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December 21, 2024 5 min read
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Hey y'all!
Matt and Sabine here a.k.a. the new owners!
Fun fact: Sabine is a HUGE fan of Death Valley.
So, in late October, we took a break from the Sierra Nevada and headed over into Death Valley National Park to hike the Cottonwood Marble Loop. What follows is our advice and trip report should you be looking to do something similar or maybe be looking for inspiration on which adventure to do next. Hope you enjoy!
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This loop hike is 26 miles long with almost 5,000 feet elevation gain and loss, and will typically take hikers between two and three days.
There are many springs on the map, but having some desert experience, we knew that water sources can be unreliable, so we over-prepared a little and carried a gallon per person. Rather be safe than sorry.
You need a wilderness permit for this loop, but they don’t have a quota, so you can easily obtain one.
The best times of year are the winter months. Depending on weather, October and April can be hot (or not). Plan on getting warm in the lower canyon and while ascending steep hillsides, but also plan on chilly nights – the highpoint of this hike is at an elevation of almost 4,800 feet.
Technically, part of this hike is on 4x4 roads, but they don’t get much traffic. We hiked here midweek, and never saw a vehicle. As soon as you get off the 4x4 roads, you are in pretty much trail-less terrain. There is no trail excerpt for a few burro trails, and there are no markers or signs.
We brought the usual backpacking supplies like tent, sleeping bags and pads, etc. Aside from that, we carried a gallon of water per person, we brought a water filter for the springs and lots of warm layers. Desert nights can get cold… Also, we found that we were really glad that we brought hiking poles.
Our full gear list is at the bottom of this page.
Before heading out, we checked the road conditions on the national park website to make sure the road from Stovepipe Wells is actually passable (and open) and also the weather forecast. A narrow desert canyon is the last place you want to be when there’s a chance of rain – flashfloods kill.
We brought a Death Valley map but also had a GPS track on a smartphone mapping app – it’s more detailed and if we’d gotten lost, we could have easily had the GPS help find back to the route.
Driving in was easy – even though the last couple of miles from Stovepipe Wells are not paved. If you don’t have high clearance, park just outside the canyon mouth and add 2 miles each way. Otherwise, park right by the canyon junction – obviously staying out of other vehicles’ way.
Our plan was to hike the loop in 2 days, 1 night, and go clockwise. It seems less likely to get lost that way. If going counter-clockwise, you have to pay lots of attention in the upper reaches of Deadhorse Canyon and beyond, or you might find yourself way off route.
Going up Cottonwood Canyon, the first 8.4 miles are technically on a 4x4 road, but about half of that was still inaccessible for vehicles due to the big flash flood from 2023. This made the hike all the more pleasant.
At the end of the damaged road, at the lowest of the Cottonwood Springs, the route-finding begins. In October 2024, the spring was running here, and we could’ve gotten away with carrying a lot less than a gallon, but hindsight is…
The next 3.4 miles consist of dense jungle. We often found ourselves scrambling up the canyon walls on burro trails to bypass especially dense patches of vegetation. As exasperating as this sounds it is cool to see so much greenery in the middle of the seemingly bone-dry desert. We especially liked the coyote melon that grew everywhere.
We didn’t get to see any burros but lots of their manure.
At the very end of this section, just below the last spring we escaped the jungle to the left via a southern canyon branch and then headed north on the plateau to get back to the main Cottonwood wash. Time to get out the water filter and stock up – after here, everything was dry.
Now, the hike turned into a gentle and easy stroll up the main wash. From early on, we kept an eye out for the pass north of Canyon peak that we needed to cross to get out of this high valley.
We found a sweet spot for camping here and set up our trusted backpacking tent for the night. There is lots of sandy and flat real estate for camping up here.
The next morning dawned chilly – our camp was at above 4,000 feet. After a quick breakfast, we packed up and got going to warm up. The pass was quickly ascended, and we dropped into a nameless canyon. There were signs of springs (some vegetation patches), but no open water. After a short distance, we scaled another pass which would drop us into Deadhorse Canyon (which later merges with Marble Canyon). More uphill – sigh.
After the pass, the initial descent was very steep, but just for a few minutes. Afterwards, it was all easy downhill from here. Just before Deadhorse Canyon merges with Marble Canyon, we found another running spring that creates a cute little creek – without dense jungle. This was the perfect spot to take a much-needed break and refill our hydration reservoirs and bottles.
At the canyon junction, there is a huge cairn as well as a dark brown looking rock has an inscription from the past mining era that points towards “Goldbelt Spring 4mi”. We had time for a little detour, so we walked up there for just a quarter mile, where the canyon narrows were fantastic looking and certainly worth checking out.
Continuing down Marble Canyon Loop, we passed through several more narrows sections, each of which was unique in its geology. Marble Canyon is well worth a visit. Eventually, we emerged from the last narrows and straight onto the 4x4 road which we followed for another 2.6 miles, before reaching the junction of Cottonwood and Marble Canyons again – loop completed, where’s my burger?!
Absolutely yes! This was a very fun hike and you’ll probably find us out here again. If enough springs are running like this time, we’d love to take little trips into the side canyons to do some more exploring.
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