Discovering a second surprising site of rotting in the sun and elements, abandoned high end hiking, backpacking, climbing, canyoneering gear out in Death Valley really got me wondering if you folks have had the same eerie experiences? 

First, shortly after discovering Death Valley and hiking up Telescope Peak for the first time and in the winter no less, on the trail about a mile below the summit and half buried in the snow I noticed a gray thing protruding from the snow about ten feet above the trail on the slope. Brushing it off I discovered a fully packed outfitted high end gray fabric internal frame back pack stuffed with gear, trail food, camp stove, Garmin GPS Device, maps, deck of playing cards, but no sleeping bag, tent, or pad. It had obviously been laying there for some time and other hikers had not seen it or had ignored it. 

I continued on up to summit Telescope Peak puzzling over the situation and decided that it had been abandoned rather than cached. There was no ID anywhere to be found. Figuring it would eventually become trash or an eyesore so I packed it all the way down to Mahogany Flat Campground. I never took any photos of it which I regret. I figured I'd turn it in at the Furnace Creek Visitor Center but got sidetracked with other adventures and eventually headed home forgetting to check it in at the VC. 

The pack was certainly not lost or forgotten but rather abandoned by someone who did not see the need to carry it out or was not able to carry it out due to fatigue or possibly injury. You might think that they would have left a note of explanation inside the pack? I still have the pack but the Garmin never worked and I don't need a stove. 

On another hike up Telescope a few years later in the summer I came across a water cache of two plastic gallon jugs of water that was obviously aging out but still holding the liquid. It would not have been safe to drink water from weather exposed plastic jugs but I left it there just in case. I have not rechecked that location on subsequent hikes. 

Now last week in DEVA hiking south from The Devil's Cornfield to Tucki Mountain's northeast side to explore a no-name canyon two canyons north of Trellis Canyon I stumbled across two gear packs of rock climber gear on a small ridge out on the alluvial fan about three miles from the highway. This was a peculiar place to leave gear because it was about a mile or two from the nearest canyon as well as three miles from the highway. I wondered which canyon they had explored or intended to explore as I continued my own exploration of one of the canyons. The likely canyon they had targeted was probably the same one in line from my own car park, the gear, and the canyon mouth. The canyon walled out in about a mile or so with a high gorgeous dry fall with the only bypass being a rather technical climb up a huge flat slab of hard rock of about 65 degrees. This would appeal to climbers with rope and safety gear as it was not vertical but highly risky and way over my ability to try a free climb. An experienced rock climber with gear would have enjoyed a 76 to 100 foot long crack climb up the right side of this slab or climbing along a crack-fissure cross the slab face from right to left leading to the top of the dry fall and a possible by pass. Unfortunately I some how deleted my detailed raw video footage I took of the area to demonstrate the probable goal of the two people who left their gear behind. So, no trip report on this canyon exploration.

However, I retained the footage of the abandoned gear which you can see below this post. I re-bagged the gear and left it just as I found it because no way was I going to lug that stuff over the miserable alluvial fan terrain back to my car park. Hauling this gear out there in the first place would have taken considerable effort on these two climbers' parts. Besides, the climbing ropes were sun bleached and no longer safe, the two helmets looks sun bleached as well as the packs. A black plastic bag tied tightly had been blown to shreds or rotted off in the sun. The two bladders of water still held their contents inside of the packs. No identification was located. I also never returned to the Visitor Center during regular hours after this discovery. 

What would the approximate value of this gear be? So why do people like this leave their gear behind? Should I have made better efforts to report it to rangers? Would the NPS staff even care? Have you had similar experiences locating gear or abandoning your own gear? FYI - I've never left any gear behind and I hope I never have to. 

The metal gear has value, but used gear, and to a climber community only... meh. The rope and other non-metal gear is worthless, too much UV exposure, would not trust the material. Certainly very bad form by those who left all that gear in the various places. It's booty - anything you want, it's yours, and thanks for carrying it out.

In southern AZ, where I just was, there's a different sort of back country trash. Migrants come up from Mexico, pass over the mountains, and then have gear they shed before they get picked up to drive into the city; they don't want to look like migrants. You are in the middle of nowhere and you come across a pile of old clothing, water bottles in Spanish, and low quality backpacks. I carry out what I can, but it is always a bit surprising to come across, and reminds of the tough journey people are making and where they are sleeping out in that rough country.

Makes me think of something I read in an old book on DV prospectors. The writer went on a trip of several days with Shorty Harris, who was at the time of writing getting up in years. At some point Harris was upset by something and would deliberately dump all his water in a fit of rage. The writer mentioned that it was something he witnessed another prospector do. Your findings might be something similar.

When we first hiked Pothole Canyon, we did the hike with Charlie Callagan from the NPS, and we came across a large gear pile on the long bypass of the large dryfall. I recall that, given the setup, Charlie thought someone had probably had to camp there for the night unexpectedly (no camping gear but a small rock wall/shelter had been built) then had left their gear to get back to the road more quickly. We packed everything out, and I'm guessing Charlie disposed of the gear since it was so old at that point. He also sounded interested to figure out what had happened, though of course we don't know if he was able to do this because that would have been private information.

I would guess the folks at the NPS might like to know about these gear piles, both to remove them as trash and also to confirm that they aren't associated with a known missing hiker. But that's just my guess.

Dazed, which canyon did you hike that had the dryfall?
Depending how you're counting canyons, two south of Trellis could be what I'm calling Tiger Stripe Canyon:
http://kaurijacobphotography.yolasite.co...lMarsh.pdf
or what Steve Hall calls Cottonball Marsh Canyon:
http://kaurijacobphotography.yolasite.co...Canyon.pdf
(Not sure why the TOPO map isn't showing up in this trip report, sorry about that!)

(2021-12-25, 09:33 AM)Kauri Wrote: When we first hiked Pothole Canyon, we did the hike with Charlie Callagan from the NPS,
Dazed, which canyon did you hike that had the dryfall?

Sadly, I never met Charlie Callagan because I was too late to the game, but did meet Jay Snow and Bob Greenberg who were both delightful. 

Much to my relief I located the raw video footage of No Name Canyon and just competed a detailed trip report video. To clarify, it's two canyons north of Trellis Canyon and one south Little Bridge. I'm sure open to name suggestions for this canyon which deserves a Death Valley theme name for sure.

Thank you for the location clarification and video!! Funny, we actually hiked that canyon with Charlie back in December 2014 (one of only a few hikes we did with Charlie before he retired). Trip report:
http://kaurijacobphotography.yolasite.co...Bridge.pdf
None of us could come up with a name for a canyon, so it looks like it's in your hands to name it, Dazed
We explored those small hills thoroughly after hiking the canyon since Charlie thought it was very likely there would be petroglyphs there, but no luck there weren't any.
Congrats on finding a bypass of the first dryfall, which had stopped us!

(2021-12-25, 07:44 PM)Kauri Wrote: None of us could come up with a name for a canyon, so it looks like it's in your hands to name it, Dazed

I nominate Dazed Abyss! 

I recall a report on one of the Mt Whitney/Sierra Nevada boards. There was a full campsite found abandoned somewhere in the Sierra.  I think the tent had collapsed from wind or snow. No explanation was had.

Something as simple as a twisted ankle could cause someone to jettison gear and hobble out. Circumstances could prevent an immediate return to retrieve the gear. The owner just gave up on it.

I had the honor of being on a guided tour of Copper Canyon led by Charlie Callagan. He was the best, the very best.

(2021-12-25, 08:12 PM)DAW89446 Wrote: I nominate Dazed Abyss! 

Thanks but I like "Digonnet's Dungeon" more and because he wrote about the area in his book. And also because that first chock rocked dry fall flanked by a huge gorgeous nearly vertical slab of hard stone would be a great mecca for climbers if it were not so remote.

(2021-12-28, 12:26 PM)trailhound Wrote: I had the honor of being on a guided tour of Copper Canyon led by Charlie Callagan. He was the best, the very best.

Glad you mentioned Charlie Callagan because I've started future video files on Callagan, and his fellow rangers, Jay Snow, Bob Greenberg, Jeremy Stoltzfus, and Mike Reynolds in hope of some day compiling decent memorials to their NPS careers in DEVA. If you're willing to share any images or vids of Charlie in action, I'd love to include them.