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.

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