The Golden Canyon Gower Gulch Loop in Death Valley National Park: The Ultimate Guide
Are you searching for the best hike in Death Valley National Park? Then put the Golden Canyon Gower Gulch Loop trail high up on your list! On one relatively easy hike, you’ll weave your way through the glowing walls of Death Valley’s Golden Canyon, walk through a maze of epic badlands, and hike through the colorful hills of the Gower Gulch wash. Sound intriguing? Then read on the learn everything you need to know about the Golden Canyon hike in Death Valley!
The Golden Canyon Gower Gulch Loop in Death Valley National Park is the perfect hike to see all the best that Death Valley has to offer. It has towering rock walls, narrow slots, an endless sea of badlands, a colorful desert wash, and a crazy moon-like landscape that will have you thinking you’ve been totally transported off of planet Earth.
Sound good? Well, it gets better. The Golden Valley Gower Gulch Loop is a relatively easy hike in Death Valley so you won’t have to work too hard to get all these insane views. Plus, there’s tons of ways to combine the trails in this area to make the hike as short or as long as you want. And, even though it’s a popular area in Death Valley, depending on how far you choose to hike, you can escape the crowds and find some true solitude out in this otherworldly landscape.
Ready to learn how? Well, you’re in luck, because in this guide we’re going to go over absolutely everything you need to know to complete the Golden Canyon Gower Gulch Loop in Death Valley National Park – how to get there, what to expect, what to bring, and more! So, let’s get right to it!
In this Golden Canyon – Gower Gulch Hiking Guide:
Where is the Golden Canyon Gower Gulch hike in Death Valley?
Which direction should you hike the Golden Canyon Gower Gulch Loop?
How long does it take to hike the Golden Canyon Gower Gulch Loop?
What is the best time to hike the Golden Canyon Gower Gulch Loop?
Hiking the Golden Canyon Gower Gulch Loop in Death Valley: Our experience
Things to do near the Golden Canyon in Death Valley and beyond
Where is the Golden Canyon Gower Gulch Hike in Death Valley?
The Golden Canyon in Death Valley is located pretty centrally near a lot of the other popular Death Valley attractions, making it an ideal thing to do in the park even with a limited amount of time.
It’s located just past Furnace Creek, a major hub of the park, with camping, lodging, restaurants, and a ranger station. There are two different ways you can start the Golden Canyon Gower Gulch hike, but either starting point is within 10 minutes of Furnace Creek, which we talk about below.
How to get to the Golden Canyon Gower Gulch trailhead
There are two ways to start the Golden Canyon Gower Gulch hike if you plan to do the full loop in its entirety:
Golden Canyon Trailhead: This is just over 3 miles, or 5 minutes down the road from Furnace Creek. From CA-190 E, you’ll turn onto Badwater Road and shortly after, you’ll see the parking area for the Golden Canyon trail on the left.
Zabriskie Point: This is a popular viewpoint that is found about 4.5 miles from Furnace Creek on CA-190 E. The parking lot will be on the right.
How Long is the Golden Canyon Gower Gulch Hike?
The Golden Canyon Gower Gulch Loop in Death Valley can be completed several different ways, and the length of the hike will depend on how you connect the trails, which trailhead you start from, and what side trails you take. I know, it sounds a bit confusing, but we’re here to clear it all up for you!
Hiking through Golden Canyon in Death Valley!
The full Golden Canyon Gower Gulch hike, including the Badlands Loop Trail, in Death Valley
This version of the Golden Canyon hike is a combination of three trails in the area that connect to take you through all the varying landscapes. We highly recommend completing this full loop…we promise you won’t regret doing the extra distance!
If you start at the Golden Canyon trailhead:
Distance: 5.4 miles
Elevation Gain: 900 feet
This is a slightly shorter version of the hike because you don’t have to add the extra distance to hike all the way up to Zabriskie Point to complete the loop. Zabriskie Point is absolutely worthy of visiting, but you can always visit Zabriskie Point on its own without having to hike to it.
If you start at the Zabriskie Point trailhead:
Distance: 6.4
Elevation Gain: 1,000 feet
This version of the Golden Canyon Gower Gulch hike is slightly longer because you have to hike in the added distance from the Zabriskie viewpoint. This extra distance is skippable if you start at the Golden Canyon trailhead.
The Golden Canyon Gower Gulch hike, without the Badlands Loop
This version of the Golden Canyon hike cuts off the Badlands Loop. You’ll still get a taste of the epic badlands landscape, just a little less of it. You can always explore a bit more of the badlands if you decide to visit Zabriskie Point separately, too.
Distance: 4.2 miles
Elevation Gain: 700 feet
Note: This version of the hike requires you to start at the Golden Canyon trailhead only.
Which direction should you hike the Golden Canyon Gower Gulch Loop?
Whether you plan to do the loop with or without the Badlands trail, you might be wondering which direction is best. We did the loop clockwise and enjoyed the views going in this direction. Honestly, I don’t think it really matters. The hike is pretty easy no matter which direction you go in. The only slightly tricky part is found in Gower Gulch where there is a series of three short rocky areas that require some scrambling. If you want to scramble down these, go clockwise. If you prefer to scramble up, go counterclockwise. You’ll see pictures of these spots later on in this article to help you decide. Other than that, the views are all over so no matter which direction you go, amazing views will be both in front and behind you (so always remember to stop and look around!).
How Long Does it Take to Hike the Golden Canyon Gower Gulch Loop?
The park service suggests budgeting about three hours for the full Golden Canyon Gower Gulch hike, which we think seems reasonable. It took us more like 3.5 hours, but this was at a pretty slow pace, with plenty of stops for gawking at the views, taking pictures, or playing in the landscape. It can definitely be done much more quickly if you don’t have a lot of time.
With non-stop views like these, hiking the Golden Canyon Gower Gulch Loop might take you longer than you think!
Is the Golden Canyon Gower Gulch Hike Difficult?
We would say this a relatively easy hike in Death Valley. There’s only one section that we would really consider to be any sort of climbing (traversing across Manly Beacon). Hiking out through Gower Gulch is a gradual down hill through wide washes and narrow slots. Towards the end, as we mentioned above, there are a few scrambling bits to be aware of, but that’s it. If you’re comfortable hiking 5-6 miles, you should be good to go on this trail!
Alternatives to the full Golden Canyon Gower Gulch Hike
Golden Canyon
If you’re short on time or energy, it’s worth it just to hike into Golden Canyon itself. To hike through the entire canyon and back is about 2 miles roundtrip and easy. You’ll know when to turn around when you come to the junction sign for the Red Cathedral.
Golden Canyon to the Red Cathedral
Towards the end of Golden Canyon, you’ll have the option to take a side path that goes out to a feature called the Red Cathedral. This is a towering Golden Wall that looks like something out of Mars. Round trip, this will add on an additional mile to the hike. You can certainly add this on to the full Golden Canyon Gower Gulch loop as well.
Which Golden Canyon trail should I choose?
Like we said above, we would definitely recommend the full loop combing all three trails – Golden Canyon, Badlands, and Gower Gulch. We liked starting from the Golden Canyon trailhead because we eliminated some extra distance needed to hike up to Zabriskie Point, and then we just visited the point later on by car. But honestly, there’s no wrong choice here, and no matter which way you choose to tackle the trails in this area, you won’t be disappointed and you’ll get to see some of the best scenery on display in the park.
Map of the Golden Canyon Gower Gulch Hike
To help you make better sense of all the different version of this hike, take a look at this map provided by the NPS of the Golden Canyon trail area.
Map courtesy of the NPS
The Best Time to Hike the Golden Canyon Gower Gulch Hike
Death Valley is known for its sweltering desert heat, so there are definitely more optimal times than others to tackle any sort of hiking in the park.
The best time to hike Golden Canyon in Death Valley is between the months of October to March. This is during the “cooler” winter months when the temperatures are more tolerable and it’s safer to do outdoor activity.
Even during this time, though, we highly recommend completing this hike either in the early morning hours or in the evening to avoid the midday heat. This hike is all exposed to the sun, with zero shade and relief. Make sure to have adequate sun protection and lots of water.
Hiking the Golden Canyon Gower Gulch Loop in Death Valley: Our Experience
We did the full Golden Canyon Badlands Gower Gulch Loop in Death Valley, going clockwise starting from the Golden Canyon trailhead, so this is the way we will describe the hike in this post. But we’re breaking it into sections so no matter which Golden Canyon hike you end up doing, you’ll know exactly what to expect!
The Golden Canyon in Death Valley
The hike into Golden Canyon starts right from the trailhead and is a pretty leisurely walk. You can definitely tell where the canyon gets its name as you become surrounded by the tall golden rock walls. If you get here for the early morning or evening golden hour, we can only imagine how magical this probably is!
Hiking between the golden walls of the Golden Canyon trail in Death Valley
What we really loved about hiking in Golden Canyon is that there are actually a lot of little slots that branch off from the main canyon that you can explore. They require a little bit of scrambling (the fun stuff!), so we took some time to climb through some of these.
Take some time to explore the side paths and slots of the Golden Canyon!
As you hike in further, the Golden Canyon begins to disappear behind you, and you’ll find yourself entering into some dramatically scenic new territory. Suddenly, you’ll be surrounded by a sea of badlands, and poking up over these hills, you’ll catch your first views of the towering Red Cathedral.
We took some time to climb up into some of these badland formations and see the awesome views around us. From the top of these hills, you can see Manly Beacon, the iconic structure in this part of the park seen from Zabriskie Point (you’ll be climbing across this structure later on in the hike!).
Emerging out of Death Valley’s Golden Canyon to open views of badlands and epic cliffs
The Red Cathedral is an epic feature at the end of the Golden Canyon trail
As you hike further in, you’ll come to the pretty obvious signed junction. Here, you’re at the one mile point of the hike. If hiking through Golden Canyon was your only objective, this would be a good turn around point for a 2 mile round trip hike. If you want to continue, here’s also where you can take the optional 1 mile roundtrip detour to the base of the Red Cathedral. We skipped this detour (we realized we were moving a bit too slowly…yes, I was stopping every 10 feet to take a gazillion pictures!) and instead continued on the Golden Canyon trail towards Manly Beacon.
Manly Beacon
The next 0.8 miles of the trail connect the Golden Canyon Trail to the Badlands Loop. To us, this was the best and most scenic part of the entire Golden Canyon Gower Gulch hike!
You’ll continue on by weaving your way up and through some of the hills and drainages of the badlands.
Important note! Be sure to pay attention and look out for trail markers through this portion of the Golden Canyon hike. Because you’re not walking on a typical cleared forest path, it can be a little trickier to follow. The markers are wooden posts with white arrows on them. I became so enthralled with the landscape around me that I ended up completely missing some! Luckily one of us was paying attention! I would have found myself at one point continuing through a drainage rather than take a sharp turn shown here that started to climb.
Shortly, you will begin to skirt along the edge of Manly Beacon, a prominent pointed structure in a sea of short and stubby hills. This part constitutes the most substantial uphill part of the entire Golden Canyon Gower Gulch hike. It’s a steady climb, but pretty gradual, and nothing that will slow you down too much.
Walking along Manly Beacon on the Golden Canyon trail
As you rise over the badlands, the scenery really opens up here. Make sure to look behind you often and get jaw dropping views of the Golden Canyon, Red Cathedral, and even out to Badwater Basin and Telescope Peak. As you continue to traverse across, the views will keep getting better and better, until you finally reach the end of the climb and turn the corner.
Don’t forget to look behind you here! The badland views are epic!
I think we had to pick our jaws up off the ground at the landscape that lied before us. All around you will be a seemingly never-ending maze of badlands that will make you feel like you’re on an entirely different planet. It looks almost…fake.
Wow! This was our favorite scenery along the Golden Canyon Gower Gulch hike.
We took the time to explore and gawk a bit, and when we could finally convince ourselves that we had to keep moving forward, we descended back down onto a trail that weaves ins way between the badlands, making sure to take some time to climb up some because we just couldn’t get enough of those otherworldly views.
The Badlands Loop
Very quickly after coming off of Manly Beacon, you’ll come to the junction with the Badlands Loop trail, the second trail system of the Golden Canyon Gower Gulch Loop.
If you want to skip the Badlands Loop and head straight to Gower Gulch, you can choose to do that here by following the sign for Gower Gulch (so skip down to the next section!).
The Badlands Loop trail weaves its way further through the badlands where you can get more great views back to Manly Beacon and the Red Cathedral. You’ll have some short climbs through here, but nothing strenuous, and you’ll be having too much fun to even really care.
Looking back at Manly Beacon and the Red Cathedral from the Badlands Trail in Death Valley
Hiking through the badlands in Death Valley!
As you continue on the Badlands Loop, Zabriskie Point will come into view into the distance. You’ll make a sharp drop down off the badlands to level ground, where you’ll find yourself once again transitioning into an entirely new landscape. This is the start of the Gower Gulch wash and also the next trail junction.
Look out towards Zabriskie Point from the Badlands Loop trail
Starting the climb down the badlands as we make our way towards the junction with the Gower Gulch trail
From here, you can continue up to Zabriskie Point through the badlands, or you can just continue along the Badlands Loop to meet up with Gower Gulch and head back to your car at the Golden Canyon trailhead. If you plan on visiting Zabriskie Point later on in your car, then there’s really no need to hike to it from here, unless you really want to spend more time in the badlands (we wouldn’t blame you!). For that reason, we continued on into the Gulch.
The sign at this junction doesn’t really clearly state which way to go toward Gower Gulch from here (unless we missed some key trail marker), but we knew the general direction we needed to go and started walking. Luckily, we eventually saw a marker that let us know we were going the right way.
Gower Gulch Trail
From the last junction to Zabriskie Point back to the Golden Canyon trailhead, it’s a 3 mile hike, but it’s either flat or downhill from here. Even better, this part of the Golden Canyon Gower Gulch hike is really quiet. We saw one other pair of hikers at the start, and then the rest of the hike it was just us! Despite the Golden Canyon area being quite a popular spot in Death Valley, we were still able to get some of that solitude we crave out on the trails…score! This is another reason we recommend doing the full Golden Canyon Gower Gulch loop.
Coming into this part of the Golden Canyon Gower Gulch hike, I wasn’t as excited as I was for the actual canyon or badlands, and I didn’t think it would be all that interesting. Well, I was wrong! Gower Gulch was beautiful. The rock walls surrounding the wash were highly mineralized, giving them awesome shades of red, blue, and green, which was totally unexpected.
The colors of Gower Gulch were a huge surprise for us on the Golden Canyon Gower Gulch loop!
Most of the trail through Gower Gulch is wide, but towards the end, the canyon walls narrow a bit and the ground gets a bit rockier and rougher. There were 2 or 3 sections requiring scrambling down a few feet of narrow ledges as you make your way out of the canyon mouth and back towards the valley. It was nothing difficult, but just something to be aware of.
Eventually you’ll start to see Telescope Peak in the distance, which means you’re almost done! Before you know it, you’ll exit the wash by passing over a dry fall, and then follow a dry river bed for about 10-15 minutes before reaching the Golden Canyon trailhead. During this section of the hike, you get a nice open view of the basin out in front of you, but at the same time you’ll still be walking along the canyon wall so you can continue to admire the colors and formations. It’s a great way to end your hike on the Golden Canyon Gower Gulch Loop!
Awesome views to finish the Golden Canyon Gower Gulch Loop!
What to Pack for the Golden Canyon Gower Gulch Hike
No matter which Golden Canyon hike you choose, there are a few important things you should remember to bring.
Sturdy hiking boots or shoes – You’ll encounter some sections where you’ll be scrambling down small ledges, climbing up and over badlands, and walking on unstable ground, especially through Gower Gulch.
Sun protection – Hat, sunscreen, and sunglasses are essential here. Remember, there’s no shade!
Chapstick – The air is dry here and if you’re out for any extended period of time, your lips will thank you.
Water – Bring plenty of water (2-3 L per person) on this hike.
Map – Download one onto your phone or bring a copy of the map and route description. It can be easy to venture off in the wrong direction in such a large maze of badlands and drainages and if you’re not looking carefully enough, you can miss a sign or trail marker. Bring maps to help you stay on track.
Things to Do Near the Golden Canyon in Death Valley and Beyond
Looking for more things to do in Death Valley? There’s a whole treasure trove of popular Death Valley attractions right near the Golden Canyon Gower Gulch hike, but there’s also tons more to do beyond that. Check out some of our other guides to help you plan your next move!
Ultimate Guide to the Best Things to Do in Death Valley National Park
The Best One to Three Day Death Valley Itinerary
How to Drive Titus Canyon: The Best Scenic Drive in Death Valley!
We hope this guide helped you plan out your Golden Canyon Gower Gulch hike. Let us know if you have any questions, we’re happy to help! Is the Golden Canyon in Death Valley on your bucketlist?