Sidewinder Canyon
Badwater Rd, Death Valley NP · near Furnace Creek · California Desert
Hiking
At a glance
- Difficulty
- moderate
- Route type
- out-and-back
- Distance
- 3.8 miles
- Elevation gain
- 750 ft
- Time needed
- day
- Best season
- Nov–Mar
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- No
- How the permit works
- $30/vehicle 7-day Death Valley NP entrance fee (card only). Day hikes need no other permit; overnight backcountry needs a free Recreation.gov permit.
- How hard the permit is to get
- 1 of 5
What is here
- Features
- Three hidden slot canyons · Natural bridges & tunnels · Dark chambers (headlamp) · Pour-over scrambles · Solitude
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Not permitted
- Good for a first timer
- No
Hiking detail
- Intl tip
- Bring a headlamp — the deepest slots are genuinely dark — and watch for the easy-to-miss slot entrances low on the south wall. Never enter with any chance of rain.
The guide
Death Valley's best true slot-canyon adventure and a genuine hidden gem. Unmarked side-slots branch off the main wash into narr…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Sidewinder Canyon — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 36.065, -116.7448