Since this is not our first time hiking in Death Valley, we are exploring some of the lighter trafficked trails we haven't taken before.
The dirt road to the Sidewinder Canyon trailhead is about 30 miles down Badwater Basin Rd south of Furnace Creek.
There are multiple trails leading out of the parking area. We noticed a number of rocks stacked at the north end of the parking area--a sign from other hikers calling us to that particular trail. From our understanding, the trail most people take goes south from the parking area and leads to several slot canyons. So, this trail may have a different name that we don't know.
The first 2 miles of this moderate-difficulty hike were fairly bland (if you can call anything in DV bland) up a gradually inclined wash. At about 2 miles in, we came across a couple of slot canyons. These are narrow canyons that have the feel of a cave and require some rock climbing to explore completely.
At about 2.5 miles in, we entered a larger canyon. Within about 100 yards, we heard running water. We found a little stream and followed it for another few hundred yards and ended up here:
Yup, that's a waterfall in the middle of Death Valley!