Trail Review: Golden Canyon to Red Cathedral, Death Valley National Park
Parking: Free parking in parking lot. Death Valley National Park does have a $30 entrance fee. More about the park fees HERE.
Distance: 3 miles out & back.
The Golden Canyon Hike can be done in a number of ways. The complete circuit actually totals about 7.8 miles and more information on that version of this hike can be found HERE on the NPS website. The version we did was to hike to the Red Cathedral and back. We actually did add on a little bit extra to get to the "Manly Beacon". That adds about another mile to the whole thing (4 miles total) and I'd recommend it if you've got the time. Otherwise, the trail to just the Red Cathedral is about 3 miles total out and back.
We started at the Golden Canyon parking lot right off of Badwater Road. At the east end of the lot is a fairly wide opening to the canyon and the start of the trail. There is some signage as well in case there's any doubt:
The trail is pretty straightforward. The wide path has a few smaller offshoots if you want to explore but it's pretty obvious which one is the main path. We did venture off on a side trail briefly. It had a much steeper incline and got us up above the canyon pretty quickly. It gave us some sweet early views of the Red Cathedral and we even saw a couple of rock climbers going up a nearby cliff!
Back on the main path, the trail is pretty easy for much of the journey. It's got a slight incline but it's not very noticeable. The path is also quite wide which is good because it's a fairly popular trail so chances are you'll be passing other groups now and then. There are a couple of spots that require climbing up some rocky areas but they have worn-in footholds from all the people who've come before so it shouldn't be that hard to get up those areas.
After the first mile, you'll come upon an intersection that is marked with some signage. The path that continues straight ahead goes to the Red Cathedral. The path that veers to the right heads toward the "Manly Beacon" and Zabriskie Point. That's the way to go if you are doing to whole circuit. But if you are just going to the Red Cathedral, continue on the path straight ahead.
This is where things get more difficult. Where the first section of the trail was wide and flat, this part of the trail is generally very narrow and requires a lot more rock climbing and scrambles. There are a couple spots where two-way traffic is impossible so you'll need to wait if someone is coming through the other way.
After winding through the canyon for another half mile, you'll come right up the the Red Cathedral's walls:
From this point, it seemed like people veered off in different directions depending on what they wanted to see and how comfortable they were with climbing. We continued to follow what looked like the path around the edge of the red rock wall, and after climbing up a few yards of steeper trail, we got to a spot that had some really cool views of the canyon below.
After carefully climbing back down to the Red Cathedral's wall, we headed back to the intersection and went for another half mile up to the "Manly Beacon", which is a pretty cool looking rock jutting out of the mountainside. The trail does get steep heading up that way but it was worth it. The view up by the beacon was also something special.
Whether or not you want to add on the extra bit of trail for the "Manly Beacon", in the end, you'll head back the way you came to the parking lot to complete your journey.
Bottom Line: A very easy trail for the first mile. The last half mile gets more difficult but is worth it for the amazing views at the Red Cathedral. Very cool landscape and rock formations throughout.
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