I was worried we would blow right off the summit. Luckily the winds had died down by the time we got to the summit and we could spend time enjoying the 360 views. We only saw a few people on the hike, making this a nice place in the park to catch some solitude. Dante’s View was hopping and the parking lot was full when we returned - an indication of what was to come on our drive through the park on our way to Panamint Dunes.

We saw lots of people on our 1.5 hour drive to the west side of the park. Most of the people were around Furnace Creek and Stovepipe Wells. It was quieter in Panamint Springs where we stopped to fuel up and only a handful of people were at the Panamint Dunes parking area about six miles down a bumpy/rocky unmarked road off of Highway 190 called Lake Hill Road. We arrived about thirty minutes before sunset and our quiet night camping turned out to be anything but. A fourteen year old girl was missing and a search with multiple rangers and a helicopter continued until after midnight (luckily the girl was found safe and sound). It was nice and quiet though when we woke up the next morning for our hike.

The Panamint Sand Dunes are in the north end of Panamint Valley and because they are not easily accessible, few hikers make their way there (compared to the very busy Mesquite Sand Dunes). Descending from Towne Pass into the valley on Highway 190, we got our first look at the Panamint Sand Dunes in the distance and frankly, they weren’t impressive at all. They looked like a pale smudge in the landscape, especially when dwarfed by the Panamint Mountains towering above them. Even as we continued down Lake Hill Road and could see them from the parking area, they didn’t look like an interesting destination, but we took it on faith that it would be worth the hike (spoiler, it was!).

The parking area on Lake Hill Road is obvious and this is the closest you can get to the dunes in your vehicle - we would have to hoof it the rest of the way. The park literature says it is about three miles to the dunes, although we think it was closer to 3.5 miles one way (stats from Steve’s watch were close to eight miles and 1,200 feet elevation gain total; it was 3.5 miles each way and a mile hiking around the dunes). There is a slight incline heading north into the valley, so the dunes are always visible and it never seemed like they were getting closer. At first we hiked across packed dirt/rocks and it wasn’t too bad, but it got progressively harder as we encountered more sand. The dunes still didn’t look very impressive on the approach until we were right up on them. When we saw Steve climbing the first dune, it gave us a sense of scale and we could see how big the dunes actually were. Not as big as Eureka Dunes we had previously visited, but certainly bigger than our first impression and they definitely felt big when we were slogging up to the top of them. The dunes were beautiful - I loved the curves and shadows and the mountain backdrop. The views into the valley were terrific too. We were the only ones there and had the dunes to ourselves (we only saw a few hikers on our way back to the truck) - which added to the wonderful experience.The Panamint Dunes were definitely a highlight of our trip!

Since we were on the western side of the park, we decided to visit Father Crowley View Point, about a 15 minute drive west of Panamint Springs near the western boundary of the park. There is a main viewpoint overlooking Rainbow Canyon, a colorfully striped canyon created by ancient volcanic activity. We also walked 0.25 miles out to Padre Point where we had a great view of Panamint Valley and could see where we had been hiking the dunes (they also looked unimpressive from this vantage). What we didn’t get to see were any military training flights (darn). Rainbow Canyon, nicknamed Star Wars Canyon, is part of the R-2508 Complex which has been used by the military since the 1930s. This complex stretches 140 miles from north to south and 100 miles east to west. This portion of the park was added in the 1990s (Death Valley became a national park in 1994, previously it was a national monument) and is not subjected to any restrictions and the flights can be as low as 200 feet. The canyon is used for low altitude training (flying low and fast to avoid enemy radar and anti-aircraft fire) and apparently it’s quite the sight to look down on aircraft flying through the canyon at high speeds. Signs at the viewpoint show which kind of aircraft can be seen and there is also, unfortunately, a tribute to a pilot that crashed here in 2020.

There are signs at the viewpoint talking about all of this, however, when looking it up on the web, I saw a note that these low altitude flights have been discontinued. I actually looked in the Edwards AFB R-2508 Users Handbook (yes, this is really in the weeds now, but I was curious - and I wanted to see if “Star Wars Canyon” was in the official handbook. It is, along with “Jedi Transition” - the path through the canyon that connects Owens Valley and Panamint Valley):

“JEDI TRANSITION: At Point C proceed east to Point C1 and to Point J. Avoid Overflight of Father Crowley Lookout (N36 21.12 W117 33.05 – Rainbow/Star Wars Canyon). Maintain a minimum of 1000’ above the lip of Rainbow Canyon. CAUTION: Possible merging Sidewinder traffic from the north via Point I. Jedi users offset west of Point J for deconfliction. Jedi users make mandatory radio call approaching Point J “Call sign, Jedi Transition, approaching Point Juliet”. Make calls on 315.”

So, it looks like it’s not possible to see the jets flying in the canyon anymore. Still a great viewpoint though and worth a stop.

The plan for our final day was to hike Wildrose Peak and we wanted to camp nearby to get an early start in the morning. We were hoping to get a campsite in Wildrose Campground, a free, first come, first serve campground located a few miles down the road from the trailhead. It’s a basic campground that is out of the way and we thought normally it would be no problem getting a campsite, but had second thoughts after all the people we saw in the park for the holiday weekend. It was about 1.5 hours to drive there from Father Crowley Viewpoint, backtracking on 190 back over Towne Pass to Emigrant Canyon Road. The park website warns of invasive burros in the Wildrose area and to drive cautiously as they can be on the twisty roads. While we saw plenty of evidence of the burros (mainly poop), we did not see any burros themselves (sidenote: the park is removing the burros to sanctuaries and have an adoption program for the burros if anyone is interested, lol). When we arrived in the late afternoon, there were multiple campsites still available at Wildrose and we set up for the night (the campground did fill in the evening).

We were up early the next morning to make the short drive to the trailhead and start our hike. Located at the trailhead are the Wildrose Charcoal Kilns, ten beehive shaped masonry structures, about 25 feet high, dating to 1877. They were built by a mining company to provide a source of fuel for smelters near their lead-silver mines 25 miles away. The kilns had a short life - there is no evidence they were operational after 1879 (their brief usage is likely why they are in remarkably good condition). It was easy to see why the kilns were built here - it’s one of the few places in the park where there is wood that could be harvested to produce coal in the kilns. Indeed, the first part of our hike took us through pinyon and juniper forest - definitely different from many of the hikes in Death Valley.

This hike is listed as 8.4 miles out and back with 2,200 feet elevation and Steve’s stats were pretty darn close - 8.33 miles and 2,379 feet elevation. The park also lists this hike as difficult - we didn’t think it was difficult at all. The grade is nice and easy and it’s a great trail. I’m not sure why they list this one as difficult and Mt. Perry as moderate - of the two hikes, we thought Mt. Perry was harder. At any rate, we had a nice hike up to the peak and enjoyed the expansive views from the summit (elevation 9,064 feet). Again we could see the Sierra Nevadas and Death Valley - so both the highest and lowest points of the lower 48 were in view at the same time. We had a nice long break on the peak before retracing our steps back to our truck. We decided to camp again at The Pads so we would have a shorter drive to Las Vegas in the morning for dim sum before heading home. We didn’t make too many stops on our way out of the park - although we did the drive through Twenty Mule Team Canyon which is always a nice scenic detour. We had a quiet evening at The Pads to reflect on our trip. We didn’t see the range of scenery we saw on our first trip, but we did enjoy visiting some quieter corners of the park this trip. Death Valley is a huge park and we anticipate many future trips to really explore all the varied and unique landscapes the park has to offer.