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| Hiking | 8.88 Miles |
2,382 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.88 Miles | 5 Hrs 18 Mns | | 1.83 mph |
| 2,382 ft AEG | 27 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | Drove straight through to Death Valley the day before. Set up camp along Green Valley Road then headed up to Dante's View for the sunset. It was cold up there and my jacket was back at the tent so I headed down, making it back to camp as nightfall settled in at 4:30pm.
Woke up the next morning, had some oatmeal, and drove the remaining 10 miles to the start of the hike. Started hiking around 6:30. It was overcast and rain was in the forecast that afternoon. Luckily it didn't start until I was finished. No trail for this one, just a jaunt across the desert. The ground was very soft and littered with underground burrows. My pace was slowed while trying to avoid stepping on the maze of tunnels wherever possible (only sunk through once or twice). I eventually veered to the NNW into a wash which made for an easy stroll.
Near the top of the wash is a small petroglyph site. I spent some time exploring here before heading up Funeral's rocky slope. Surprisingly, the fields of boulders and rocks provided great, vegetation-free footing. I passed an old park boundary marker which served as a good point of reference on the way down.
I went over several false summits (But wait, there's more!) along the gradual slope and Funeral's summit plateau finally came into view. It's a crown of boulders requiring some fun and easy class 3 moves to gain the summit, though I've read the climbing is avoidable to the east. All three benchmarks were destroyed, the posts and cement still visible. Signed the register and put my gloves back on to warm my cold fingers. The last entry was three days earlier.
Views in all directions were beautiful. The trade-off for Funeral Peak vs others in the Black Mountains is there are no views of the steep drop-off into Badwater Basin. I was totally cool with that. The return trip was uneventful. Turns out staying in the wash for a while makes things a lot easier. Once the car came back into view, I was able to stay on the same trajectory. Had some light sprinkles on the drive out and some mild rain by the time I reached Zabriskie Point. I allotted 8 hours for this hike to be on the safe side and was super happy to finish way ahead of schedule. |
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