Death Valley 2022/23

[netllama]

Wow, those are some amazing shots from Sidewinder!

[Daymoth]

I love sidewinder so much.

[MojaveGeek]

Very nice pix from Sidewinder!! Last time I was there I did the loop from Willow, which is fine with a bit of navigation, but then didn't have time to get deep into the slots. I guess I need to go back

[Kauri]

Great photos!
I'm sorry for initially giving you confusing information about the bridges in Sidewinder. Very glad you were able to see all of the known ones despite my mis-information!
I told Steve Hall that you two were able to climb that dry-fall in the first slot and he was impressed.
You might do just fine on the dry-fall in Hellfire Canyon that's turned around some groups heading to the narrows in the first northern side canyon, if you're interested in tackling that mystery.

[Beardilocks]

Great photos!
I'm sorry for initially giving you confusing information about the bridges in Sidewinder. Very glad you were able to see all of the known ones despite my mis-information!
I told Steve Hall that you two were able to climb that dry-fall in the first slot and he was impressed.
You might do just fine on the dry-fall in Hellfire Canyon that's turned around some groups heading to the narrows in the first northern side canyon, if you're interested in tackling that mystery.

No no no! Not at all!   The confusion was wrapped up in a ton of different sources.  Digonnet stating that there’s a half dozen in the Black Mountains, Steve Hall thinking that there were only 4 in all Sidewinder slots, junk I’ve read on the web that #1 doesn’t go all the way through.  Or that it only had one bridge.  

Just a lot of muddled info on the web in general about bridges in DV.  Despite having the foremost experts on DV bridges in the community.  It’s a wild place out here!   You never know what you’ll find.  That’s part of the fun!

And I found a good one today.  Hoping one of y’all has been there.  Or none of you have, that’d be fun too.  And I have a really great hike coming up.  Coming soon.  Eventually.  Maybe.  We’ll see.

[Beardilocks]

I took a quick trip up into the Owlsheads to heavily slow down Brice’s usual peakbagging speed and grab  a few benchmarks myself.  Starting point was the Black Magic Mine.  Or close to it.  The last hundred yards or so of the road are very badly washed out.  This is still a pretty decent section.  Lol.  




I was mainly here for the killer views of Owl Dry Lake


Found some typical military junk out here.  Assuming it’s a downed drone.  







Views continued to be stunning


View towards Harry Wade/127/Ibex Dunes & Spring/etc


A really neat exploded (eroded) quartz hill. 



Now… only about 5.5mi in that direction to get back to my truck…


For about 1/2 the hike the terrain consisted of these mini-Joshua Tree NP style  eroded granite boulders.  Quite unexpected.

[DeathValleyDazed]

Wow, the air was crystal clear for you. Love seeing Mount Whitney way off to the west. Wondering what those white top mountains are way way off on the east horizon?

[Beardilocks]

Wow, the air was crystal clear for you. Love seeing Mount Whitney way off to the west. Wondering what those white top mountains are way way off on the east horizon?

I’m fairly certain that we couldn’t see Mt Whitney.  Snow capped peaks over Owl Lake are the Panamints.  Very snowy right now.    

As far as off to the East… it was discussed and I can’t remember the conclusion that we came to.

[Brice]

Wow, the air was crystal clear for you. Love seeing Mount Whitney way off to the west. Wondering what those white top mountains are way way off on the east horizon?

At first I thought we were seeing Whitney also,  but I'm pretty sure it was just Telescope.  The long distance views can really play tricks.

As for the eastern view, the snowy mountain is Mount Charleston outside of Vegas.

[MojaveGeek]

That road looks pretty gnarly! How was the road as far as Owl Hole Spring?

Definitely a good call on snowy Telescope / Panamints. It's got the right shape. But yes, amazing visability.

With the recent rains, there's probably snow all along the Panamints north to Wildrose, any beyond that that you've seen in your travels?