Darwin Falls: A Miracle in the Desert

 Darwin Falls, Death Valley National Park, CA

Can you imagine the above waterfall right in the middle of this desert, in one of the driest places on Earth?

 Panamint Springs, Death Valley National Park

Darwin Falls is a rare year-round waterfall in the Panamint Springs area of Death Valley National Park. Death Valley is known to be the land of extremes: hottest (in the summer at least), driest and lowest. It is a desert of gleaming sand dunes,

snow-capped mountains, multi-colored rock layers,

 painted exposed Earth, 

and many more desert surprises, such as the Darwin Falls. 

 A Miracle in the Desert

The trail head to Darwin Falls is a few miles East of Father Crowley Point. 

 Father Crowley Point

 ( named after Father John Crowley, from the snowy heights of the Sierras beyond the deep shadows of Death Valley beloved and trusted by people of all faiths )

From Father Crowley Point, we drove East towards Panamint Springs. About one mile before Panamint Springs, we turned right on Darwin Falls Road, which is a dirt road, about 2 miles. Notice the parking lot below, obviously, we had the waterfall all to ourselves!! 

Darwin Falls Trail Head Parking Lot

The trail to the waterfall is through an open wash, with some desert vegetation.

 As the canyon walls close in, thicker vegetation is observed.

 and soon, you enter a lush canyon.

 Desert Oasis

 Wooded Trail in the Canyon

After a while, you will be crossing streams, 

 and scrambling some rocks.

The hike to Darwin Falls is a short 3 miles round trip and mostly flat, the rock scrambling and stream crossing is towards the end. It can get confusing where to go since towards the end, there is hardly a trail to follow, but as long as you listen to the sound of the stream and the gushing waterfalls, there is no way you can miss it.

The Lower Fall from the Bottom of the Canyon

After finding the Lower Fall, we scrambled up some rocks hoping to find the other falls. But then, as the rocks became slicker and more vertical, and we had no idea where the 2nd or upper waterfall was, we decided to just be contented with the lower fall. The picture below is still the lower fall, but just taken from above the cliffs while we were rock scrambling.

To learn more about Death Valley, you may want to visit my older post here.

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