Palmer Canyon

TRIP REPORT PHOTOS

Crossing the Fall Canyon wash and heading north towards Palmer Canyon:

On the other side of the Fall Canyon wash, a small trail climbs up the bank:

The trail leads to the edge of what I call The Cauldron area, a giant circular collection of washes and hills:

Left side of The Cauldron. The two options are to drop into The Cauldron or try to circle around it. Either way is difficult and tiresome. We dropped into it immediately and followed a wash at the bottom:

Looking down the wash that we dropped into:

The wash eventually came to a junction with some eroded and colorful formations in a small canyon:

Tiffany standing in front of a natural bridge at the junction with another small canyon:

Looking through the natural bridge towards the direction we came from. I don't count this as one of the major natural bridges of the park due to its location in the wash, but it is quite large:

Beyond the natural bridge, we passed a field of boulders:

Instead of climbing out, we continued into another side canyon, because the scenery was spectacular:

This was a really interesting side canyon that we began hiking up:

You can see Tiffany in the center of this picture. Eventually, we found a place to climb out:

Looking back down through some of The Cauldron narrows:

We still had to circle around the left side of what you see here. Don't underestimate The Cauldron area, both for its beauty and for the amount of energy it takes just get past it and reach Palmer Canyon:

Tiffany looking back towards Fall Canyon. I felt kind of bad taking her past Fall Canyon, because she's never been there. But I stopped feeling bad after we began walking through Palmer Canyon, because it is also amazing:

Here you can see the trail which continues all the way around The Cauldron and is easy to follow:

The trail eventually drops you into the wash of Palmer Canyon:

The mouth of Palmer Canyon is just ahead:

Just outside of the canyon entrance now:

Looking back down towards Scotty's Castle Road and the Cottonwood Mountains. An alternative route to reach Palmer Canyon which is longer but might be easier, starts from Scotty's Castle Road and follows the Palmer Canyon wash straight up to the canyon:

At the beginning of Palmer Canyon with great anticipation:

Notice the towering walls right from the beginning. The walls are very high like in neighboring Fall Canyon:

Stopping for a first picture on a small polished rock shelf:

These jagged ridge lines caught our attention:

Blue meets orange as we walked past this undercut and turned the corner:

Heading into the next section of the lower canyon:

The 1st narrows of Palmer Canyon start right away and continue for a long time:

Climbing some simple dry falls with rough, sharp texture:

Tiffany heading up the early 1st narrows:

Nice bends in the canyon, which was rarely straight for very long:

The canyon floor through the 1st narrows was really deep gravel. The going was slow, but that didn't matter because we were enjoying it so much that we forgot we were on a hike:

The scenery was already amazing, but the narrows just kept getting prettier by the minute:

Steve passing by one of many spots where he could touch both walls of the canyon:

The filtered sunlight was really bringing out the glow in the canyon:

Notice how the walls on both sides of the canyon would vary in height quite regularly:

Pretty rock surfaces along the canyon wall that were smooth to the touch:

The very narrow path continues around another bend:

Tiffany getting her picture on a rock while the other side of the canyon wall hangs over her head:

The passage continues through the shade, which made for nice pictures:

Very few larger rocks have fallen into the wash in the 1st Narrows:

Tiffany looking back in admiration at a very beautiful spot in the canyon:

Steve stops at this spot to have his picture taken in Palmer Canyon:

A wider view of the same area showing the colorful beauty of the walls:

Moving on, there is more to see in Palmer Canyon's 1st Narrows:

Looking back down the passageway that we have just walked through:

High towering cliffs are once again visible in the distance:

Getting close to the end of this section of narrows:

Sure enough, we could now see out of the narrows and into a more open area:

We could also see back out of the canyon toward the Cottonwoods from our higher elevation:

Looking back at the final section of the 1st Narrows:

Okay, so I'm going to safely assume you are impressed now. After exiting the 1st narrows, the canyon opened up briefly as mentioned earlier and the 2nd narrows are just ahead:

But first, we walked a short distance through a wider wash:

Tiffany took a break on this rock to rest for a few minutes:

Heading into the 2nd narrows of Palmer Canyon just ahead:

Here is a boulder jam which has to be climbed to get through the 2nd narrows. My sister and I both handled it fairly easily, but it has given some hikers trouble:

An interesting small cave appears high on the canyon wall:

Here a tree is growing to the side out of the wall of the canyon:

We are now into the 2nd Narrows of Palmer Canyon:

Notice the stark contrast in colors between the two sides of the canyon walls:

The red rock on the right side was very pretty:

A slightly wider passage through the 2nd Narrows, but not by much:

Turning a corner as the high walls keep us in the shade:

Beautiful patterns on the walls can be seen in the next two pictures:

After the 2nd Narrows, the canyon once again opens up for a while. Up ahead is the gorge area:

Looking back towards the 2nd Narrows, this cinder cone rock formation really stands out:

Crossing a short wide wash to get into the gorge:

As we entered the gorge area, we had our first view of Mount Palmer far in the distance (top of picture):

The gorge area was a winding area enclosed by towering peaks, as shown in the next two photos:

Up ahead, the canyon turns to the left and reaches a dead-end:

It's a dead-end, because progress is interrupted by this 80 foot dry fall at the beginning of the short 3rd narrows:

The colors are once again similar to Red Wall Canyon:

One picture of Tiffany and Steve at the base of the 80 foot dry fall:

And three more close-up pictures of the dry fall. We stopped and ate lunch here, all the while appreciating the majestic beauty:

I backtracked down canyon and headed up the bypass route to see how difficult it was. This is looking back down into the canyon:

Completing the bypass requires circling around to the ridge in the distance:

I wouldn't describe the bypass route as extremely hard, but I would say it is time consuming and energy consuming. Here is one final view of Mount Palmer off in the distance before heading back down:

Heading back down off of the bypass now. The upper canyon will be left for a future trip: