Death Valley is a playground for geology enthusiasts, maybe even more like a Mecca. Every twist and turn you take in the park reveals a new display of buckled, distorted rock formations that boggle the mind as to how it was sculpted by nature.
And despite the fact that Death Valley’s massive 5,000+ square miles of terrain are mostly remote, there are plenty geologic playgrounds to be experienced that are quite reachable for anyone who is able to walk a mile or two from their car.
One of those attractions is Mosaic Canyon.
Located just 2.4 miles north of one of the park’s camping hubs, Stovepipe Wells, Mosaic Canyon is a pleasant, relatively easy hike to get your boots dirty and experience the geologic forces of Mother Nature up close.
Starting from a broad, slope of sediment, called an alluvial fan, Mosaic Canyon climbs and twists up into the Panamint Mountains. Water and wind have taken their toll ever-so-slowly — yet effectively — over the years to chip away at the canyon walls to expose an array of dazzling sediment layers.
Polished marble, chiseled dolomite, and the canyon’s namesake mosaic-like fragment formations are displayed throughout. It’s akin to walking down a museum corridor looking at old art, except you are observing a continuous, tangible history lesson on the past hundred million years of our planet’s past.
Here is a quick journey through Mosaic Canyon via a series of photos that I took on my recent winter jaunt up and down the narrow gorge.
The hike into Mosaic Canyon begins at this dirt parking lot with a nice view north of the lowlands of Death Valley proper. As you can see, a nice winter storm blanketed the highest peaks in snow just a few nights earlier.
The trail then moseys up the alluvial fan to the narrow choke point of the canyon.
Straight off the bat some cool rock formations line the canyon walls, as bone dry mountains devoid of any type of plant life loom overhead.
The slot continues to narrow and smooth white marble starts to show on the walls.
The white marble dominates this bend in the canyon.
Close up look at the marble. It’s quite a pity that marble canyons like this somewhere on Earth are torn up for counter tops and coffee tables.
After a tight slot, the trail opens up to a wider panoramic view of mountains, before choking up again.
Winter temperatures vary quite a bit as you enter and exit the shady and sunny portions of the canyon.
A close up look at the Mosaic Canyon Breccia formation for which the canyon is named. It’s a mix of many rocks that have been cemented together by an intermediate rock. Erosion smooths it down to a flat surface.
About a mile and a half up the canyon the walls close in again and the incline increases, creating a series of ‘chutes’ that you have to pull yourself up and over.
Peering out of the slot canyon at the beautifully contrasted snowy peaks of the Grapevine Mountains that straddle the border of California and Nevada.
Evan Quarnstrom 