Every Trail Tells a Story
Ubehebe Crater
Walk the rim of California’s most dramatic volcanic crater.
Compare geology’s “basket in the rock” with the Shoshone’s poetic name.
Experience rim-top winds strong enough to send your hat to the bottom.
Add volcanism to the list of cataclysms such as earthquakes and flash floods that caused high-speed changes to the Death Valley landscape. A short loop around Ubehebe Crater tours the cinder-covered rim of a volcanic crater and offers magnificent examples of volcanism.
Ubehebe (pronounced YOU-bee-HEE-bee) Crater, located at the north tip of the Cottonwood Mountains, is sometimes called an explosion crater. One look and you know why. Hot magma rose from the depths of the earth to meet groundwater, and the resultant steam blast carved out a vast hole and scattered cinders like confetti at the world’s loudest party.
Geologists believe Ubehebe was the grand finale in a series of hydrovolcanic explosions. Each blast left behind a pit known as a maar – geology’s term for a steam-formed crater. The baby of the family is Little Hebe, a textbook spatter cone that formed inside one of the earlier blast pits. Compared to its younger sibling, Ubehebe is the hulking elder statesman.
By geological standards, Ubehebe is brand new – about 1,000 years old, give or take a century. The crater measures half a mile across and up to 777 feet deep. Its explosion blanketed six square miles of desert in cinders, in places piling them 150 feet deep. To walk here is to crunch across a layer of history still hot to the touch in the minds of geologists.
The native Shoshone, with their talent for naming things more elegantly than scientists, called it Temp-pin-tta Wo’sah, “Basket in the Rock.” The name captures both the shape and the spirit of this improbable pit in the desert floor.
Visitors have three ways to experience Ubehebe: circle the rim, wander over to Little Hebe, or brave the descent to the bottom. The rim is the most popular and for good reason – the views stretch over desert flats to the Last Chance Range and beyond. But if you’re tempted to head down into the crater, remember: going down is optional, coming back up is mandatory. The loose cinders act like a mischievous escalator – two steps forward, one step back.
And don’t forget your hat. Rim winds are notorious, often roaring past 50 mph. More than one baseball cap has gone airborne here, last seen tumbling into the abyss.
From the Grapevine Ranger Station at the north end of the park, continue north (don’t take the right fork to Scotty’s Castle) 2.8 miles to the signed turnoff for Ubehebe Crater and continue another 2.5 miles to the crater parking area.
From the edge of 500-to-777-foot deep Ubehebe Crater, join the south-trending path over loose cinders. The trail tops a couple of rises, then splits at a signed junction. Head south to Little Hebe. Walk the perimeter of the small crater and enjoy the views of the valley, and of the Last Chance Range to the west.
Return to Ubehebe Crater, note how much more eroded it is than younger Little Hebe, and resume passage around the rim. About 1.3 miles around the crater rim, intersect a path that descends into the crater. It’s a 0.3 mile descent over volcanic cinders to the crater bottom; the ascent back to the main trail and parking area is a bit of work because of the cinders slipping under your hiking boots.