Willow Creek Canyon, Part 1

There’s a magical oasis in the vast desert area known as Death Valley National Park. This is the story of my trip through Willow Creek Canyon and the painting it inspired. I knew I was going to paint something from this place. I had been wanting to see this canyon ever since I had heard about it two years before.

Gold Valley

The first time I went to Death Valley, I was still a tourist to the region. It was my birthday and I was in Las Vegas, alone. Ugh, so sad. So I rented a car (all I could get was a mini-van) and headed to Death Valley. It was a little scary, being a single girl, from Virginia, alone in the desert, traveling for miles and miles without seeing anything familiar around me. No cars, no people, no water. Only miles and miles of road, and endless desert scenery. I was instantly smitten. I stopped at all the normal tourist stops. I climbed up to the rim of the crater, I gazed out over Zabriskie Point, I shot a roll of film at the Artist’s Palette, I strolled into Golden Canyon, and I used the toilet at Scotty’s Castle. And, eventually I did start seeing other people, though not many. I realized then how easy it was to get away from it all in a place like Death Valley. Confronted by a heat I had never experienced, discovering piles of salty rock and enormous sand dunes, I never once imagined a place like Willow Creek Canyon existed there.

Bigelow Coreopsis flowers in Gold Valley

On April 19th, 2009, I set out with my husband and two friends to walk along Willow Creek. It is not an easy canyon to traverse entirely. The car shuttle took as much time as the actual hike, and the engine light on my Honda still hasn’t gone off, but it was well worth it.

Globemallow

Entering Gold Valley, with the spring flowers in full bloom was the beginning and end to this delightful day.

As soon as we got to the parking area the canyon was evident. Within a few hundred yards we were suddenly in a mushy muddy wetland with thick tall grass rising up from the canyon floor. Birds seemed to be everywhere, and their gleeful chirps were bouncing off the granite-like walls.

Wetland?

There were beautiful healthy cactus blooming as well as wildflowers and even some crazy squash-like canyon vegetables growing on vines. I am obviously not a botanist, but the variety of flora in this canyon was unlike most parts of Death Valley. I had to keep reminding myself where I was!

Willow Creek is spring fed so there is water here year-round. There are many springs like this one in the region. Some are hot springs, indicating that all this bubbling liquid activity has a geo-thermal origin. The more I learn and discover about Death Valley, the more everything I see here makes sense to me.

"canyon squash"

Although it was a hot day, the temperatures stayed pleasant in the canyon. The sound of gently flowing water does wonders for keeping you cool.

You can go quite a way here before the first rappel. Often there are walk-arounds or tricky down-climbs, but unless you have a rope and a few canyoneering skills you won’t be able to make it all the way through to the bottom. It is important to keep in mind in these places how remote you are and how long it would take you to get to a hospital if you were to slip. I admit that I often reflect on this as I watch my husband bravely move through an obstacle.

Pink barrel cactus perched above the grassy canyon.

The first rappel.

Luke raps into the "wetland."

My waterfall of choice for the painting "willow."

The canyon continues with a series of rappels or down-climbs. There are waterfalls all along the creek, and one in particular caught my eye as special. This is the one I decided I would make my painting of. It had unusual markings, like the stripes of a tiger. You could tell from the shape of it that it had been carved out by very forceful water flow. It had two paths the water could take. One path (the one you can see water flowing down in the photo) is a gentle fall that lands in the pool at the bottom in a delightful sprinkle. The other, was to the left where the stripes are. It is the shape of a curved half pipe where you can imagine a huge flash flood may have raged at one time. How exciting it would be to see such a thing …from a safe distance of course.

A wonderful day in a beautiful Death Valley oasis. As we exited the canyon and walked into the sun-drenched wash the heat skyrocketed. This would be my last canyon in Death Valley for the season!

…See part 2 of this blog for a look at my painting “willow.”

Willow Creek

Another nice waterfall.

Me in action!

Ron pondering the previous rappel.

Willow Creek

Small pool.

From here we can see the valley.

Nice shadow!

Looking back into the canyon.

Multi-level rappel.

Scene of a crime...

The canyon finally opens up.

Desert tortoise crossing the road in Gold Valley.

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