Wonderful hike, especially the first third. We met someone playing a recorder as we hiked and it echoed up and down the canyon like magic! The walls of the canyon had colors and textures that were like nothing I'd ever seen before. Lovely, easy hike!
Narrow beautiful marble canyon. Ranger in canyon made hike very interesting by explaining geology and reason for pipe along one wall. There are at least 2 places that will probably be obstacles for seniors. 20 yr. olds can most likely easily scramble up.
The canyon is spectacular, but there are a couple of spots early on where the trail fails to be a walk and becomes a climb up slippery rocks. Mountain goat abilities will help a lot.
Access to this canyon, well, wash, is a short dirt road turning off south just on the western end of Stovepipe Wells. There’s a parking lot at the mouth of the canyon and then you head in. It’s interesting right from the start, so there is no need really to walk the full four miles you could. The canyon heads up through a fairly narrow gulch, over some dry falls which are easy to negotiate but do demand that you be form on your feet. The canyon then opens up into a wider floor before twisting and heading up another gulch. This makes a great ‘wilderness’ hike on tugged terrain. We came late in the afternoon so we didn’t get the best colors on the rocks. I’d been up that canyon in earlier years at an earlier time of day and that was better. Not one of the Valley’s absolute highlights, but definitely worth seeing.
Hiking through a 750-900 million year old dolomite canyon cut, shaped and polished by metamorphic pressure, water and wind — four mile hike (round trip), medium difficulty.
Easy access and not too steep. Would be good for the whole family. Read up on the geology before you go and then impress the kids with your knowledge.
Really enjoyed this hike through the canyon. The walls are polished marble like really different than some of the other Death Valley canyon hikes. There is some scurrying to do through rocks in the beginning but then it opens up and is easier. Well worth the effort.
LOVED Mosaic Canyon! One simply cannot take enough photos here. The road was very rough when we were there, but seemed easier going downhill.
This is an easy hike with some really cool things to look at and photograph. Polished marble walls in some places give one a feel of a "slot canyon" although this is a short area overall. Mosaic Canyon has a lot of really cool geological formations waiting for your discovery. Sedimentary layering is obvious here and makes for some neat horizontal lineage photos. After a mostly easy hike with a little bit of scrambling over some rock formations along the way, you'll come to what appears to be the end as forward progress is blocked by large boulders. To your left is the trail to get around and proceed. This is not "easy" from now on as you will have to do some climbing and scrambling to continue another half mile, but if it is something you can do, it's worth it. All in all, this is a pretty good hike with lots to see.
Like all canyons, it is just fun to get in there and explore. This canyon is best to see when the sun is high. However, anytime is great because the walls are so beautiful. There are bits where kids and/or adults can slide down. Bring water to drink and to pour on the rock to see the beautiful colors and patterns.