OK, you're right. I checked the time on the photo. It is indeed looking down Death Valley canyon toward Badwater. And that scree is on the side of 8285T. Kudos to you for figuring that out!

I've looked at my photos again. The one that I took looking down the South Fork has some trees obscuring the view of the ridges down from the west side. I can say that looking down at them, they looked quite passable, soil with scattered trees, but I'm afraid I don't have a pic to show for it.

Sorry for my confusion.

Awesome, thanks!  MG + Diggonet = Confidence

It's amazing how much I learn just going through my old pictures.  The relationship between different areas and landmarks become much clearer.

Yes, if you visit the same area repeatedly, is is amazing how valuable your old photos are.  So often you can call upon them to show you a place you didn't go that time, but are considering going another time.

I'm going to attach a different photo, which has more value perhaps.  We did a hike wherein we drove up Wood Canyon only as far as the Argenta Mine, then walked to the end.  From there we followed a closed old two-track on the crest, going south.  It rapidly degenerated into a trail, which is visible in GE.  It is human-made - there is a switchback  It follows the crest then contours to a small saddle.  I had thought I had seen traces of trail going up Bald Peak, albeit steeply.  As we got into the saddle there were remnants of an old road (it comes out and meets the main Wood Canyon Rd, marked with a "wilderness closed" barrier).  There were a few cairns so we followed it, still going south.  It sort of vanished, there were some sort of trails, and then things were getting pretty steep.  I have no idea where this road/trail went.  We ended up going straight up a fairly steep ascent immediately on the east side of the smaller of the Bald Peak bumps.  It was tough going.  I'm still curious where that road/trail could have possibly gone, because the east side face of Bald/Wildrose gets very steep in there.  There may be some way into the South Fork from there, but later on, looking at the area from the south  a few days later, I could not see much, nor can I see any traces on GE.

Anyway, the attached is a shot looking south from just above that saddle.  I believe the ridge in the middle ground, with a rocky head on the left (east) side is the biggest ridge coming down into trail from the NW end of the Wildrose Peak plateau.  I don't think this is the ridge you have been referring to; rather that is hidden from view.  But you can get a sense of what the terrain looks like.  The ridge in the pic has a rocky head, but it looks like there is a walk down on the side facing the camera.

The ridge in the distance is the one we were heading out on later in the week.

Nice; awesome shot!  I think the ridge there is the one I descended the first time I went down Trail in 2015.  That's my backup plan in case the ridge in question doesn't work.   

I did Bald via Wood Canyon in August 2019.  Just a day hike, the day after Mt Whitney, so probably was harder than it otherwise would have been.  I definitely need to visit the area this shot was taken from....views are spectacular.

When you went up Bald from Wood, did you go all the way to the end of the Wood road, or did you start up earlier? The views from the end of the road are stunning, which is part of why I went back that way. We descended along the Bald ridge to the west and eventually picked one of the ridges back down into Wood. It got dark on us but we were on the floor by then. I took pix of a trail down from the crest heading south and down into Trail. You can see it on GE. It goes down to one of the canyon bottoms. Years ago while some place up on Bald I saw a trail dropping down to the east. I was hoping to find it but failed. We got up anyway but the steep part has a bunch of rather loose talus.

It is a very scenic area indeed!

I parked at the cul-de-sac type area.

https://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=36.33324...ry&o=t&n=0

I think this is the ridge I went up, hitting the "4" on the topo:

https://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=36.31083...o=t&n=0.82

From Bald, I followed the crest north to 7726T and took the very-steep-in-places northwest ridge down, continuing about northwest to hit the old road back to the parking area.  

Cool. We walked to the head of Wood, then south along the ridge straight south, which forms a N/S line approximately lined up with the A and O in "Death Valley National Park". We contoured around the last bump on the west side, and in that little saddle picked up a bit of old two track remnant. But it did not go far and shortly thereafter we just went straight up, topping our right at 7726T I think we exited the way you went up.

I definitely need to explore more over there on a future trip! This descent is scheduled for Saturday, so will be reporting back soon on how it goes....thanks again!

The ridge in question worked, but it was TOUGH!  Will describe the whole trip in a report soon.  Thanks!!

(2021-04-26, 05:26 AM)wbdeford Wrote: The ridge in question worked, but it was TOUGH!  Will describe the whole trip in a report soon.  Thanks!!

Oh great! Looking forward to hearing about it. If it was tough for you, it's gotta be really tough!