Recently, I had the chance to lead a trip to Death Valley, one of the coolest places I’ve ever been. This was a trip that was planned over a long course of time—ever since I came up with the idea to go to Death Valley while on the OTL Leader Training hike, so back in October. I knew I wanted to plan a trip for sometime during Thanksgiving Break, and I also didn’t want to nearly freeze to death like I did the last trip I went on over Thanksgiving Break. Being the pragmatic (desert-loving) person I am, I naturally had to pick Death Valley.
Our trip started on Friday, November 30–the day right after thanksgiving. After assembling at the OEC and eating a hasty breakfast at Frary, we all set off for Death Valley. We were hoping to get one of the available spots at a first-come first-serve campground, and thankfully we managed to snag a spot—we could always have set up somewhere else in the desert but the access to water close by was definitely nice. That evening, we went on a hike through the Mosaic Canyon, one of Death Valley’s slot canyons, before making it back to the campsite. We had originally meant to see the sunset at the Sand Dunes, but unfortunately I had failed to account for DST and the sun had set by then.
The next day, we managed to get up in time to see the sunrise instead at the Sand Dunes—one of the first times I’ve ever managed to get up for sunrise on a camping trip, but I guess going to bed incredibly early (like 10 PM) will do that for you. Throughout the rest of the day, we got to see some beautiful sights on the Golden Canyon hike, and then went to visit Ubehebe Crater, the largest crater I’ve ever seen. I led a group down to the bottom of the crater, which later proved a mistake—climbing back nearly straight up was definitely a challenge. Finally, we sort of managed to catch Badwater Basin—the salt flat—around sunset and then headed back to our campground for the last night of our trip.
On the final day, we got ready and set off bright and early to see the Trona Pinnacles, an alien-looking spire formation out in the desert about two hours away from Death Valley and on the way home. After hanging out by the Pinnacles—and climbing them!—we headed back home again, ready to get started on Reading week.