Lower Foundry Canyon is a half-day family hike into the bottom portion of a canyoneering canyon which contains a beautiful section of narrows with some huge wedged boulders overhead.  Difficulties encountered on the hike include route finding to access the canyon and climbing some very small dry falls that should be easy for most people.  A Google Earth map of the hiking route can be found by clicking on the button above.  GPS coordinates for the parking area are 35° 58.148'N, 116° 43.649'W.  GPS coordinates for the canyon entrance are 35° 58.353'N, 116° 41.995'W.

Lower Foundry Canyon was not a hike that we had planned or intended to go on during our February 2013 trip.  It came about because of a request made by Jered and Annie (my sister and her husband).  Our large group of 8 had already enjoyed several days of family hikes together, visiting some interesting places.  When I asked what everyone wanted to do for our final family hike day, Jered and Annie replied by saying they wanted to "see some canyon narrows".  This request caught me slightly off-guard and I spent a couple of hours thinking about it and studying the information I had.  I was able to come up with several good hikes, such as Room Canyon and Funeral Slot Canyon.  The only problem was that Daria and I had already done these hikes fairly recently, so I wanted to find something that would be new for everyone in the group including both of us.  That's when I began seriously thinking about Lower Foundry Canyon.  A fellow Death Valley hiker who is a friend had hiked into Lower Foundry Canyon on her recent trip to the park.  When she returned home, she published a report with some outstanding photographs of canyon narrows.  I recalled that the narrows featured some massive wedged boulders that added to the spectacular beauty of the canyon.  So Tobin and I downloaded her report while in our Furnace Creek hotel, studied maps online, and figured out where Foundry Canyon was.  The next day, we all went out and hiked it.  It was just about the right length for a family hike (around 2 1/2 miles each way).  Getting into the narrows was not that difficult with just a few basic climbs that most anyone can do.  Everyone loved Foundry Canyon and it turned out to be the perfect hike as Jered and Annie got to see their canyon narrows and we all had a great time.  There is a dry fall at the end of the narrows that is not meant to be climbed by hikers.  It is the obvious stopping point for this hike.  Our hike took place on February 14, 2013.

Many more photographs taken during our visit are available for viewing for this destination.  To see all of them, choose one of the two options presented below.  The two options are Slideshow viewing and Trip Report viewing.  The Slideshow option allows for viewing larger images with an autoplay option and a full screen option (available on most browsers).  This option works very well for large computer screens and tablets.  The Trip Report option allows for viewing smaller pictures in a standard scroll-down format and enlarging of any panoramic photos taken during our visit.  Click on the option of your choice to view all of our photos from this destination.  The Slideshow format opens in a new browser window and the Trip Report format uses the same browser window for viewing.