DVA Trip Planning & Live Blog

This past weekend, I was joined by long-time friends and fellow hikers Shawn, Kathy, and Tobin on my Panamint Mountains backpacking trip.  We covered a lot of harsh desert terrain in a very short amount of time as we hiked undocumented routes and contended with great challenges and adversities.  This was definitely the hardest backpacking trip I have ever taken in Death Valley.  On Day 1, we hiked from Lower Surprise Canyon over to Middle Hall Canyon using a secret route which has never been written about or documented before.  On Day 2, we hiked from the Rowland Cabin in Middle Hall Canyon over into Jail Canyon and completed a loop hike back to Hall after exploring 2 mines, the camp, and the Gold Mill.  On Day 3, we successfully (barely) crossed over from Upper Hall Canyon into Panamint City on a day that none of us will ever forget.  And on Day 4, we backpacked out of Panamint City back down to our car at the bottom of Surprise.  To share our trip, 4 brand new TRs (Trip Reports) will be coming soon.  The 4 TRs will cover the first 3 days of our journey.  This post will be updated with links to the reports once they are published.  Below, I am also sharing 3 pictures taken as we backpacked out on the final day.  Enjoy these TRs, because this was my final trip to Death Valley for 2012.

Panamint Mtns backpacking new TRs– Hall Canyon (posted 5/11/12), Jail Canyon- Camp & Corona Mine (posted 5/16), Jail Canyon- Gold Mill & Burro Mine (coming soon), Upper Hall Canyon (coming soon).  Also, a new picture of a bat has been posted to our Wildlife Page.

Backpacking out of Panamint City on May 8, 2012

Passing through the Tunnel of Love in Brewery Spring

Reaching Limekiln Spring (and Limekiln Eden hidden in the background)

This past weekend, I finally had a chance to get back out to Yosemite Valley to finish up my long-delayed third exclusive.  If you check out my Introduction Page, you will see that my first two exclusives were little-known hikes to Sierra Point and the base of Illilouette Fall.  My third hike (for which a Trip Report will be posted soon) was up the seldom-visited Rockslides Trail to forgotten Rainbow View.  It truly was a great and amazing hike, and I’m sure you will enjoy reading about it and seeing some photographs, and maybe even hiking it someday if you can handle challenging adventure hikes.  In addition, I have a fourth exclusive which is to the base of Ribbon Fall.  Ribbon Fall happens to be the highest single-drop waterfall in North America at 1,612 feet.  This is also an adventure hike out of Yosemite Valley which very few people are even aware of and only a handful have ever attempted.  Ribbon Fall is located within the confines of a spectacular box canyon amphitheater.  The TRs will come within a week or two, but until then, here are a couple of photographs.  I will update this post with the TR links when they are finished.  The links will also be posted on the Introduction Page.

The top of Ribbon Fall as seen from near the base

Looking out from Rainbow View at Bridalveil Falls and Yosemite Valley

Just a brief note that I took some time this evening to update my Grotto Canyon report.  I added 20 new pictures (to increase the total number from 30 to 50).  Some of the new pictures show some points of interest during the long bypasses in the canyon.  Grotto Canyon truly is a great and interesting place.

Grotto Canyon

To help promote visitation and interest in the Owlshead Mountains, I have written up a very special informative report about the canyons found in the eastern part of the range.  These canyons are the most accessible part of the Owlshead range that is available to regular Death Valley hikers.  So enjoy our exclusive report on the Owlsheads.

Owlshead Mountains Special Report

Now that our Spring 2012 trip has been completed, I am going to begin working on some new reports.  As they are finished, links and dates posted will be added below.  Our Spring 2012 trip was mostly a family-friendly hiking and sightseeing trip, with a few exceptions. As it stands now, this will be my final week-long Spring or Fall trip for some time to come, as my wife and I are expecting our first child this Summer. But I still hope to take shorter trips, perhaps weekend visits to Death Valley, for the next couple of years.

Star Wars newly updated page with our costumes and 24 filming locations, including 3 that we were the first to find (posted 3/13/2012), Room Canyon (posted 3/17), Passage Canyon Owlsheads loop (posted 3/27), Thimble Peak (posted 3/29), Echo Canyon/Inyo Mine/Amargosa Overlook (posted 4/2), Middle Hidden Bridge Canyon (posted 3/22), Lower Big Fall Canyon with 50 newly updated photos (posted 3/20), and Crescent Bridge Canyon (posted 4/2).

Pinnacles in Room Canyon reminiscent of Panamint City smoke stack

Outstanding way to finish up our trip. We hiked out to Crescent Bridge Canyon and were impressed from beginning to end. I had heard that there has been a buzz in the park lately over this canyon and now I understand why. Awesome, awesome place. We hiked all the way through the canyon to the dry fall at the end. Two sets of great narrows. And Crescent Bridge is spectacular. This canyon will definitely make my revised list of Top 10 DV Canyons.

An amazing background in Crescent Bridge Canyon (above)

Looking out from under Crescent Bridge (above)

Today we took a day off from hiking to fully participate in the Mars and the Mojave Festival. It was a really enjoyable day. All who were involved did a great job. We spent the morning out at Badwater and on Mars Hill with the visiting scientists. In the afternoon, we caught a few lectures in the newly remodeled FCVC auditorium and we also checked out all the booths on the lawn and watched the rover demonstration.

And we ended up heading out to Golden Canyon as well, to wrap up one final Star Wars filming destination that we needed to find.  An outtake (from a slightly wrong angle) is shown below.  I’m looking forward to starting work on my revised Star Wars in Death Valley page on Monday.  The locations covered are increasing from 13 to 24.  That’s nearly double what I had before.  All old pictures are being replaced by new ones in our full costumes.  Our current full frame movie photos will be replaced by widescreen ones.

Mars and the Mojave Festival event on Mars Hill (above)

One final Star Wars filming location (wrong angle outtake / above)

Yesterday we did an 11 hour RT hike to Middle Hidden Bridge Canyon. The hike was a complete success. Reaching the mouth of Hidden Bridge Canyon, I easily bypassed into the middle canyon from the left side, dropped in and explored the three sets of narrows, then bypassed back out on the opposite side. After that, I went into Lower Big Fall Canyon and got some great new photos to replace my old ones, which didn’t show the canyon very well. Middle Hidden Bridge Canyon’s three narrows are absolutely incredible. The 1st narrows are made of polished rock like Fall Canyon and Dry Bone Canyon. The 2nd narrows are made of crumbling rock. And the 3rd narrows are towering slot narrows. I must say that I now feel that Hidden Bridge Canyon and Big Fall Canyon tie as the best two canyons in DV. Our final hike here will be to Crescent Bridge Cyn.

Entering the towering slot narrows in Hidden Bridge Canyon (above)

Here is another brand new scene that we found today that nobody has ever found before. When this gets published to my site and completely updated Star Wars page next week, it will be larger and won’t have the red arrows. But I just added them on here for reference so everyone can see how this process works. It took three people a couple of hours to find this spot. It didn’t help that the scene in the movie was quite dark.

Breaking a new never before found Star Wars location (above)

Tomorrow, it’s back to hiking. Hidden Bridge Canyon, here we come…

Yesterday and today we are touring the Star Wars filming locations in full costumes and matching up photos. We have found some new spots at the filming locations that nobody has ever found before. And we are also matching up some spots that others have found, but we had not until this trip. Because it can be so challenging to find specific spots, it burns up a lot of time, and thus this has become a two day project. It can be tricky matching up scenes from 35 years ago when the landscape has slightly changed in places. But tomorrow it will be back to hiking.

Our group posing outside of the FCVC (above)

An example of what we are doing out here. The red arrows show you specific spots on the landscape (such as small rocks, bumps, or flat ridges) that we try to isolate and match up. This is a scene that we had not found before this trip (above)