Spring 2023 California Saga, 3.21.23 - 4.9.23, Part 5 of 8, Death Valley National Park (con’t)
When I plan these big trips I am always trying to consider what activities would be enjoyable for everyone involved. When it comes to hiking, everyone has different tolerances as far as distance, exposure, weather, etc… On this trip with my wife and son, I tried to find things that we could all enjoy together as much as possible. However, with that said, when I travel great distances to go to amazing places, there are usually going to be things that shouldn’t be missed and if they are things that I am capable of but perhaps others aren’t, I do what I can to find alternate things for them to do while I tackle the more difficult opportunities.
Luckily Bridgit, who of course is who I travel with the most, is easy to please. She can be content taking a half day to simply relax around the camp or shop if there is a town nearby. She is also very understanding of the fact that I am passionate about my scenery and photography so we work together so that I can go disappear for a hike or a sunrise and she will be just fine doing something else.
There is usually one or two times per trip that I want to do something she wouldn’t necessarily enjoy. On this trip, which lasted twenty days, there was only two times I took off on my own (not counting sunrises which I can return from before she even gets up). One of these was a ten mile round trip hike up Fall Canyon including some serious scrambling.
Fall Canyon is a bit lesser known than some of the other spots in Death Valley but I have no idea why. While we were there, it may have been even quieter due to some areas being closed. In August of 2022, Death Valley was hammered by a thousand year rain event. Massive amounts of debris washed over the roads and ultimately closed all the roads in the park. Most of these roads had severe damage. I had been tracking the roads on their website and throughout the winter some roads slowly opened back up bit by bit but by the time we got there, several roads were still closed.
One of the popular attractions to see is a place called Scotty’s Castle which is up the North Road. Scotty’s Castle was still closed but the North Road had reopened. When you get to the turnoff to the North Road, the sign just says “Scotty’s Castle” and there was a big CLOSED sign over the words Scotty’s Castle. It is likely that a lot of people just assumed that meant the whole road was closed which is also how you access the trailhead to Fall Canyon. I suspect that may have contributed to seeing far fewer people on the day I went to hike Fall Canyon.
After leaving detailed information about where I was going and how long I expected to be gone, I left at six-fifteen in the morning and drove twenty-five miles up the North Road, turning onto a side road to reach the trailhead. Along the way I saw the sun light up the Panamint Mountains to the west. At the trailhead there was one other vehicle and they were packing up their tent after spending the night at the trailhead. That was the last person I saw until I was almost all the way back at the end of my hike.
The trail begins at the mouth of another canyon called Titus Canyon. Rather than going up Titus Canyon, I followed the trail along a wash and gently climbed for about 3/4 of a mile before coming to the mouth of Fall Canyon. I dropped down into the main wash which was huge at the mouth and headed up into the canyon. Fall Canyon is situated in the Grapevine Mountains which are a part of the Amargosa Range. The mountains were still blocking the sun from hitting the canyon so it was cool and pleasant as I worked my way deeper and deeper. The wash was mostly gravel and it takes more effort to hike through gravel than on a normal trail. The further I hiked up canyon, the more beautiful the canyon walls became. The sun began to light up the highest points of the canyon walls and accented the twisted, convoluted rock along the canyon walls.
The mouth of Fall Canyon
Fall Canyon
Fall Canyon
Fall Canyon
Sunlight beginning to penetrate the canyon
Fall Canyon
At three and a half miles I came to an impasse. I expected this. I had researched this canyon extensively before our trip. The impasse was in the form of a twenty-five foot dryfall stretching completely across the floor of the canyon. Almost everyone who hikes the canyon makes this their stopping point before turning around and going back. In my research, I had read that above and beyond the dryfall was an even more beautiful set of narrows and well worth seeing. The trick is how to get past this first dryfall.
The twenty-five foot dryfall impasse
I had read that for skilled scramblers, there was a way to get past this dryfall. Once at the dryfall, if you hike back about fifty feet, on the south side of the canyon was a steep scramble that would get you up above the dryfall and then drop you back to the canyon floor above it. So I hiked back the fifty feet and sure enough, I spotted a small pile of rocks built up under a black wall about ten feet high. Looking at the area from the canyon it didn’t look bad at all but when I got right up to it, the wall was sheer and there wasn’t a lot of things to hang on to.
The scramble bypass route. It looks easy but for scale, the black wall above the rock pile is almost twice my height.
I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to get past this first wall but once I climbed up onto the rock pile I saw that there was a thin crevice with room to get a handhold or two. After I made the first couple of moves I knew I had it. Once past this first hurdle I climbed up a steep rocky gully. At the top of the gully, a rock cairn led me to a path that skirted the canyon wall for a short way before dropping along a rock shelf back to the canyon floor, only now I was on the canyon floor above the dryfall!
Looking back down canyon from the scramble bypass
Looking straight down from the top of the dryfall
I was relieved and excited to have made it to the upper part of Fall Canyon. My efforts paid big dividends. The upper set of narrows were indeed spectacular. They had a very different look than the other rock I had seen so far. This was more smooth and polished, a much darker rock with veins of color running through it. There were lots of twists and turns and in this upper section the walls were much closer together and very high in some spots. I loved every bit of it. I still hadn’t seen another person all day and certainly didn’t expect to in the upper narrows.
I hiked up through the narrows about another half mile until it began to open up to a wider canyon. My goal was to reach a second dryfall which was much higher and impassable and use that as my turnaround point. I got fairly close according to my Gaia app but by now the canyon walls were less spectacular as the narrows, I had reached the five mile mark and also my turnaround time since I had told Bridgit when to expect me back. I turned around and went back through the cool upper narrows until I got back to the dryfall.
Fall Canyon Upper Narrows
Fall Canyon Upper Narrows
Fall Canyon Upper Narrows
Fall Canyon Upper Narrows
Fall Canyon Upper Narrows
Spot where the upper narrows began to open up
Upper Fall Canyon
Upper Fall Canyon
Upper Fall Canyon
Upper Fall Canyon
Upper Fall Canyon
Upper Fall Canyon
Upper Fall Canyon
Upper Fall Canyon
Looking down canyon from the top of the dryfall. The bypass scramble route follows the shelf on the left before dropping down a gully to the final cliff and crevice.
It was wonderful wandering through the upper canyon completely alone. As a matter of fact, having the opportunity to do a ten mile hike in a canyon this beautiful inside a national park and have it completely to myself was really a treat.
Following the bypass route back to the lower canyon floor was no easy feat. Most of it was fine but that last little section on the black sheer wall was a challenge. I can see why most people don’t even bother with it. It is truly for experienced scramblers.
Heading back down lower Fall Canyon
As promised, I got back to Bridgit and Andrew a half hour before I said to expect me so I was happy about that. I felt good. My feet were a bit tired from hiking on the gravel in the wash but my legs did great. I had run into a couple near the trailhead on my way back and they saw I was wearing a UConn baseball cap. I told them we would probably sit out by the office since the wi-fi only works within a few feet of the office. That night was the semi-final of the Final Four and our UConn Huskies were in it against Miami. They told me that the saloon actually has TV so an hour before the game we sidled up to the bar, asked the bartender to be sure to have it on the right channel and plunked down at a table right in front of the big screen. UConn opened up with three threes in a row and never looked back. At one point we were up by twenty and the Huskies led the entire game. Howdy pardner!