Winds at Wildrose

Monday morning, we had breakfast at the Toll Road restaurant and then headed to the southern part of Death Valley National Park.  We took Emigrant Canyon Road to Wildrose Canyon Road and parked at the Charcoal Kilns.

It was very windy and we took shelter in one of the kilns to get our stuff together.

During a break in the wind, we took off on Wildrose Peak Trail.  It was initially free of snow and climbed up above the road.

There were nice views looking down into Wildrose Canyon.

As the trail continued up, it got more and more snowy.  There were some prickly pears growing along the trail - don't see cacti in the snow too often.

In just under 2 miles, the trail came out to a ridge and under normal conditions, there would be nice views looking down to Badwater Basin but it was too cloudy today.  The trail alternated between ridgeline and short climbs until we reached the last ridge before the steep climb up to the summit of Wildrose Peak.

It was incredibly windy on this ridge and we decided to turn around at this point.  The summit was completely engulfed in clouds so there would be no views.  And we might get blown off.  The clouds had cleared a little on the way back and we got some nice views.

There was even a break to see down to Badwater Basin, more than a vertical mile below.

We finished the hike up back at Charcoal Kilns.

From here, we started making our way back and stopped a couple times in Emigrant Canyon.

The rocks and cliffs in the canyon were a beautiful orange color and sculpted into unusual formations.

The road is narrow and windy but we found a couple spots to pull off and get some pictures.

Back on the main road, we continued to the parking for Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes, named for the Mesquite trees that grow here.

The dunes were really scenic with the clouds rolling across the valley.

I climbed several of the ridges for a great panoramic view.

The sand seemed to stretch on for as far as the eye can see.

There's no official trails here so we just kind of roamed around climbing the ridges and descending back down.

After a bit, we headed back to Stovepipe Wells and had dinner at the saloon.  It was too cloudy for any night sky viewing so we started getting packed up for the morning.