DVA Blog Steve Hall's Death Valley Adventures
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"Welcome everybody to my Trip Planning blog for future hikes I am researching to take in Death Valley."-- Steve New Trip Reports & Site UpdatesPosted on March 23rd, 2010
Over the next few weeks I will be posting some brand new trip reports and updating a few others, now that I have completed my Spring 2010 trip. To start things, I am now using a brand new theme on the Main Page of the site. For the past year, I have been using a Panamint City theme. But I felt like it was time for a change, so for the next year or so I will be using a new Rainbow Canyon theme. Check back here every few days and I will be listing the new reports and site updates as they are completed. The most recent update will always be highlighted in bold.
SITE UPDATES FINISHED– Rainbow Canyon Main Page theme (finished 3/22), Introduction Page updates (finished 3/23), Nemo Canyon (Mud Spring update finished 3/24).
NEW REPORTS FINISHED– 1. Lake Manly (finished 3/25), 2. Talc Canyon & 3. Owlshead Canyon (finished 3/26), 4. Owl Hole Springs & 5. Sagenite Canyon (finished 3/27), 6. Owl Lake & 7. Lost Lake (finished 3/28), 8. Epsom Salt Works & Crystal Hills (finished 3/28), 9. Upper & Middle Rainbow Canyon (finished 4/3), 14. Lower Rainbow Canyon (finished 4/4), 10. Grave Canyon S Fork (finished 4/7), 16. Sand Canyon (finished 4/9), 11. Mill Canyon (finished 4/16), 12. Tunnel Bridge Canyon (finished 4/19), 13. Tuber BM & Tuber Canyon (finished 4/21), 15. Drone Crash Site (finished 4/27), 17. Anvil Springs Canyon Backpacking & 18. Striped Butte (finished 4/28).
ALL REPORTS NOW COMPLETED. SEE YOU IN THE FALL!
(above) Steve beginning his backpack towards Talc Canyon
Days 14-17- Anvil Spring Canyon backpackingPosted on March 22nd, 2010
To wrap up my trip, 6 friends joined me in Death Valley from my hometown and we backpacked a loop hike I had put together. The loop started at the major bend in the Panamint Mines Road (off of Warm Springs Road) and first went to Lost Spring for the first night. After crossing a pass in Lost Spring Canyon, we then continued on to Squaw Spring where we camped for the next two nights. While there, we did a loop dayhike to Striped Butte and the Geologist’s Cabin. I must say, what an incredible way to see Striped Butte for the first time! We walked over a ridge and suddenly Striped Butte was directly in front of us. At the Geologist’s Cabin we ran into 25 people at one time. One of them had photographed me on the summit of Striped Butte by zooming in from the Geologist’s Cabin. I sure hope he e-mails me that picture. On the fourth day we backpacked down and out via Anvil Spring Canyon, which was a lot more interesting than I was expecting. On Google Earth, the canyon looked wide and possibly boring. But from the grand vistas, to the herd of burros, the two desert iguanas, the varying rock types (including decomposing granite), the unexpected flowing water hidden deep inside Mesquite Spring, the surprise mine that we walked by, to following the old road for half the hike… it all added up to an awesome day.
(above) Steve looking a long ways down Anvil Spring Canyon
FINAL HIKING MILEAGE UPDATE
Day 14- Panamint Mines Rd to Lost Spring (5 miles), Day 15- Lost Spring to Squaw Spring (10 miles), Day 16- Squaw Spring to Striped Butte to Squaw Spring loop (15 miles), Day 17- Squaw Spring to Panamint Mines Rd (10 miles)
Trip total for Spring 2010 Trip– 178 miles
Day 13- Sand CanyonPosted on March 18th, 2010
(above) Laying on the sand on upper dune in Sand Canyon
(above) View out towards southeastern Owl Lake (on the right)
When I went to sleep last night at Stovepipe campground, I had not yet decided what hike to do today to wrap up my Spring trip day hikes. The four finalists were Corkscrew Peak, Mount Perry, Indian Pass Canyon, and Sand Canyon. After waking up, I finally decided on Sand Canyon and drove back out to the Owlshead Mountains. And now that the hike has been completed, I can say that Sand Canyon is the greatest canyon and best hike in the Owlshead Mountains by a landslide. Sand Canyon has everything… a great entrance to the canyon, it is continuously narrow, has a fun and challenging bouldering section, and most importantly a grand reward at the end. At the end of Sand Canyon there are two massive sand dunes, an upper and lower section. The dunes are the crowning beauty of the canyon. But the head of Sand Canyon also provides a stunning view and easy access to the basin at the other side of the range. I was shocked to climb up to the ridge just past the lower dune and see the southeastern section of Owl Lake. Owl Lake was so close I easily could have walked there in an hour. The only reason I didn’t was that I had already been there earlier in the trip and I was running extremely low on water. (It was 90F and I only had about 20 ounces of water left for the return hike). But it’s amazing that Owl Lake is actually easily reachable as a day hike from Harry Wade Road. The other thing appealing about Sand Canyon is that it has the shortest hike to the canyon mouth from the Harry Wade Road of any of the Owlshead canyons. All I can say is what an incredible place and I definitely made the right choice.
I was looking back at my pictures from earlier in the trip tonight and I must say that I was quickly reminded of how special Grave Canyon is. All four narrows are unique and beautiful in their own way. I can’t wait to put together that report and show everybody what the S Fork of Grave Canyon looks like. I plan to return to Grave and hike the N Fork on my Fall trip later this year.
Well, it’s been a fun journey and there have been lots of adventures on the Spring trip. I’m going to wrap things up by backpacking for a few days with Shawn & Kathy and Josh & Kim and possibly a few others, and then head home. It will probably take from several weeks to a month to put together all of the trip reports I’m backed up on. I dropped half of my planned hikes due to a variety of reasons. But in the end, I definitely feel I made the right decisions and it was the best trip possible.
HIKING MILEAGE UPDATE
Day 12- Drone Crash Site (10 miles), Day 13- Sand Canyon (12 miles)
Total to date for Spring 2010 Trip– 138 miles
Day 12- Drone Crash SitePosted on March 16th, 2010
(above) My sister volunteering with her Chico State group
(above) Steve by the drone at Drone Crash Site in the Owlsheads
On Tuesday, I first met up with my sister Tiffany, who is spending one week in Death Valley doing volunteer work along with a group from her college at Chico State. They were working on covering over the old Sand Dunes Road (which is now permanently closed) near the Devil’s Cornfield.
After that I drove out to the Owlshead Mountains for my 5th day of hiking there this Spring. I was mainly searching for desert tortoises. I found 20 actively used tortoise burrows, but no tortoises outside of them. I have 2 days of day hiking left in the park this trip, so I was thinking about spending one of those days at a specific place where there is an extremely high concentration of actively used tortoise burrows, in the hopes of seeing one. But I’m just not sure I want to make the long drive out there.
But getting back to today’s hike, I hiked out to Drone Crash Site. We have been calling this place Drone Canyon, but I think Drone Crash Site is more appropriate. After checking out the drone, I loop hiked the two canyons to the left and right of Drone Crash Site.
And one thing I forgot to mention earlier was an experience I had in Lower Rainbow Canyon. After I was about 2 hours into the hike, and there were no other people around obviously, I heard the loud sound of approaching aircraft. I looked back and saw a huge marine helicopter heading up canyon towards me. It felt like I was in an action movie, or the middle of a war, or something. The helicopter flew overhead about 100 feet and the pilot waved to me as they continued up canyon on their training mission.
Day 11- Lower Rainbow CanyonPosted on March 15th, 2010
(above) The narrows before the 20 foot dry fall of Rainbow Canyon
On Monday morning, I set out on my first ever hike that started at Panamint Springs Resort. After parking there and using their great internet service, I set out to the north and hiked all the way through Lower Rainbow Canyon. I stopped at the base of the 20 foot dry fall (comprised of huge boulders), which is the same place I had reached after hiking down Middle Rainbow Canyon (although I stopped at the top of the 20 foot dry fall). I tested out climbing it a bit and I could see why the hiker who tried to down climb it got hurt, so I wouldn’t recommend trying it. I think if I had pushed to make it, I would have gotten hurt, too.
HIKING MILEAGE UPDATE
Day 6- Upper & Middle Rainbow Canyon (4 miles), Day 7- Grave Canyon S Fork (15 miles), Day 8- Mill Canyon (13 miles), Day 9- Tunnel Bridge Canyon (8 miles), Day 10- Tuber BM & Tuber Cyn (8 miles), Day 11- Lower Rainbow (10 miles)
Total to date for Spring 2010 Trip– 116 miles
Day 10- Tuber BM & Tuber CanyonPosted on March 15th, 2010
(above) View of Telescope Peak from Tuber BM
On Sunday, Charlie came up with the brilliant plan to one-way hike Tuber Canyon. We parked up Wildrose Canyon Road and first hiked up almost 2,000 feet to Tuber BM. After reaching the summit, we dropped into Tuber Canyon near the 2nd major spring (as marked on topo maps). We found flowing water there, and then enjoyed the hike down canyon. After passing by one smaller spring, we then reached the 1st major spring and bypassed the gorge on the right side by following the trail along the cliffs.
Day 9- Amazing DiscoveriesPosted on March 15th, 2010
(above) Charlie and Steve at the base of the 1st dry fall during their hike
On Saturday, Charlie and myself hiked a remarkable unvisited canyon. During our hike, we made perhaps the most significant discoveries of natural features in the park during the past decade. And the remarkable thing is that both of these special wonders were found in the exact same canyon. Along with our two discoveries, we also enjoyed the canyon itself… it was fantastically beautiful in every way imaginable. Pictures and more details will follow later in my report, however this will be one of the canyons where we share the range it is found in, but not the exact location (much like the Hidden Bridge Canyon report). Right now, we’re trying to choose between 3 different names for the canyon. Also, with Charlie’s help, I climbed an 18 foot near-vertical dry fall towards the end of our hike, which was even scarier coming back down. (Different than the dry fall pictured above.)
Day 8- Mill CanyonPosted on March 15th, 2010
(above) Looking over the edge of the 50 foot waterfall in Mill Canyon
Friday we used car shuttles and hiked the full length of Mill Canyon. I must say, it was one of the most memorable and enjoyable experiences I have ever had in DV to hike from South Pass, down Mill Canyon, across Panamint Valley, past the Panamint Dunes, and back to Lake Hill. The crowning jewel of Mill Canyon is the absolutely beautiful 50 foot waterfall in the lower canyon. In contrast with all of my research, we found the 50 foot waterfall easy to bypass (it took us about 5 minutes), whereas some had described it as almost suicidal and others had taken a 1 hour+ bypass just to avoid it. The Mill Canyon waterfall bypass is probably comparable to the Fall Canyon bypass.
Day 7- Grave Canyon (S Fork)Posted on March 15th, 2010
(above) 1st waterfall in the 1st narrows of Grave Canyon
(above) 2nd waterfall in the 1st narrows of Grave Canyon
Grave Canyon is the major named canyon in between Dry Bone Canyon and Bighorn Gorge. It’s a long 5 mile journey from Scotty’s Castle Road to the split of the north and south forks of the canyon. We went deep into the S Fork of Grave Canyon and were stunned at the incredible beauty on display. There were 4 sets of very pretty narrows. The 1st narrows even had 2 flowing waterfalls. I’m really looking forward to writing up this report and sharing these photos when I return home.
Day 6- Upper & Middle Rainbow CanyonPosted on March 15th, 2010
(above) At the base of the 100 ft 1st dry fall in Rainbow Canyon
(above) Looking into Middle Rainbow Canyon from the 2nd dry fall
Rainbow Canyon is divided into 3 sections– Upper (accessible to both hikers & climbers), Middle (climbers only), and Lower (both, but known mainly for hikers). These sections are all divided by massive dry falls. The head of the canyon is crowned by the 1st dry fall (100 ft.). Upper & Middle Rainbow are divided by the 2nd dry fall (170 ft.) and 3rd dry fall (90 ft.). And Middle and Lower Rainbow are divided by the 4th and final dry fall (20 ft.). On Day 6, I had another true Death Valley adventure as I first used a well known bypass to get into Upper Rainbow (described in a climber’s report). This allowed me to get to the base of the 1st dry fall and also overlook the middle canyon from the top of the 2nd dry fall. From that point, my hike should have been over. But against all odds, I found my way into the Middle Canyon after trying and failing at various bypasses for several hours. In the middle canyon, I was able to walk up to the base of the 3rd dry fall and also walk down canyon to the top of the 4th and final dry fall. The bypass was very risky, so I won’t be giving out details of its location in my upcoming report. But the bottom line is that Rainbow Canyon is unbelievably beautiful, with walls colored by rainbow bands towering up to 1,000 feet on each side of you.