I just realized that I skipped a post about our ride around 20 Mule Team Canyon and out to Hole in the Wall when we were in Death Valley. Oops.
20 Mule Team Canyon
For many people, nothing symbolizes Death Valley more than the famous Twenty Mule Teams. These “big teams” pulled massive wagons hauling borax from Harmony Borax Works near Furnace Creek to the railhead near Mojave, a grueling 165 mile, ten day trip across primitive roads. Although the teams only ran for six years–1883 to 1889–they have made an enduring impression of the Old West. This is primarily due to a successful advertising campaign promoting 20-Mule-Team Borax Soap. Scenes from Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, were filmed here.
This 3 mile one-way dirt road winds through dramatic, eroded, and colorful badlands. It features a maze of pale yellow, cream, and green-tinted hills, often topped with white borax deposits. It’s open to cars, but we rode a loop of it on our bikes before tacking on an out and back on Hole in the Wall gravel road.
Hole in the Wall
Hole in the Wall Road is an unpaved gravel road that’s rough in spots. We rode out and back on our mountain bikes to explore the area. There isn’t much info online about this canyon, just the NPS map that showed it as a ‘400 foot deep gap in a wall like ridge’. Off we went. The ride is a gradual climb the whole way out. It’s obvious where the “hole in the wall” is as you approach the canyon and the steep cliff walls crack open to let the road through. There are interesting rock colors and formations everywhere and we poked around. The road eventually ends after about 6 miles and we turned around and headed back down.
It doesn’t seem to be a popular destination, we only saw one jeep on our ride.
Leave a Reply