If you are travelling along Highway 395 or seeking adventure and beauty exploring Death Valley, then Trona Pinnacles is a must-see destination. This celebrity landmark is about 25 miles from Ridgecrest, and 86 miles from Stovepipe Wells.
Although not a part of Death Valley National Park, it’s close enough to drive to and well worth the visit.
Driving in from Ridgecrest on Highway 178, we knew we were getting close when we passed “Fish Rocks” on the left side of the road and managed to snap a quick pic.
OUR VISIT
On arriving at the turnoff for Torna Pinnacles, what awaits you is a five-mile drive along an unpaved road. After a mile or two, you traverse over an old railway line, and along what I guess you could call a shoreline of sorts. Maybe an apter description would be the bottom of an ancient lake bed.
Although slightly bumpy, well let’s be honest, it was more like a washboard in some spots, the minivan built for action heroes made it fine. We saw several vehicles, very few were four-wheel drives. There were even two RVs, one of which was camping there for a couple of days.
exploring trona pinnacles
We drove around and found a spot to get out and start taking some photos. After driving around a little more, we started back towards the entrance road, when we saw something and had to stop.
We walked up to, what appeared to be an exploratory mine shaft. After speaking with the BLM Ranger, she confirmed that it was a mine. Although there is no record of who was responsible for it, she said it had been there for decades.
The Ranger also informed us that the pinnacles had sustained a considerable amount of damage from the 2019 earthquake which hit on July 4th and 5th. Some of the towers had collapsed, and a cave-in had occurred at the entrance of the mine.
HISTORY OF THE TRONA PINNACLES
Five hundred tufa spires rise from the bed of Searles Dry Lake basin. Searles Lake was one of a chain of interconnected Pleistocene lakes stretching from Mono Lake to Death Valley.
What is exceptionally unique about these pinnacles is, there is nothing else like them anywhere around. They sat under 640 feet of water, and once you stand upon them and look around, you can picture that perfectly. What makes this place even more mesmerizing is the absolute silence; it’s as if you are still underwater.
These calcium carbonate statues were formed underwater from 10,000 to 100,000 years ago. Some are 140-foot hight, and all vary in shape and size. Some are tall and thin, while others are short and fat. Each is exceptionally unique making for a popular celebrity landmark featured in many TV commercials and blockbuster films, including Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and the Planet of the Apes. (On the day we were there, a film clean up crew were making sure nothing was left behind.)
BLM Geology
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the federal agency which manages this area, classifies the pinnacles into four general shapes – towers, tombstones, ridges, and cones:
- Towers are taller than they are wide and rise 30 to 40 feet and have pointed, rounded, or flat summits;
- Tombstones are stubby and squat and rise 20 to 30 feet;
- Ridges are massive, toothy, and tufa runs. Trona Pinnacles has three ridges, one of which is 80 feet long, 500 feet wide and 140 feet tall.
- Cones are less than 10 feet tall and are dumpy and mounded cone shapes that lay scattered throughout the Trona Pinnacles.
It was fun exploring the Trona Pinnacles, and we spent a couple of hours driving and hiking around. You can see why this is such a favoured filming location. It feels “unearthly” and like you are actually in a sci-fi movie yourself! Another one of those mysterious places.
Trona Pinnacles would be a great place to camp for a few nights and climb around these ancient underwater towers. Imagine what it must have looked like when the water levels got so low the spires broke the surface. Did the first people to set eyes on them have the same captivated look on their faces as we did?
trona pinnacles in a nutshell
- Address – off Highway 178 – turning onto BLM Route RM143
- Well signposted
- Four-wheel drive only needed in wet conditions
- Free – open year-round
- In the summer months, temperatures can reach over 110 degrees
- BLM Land – which means Free camping in designated areas
- Take plenty of water with you
- Sun-screen, appropriate clothing and footwear
- A pit toilet at the parking area
- No cell service
- Watch for bities (although we didn’t see anything)
- Leave no trace – pack it in, pack it out
- Protect this site so others can enjoy this fantastic landmark
location map
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