Death Valley Buttes was not a hike that I had originally researched and prepared for prior to leaving for my Spring trip. Yet, one afternoon I had finished hiking to another destination, and had some extra time left over. As it was early in the trip and I still had a lot of energy, I went ahead and did the hike to Death Valley Buttes. And I'm sure glad that I did. It was an outstanding hike with great views for nearly the entire time. The hike took me 2 hours and 10 minutes round-trip, after I had parked just west of Hell's Gate. Somewhere previously I had read that it was best to park at Hell's Gate to begin the hike, but I felt it was better to park near the bottom of the buttes. That way I was able to hike through the wash which was right next to the buttes and not have to do a lot of rough walking over uneven terrain. I first hiked up to the middle butte and then dropped down to the saddle. After that, I hiked and climbed my way up to the upper butte. It's important to note that the route to the upper butte gets quite rocky and involves some climbing and crossing over risky areas. I was extremely careful while doing this, and I'm not sure that I would want to take others with me on this portion of the hike. Death Valley Buttes purists will point out that you have not truly accomplished the hike until you reach the summit of all three buttes (there is an even lower butte which most people don't know about northwest of the highest butte). I have included a map from Google Earth which shows the location of all three buttes. I tend to agree with the purists, but didn't have the time to do the lowest butte as the sun was setting once I reached the summit. By the way, the stunning view of Death Valley Buttes shown in the logo above was taken from the mouth of Monarch Canyon. Two years after first posting this report, I returned to hike Lower Death Valley Butte in March of 2011.
Parking area for my hike to the buttes was just beyond the bottom of the hillside:
I ended up walking through the wash next to the base of the mountain because it was much easier on the feet and legs:
With the middle butte in the distance, I began the process of working my way up the steep slope:
Looking back down on my truck after getting partway up the slope:
Almost to the ridge with the middle butte continuing to grow closer:
Once on the ridge, a well worn path appeared which led directly to the top of the middle butte:
On the way up to middle butte, there was a great view of the Kit Fox Hills and Tucki Mountain:
Crossing over the summit of middle butte, before dropping back down quite steeply:
This picture was taken from the saddle in between the middle and upper buttes, looking south towards Furnace Creek and Badwater:
This is the view from the saddle looking north into the Grapevine Mountains:
After a very short rest, it was time to head to the imposing upper butte:
At some point, the trail disappeared and it was necessary to begin scrambling and navigating through rock fields:
Looking back at middle butte with the sun beginning to set. Notice the nice glow and shadows which were cast to the east:
On the way up, it was clear that the Kit Fox Hills and Tucki Mountain were now looking closer than ever. It's kind of hard to tell because of the brightness of the sun, but I was trying to zoom in on both Little Bridge Canyon and Trellis Canyon in this photo:
The final path to the summit after crossing a few risky ledges and climbing over some tough spots:
View from the summit of upper butte looking west towards Stovepipe Wells:
View looking north into the Grapevine Mountains:
View looking east towards middle butte and Monarch Canyon:
And finally, the view looking south towards Badwater far in the distance:
Steve on the top of Death Valley Buttes for the first time ever. When I signed into the register on March 7, 2009, I noticed that nobody had been up here for the past few weeks:
With the sun now setting over the Cottonwoods, this picture is taken looking down at lower butte. Purists don't need to e-mail me and remind me that I still need to do the lower butte, because I already realize that:
On March 3, 2011, I returned to hike out to Lower Death Valley Butte. This is the view of Lower Butte as seen from the parking spot:
There were some weird rock trails lined up that we passed heading out to Lower Butte:
Looking up towards Upper and Middle Death Valley Butte:
We decided to head up the middle wash (shown in the center of this picture) which divided the minor and major peaks of Lower Butte:
Heading up the middle wash, which was relatively easy and not too steep for the most part:
Starting to get a nice view of Upper Death Valley Butte off in the distance:
Looking back towards where we started, which was just past the first small hills seen in the distance:
A majestic view of Upper Death Valley Butte as seen from the saddle we reached:
Looking over the saddle to the other side:
This was the terrain heading up to the summit of Lower Butte. We briefly headed up and then decided to just go to the minor peak instead:
Jordan and Jeremy relaxing on the saddle between the two peaks:
The guys on top of the minor peak now:
View from the minor peak looking down Death Valley central:
View from the minor peak across to the main summit of Lower Death Valley Butte. Since it wasn't an important goal and the terrain was steep, we settled for the minor peak:
Another excellent view of Upper Death Valley Butte, as seen from the minor peak on Lower Butte:
Steve on the minor peak of Lower Death Valley Butte:
One more view of Upper Death Valley Butte and another peak to the right of it:
The sun was casting a pretty glow on this well known peak which was visible from here:
On the way back to our vehicle, we came across this strange hole in the ground, which must have been an old mine or well digging:
Steve getting a picture by this strange and unexpected hole in the ground which is a hazard for hikers:
Crossing over the tracks of the old closed road which passed through this area: