February 2022

[trailhound]

I have had some health issues over the last year. Well, I am 72. What do you expect? At any rate, I am recovering enough to plan a trip to DV in February 2022. Needing kinder, gentler hikes, I am considering these places: Red Wall Canyon, Kit Fox Hills Slot, The Crack, Mummy Canyon, and Palmer Canyon. 

In 2019, we got to the mouth of Red Wall Canyon when we saw rain falling in the Cottonwoods.  What if it is also raining in the Grapevines where we can't see? A flash flood could come barreling down. We bailed on the rest of the hike. I have been determine to go back ever since. Hopefully, this time for sure. Wish me luck.

[MojaveGeek]

Getting old sucks, doesn't it? Well glad to say someone a couple years older than I still hikes out there I don't find many who fit that description on my hiking.

You've got a wide range of effort in those hikes you list. Did you get to the mouth of Redwall? It is straightforward but a decent haul up the fan from pavement. And you're right, if in doubt, avoid canyons in thunderstorms! Are you going to get to Palmer from the mouth of Titus, or walking up from the pavement? We did it from the mouth, there's use trails pretty much all the way (just don't get suckered into following the main use trial into Fall Canyon, and when you cross the Fall wash, try to first eyeball a rock cairn on the other side showing you the proper place to exit).

Mummy isn't much more than a stroll. The Crack is surprisingly nice, again not a full day, but a bit more effort than Mummy.

I do not know of a slot in the Kit Fox hills, but I can recommend a loop there. If you park by the "historical wagon wheel marks" interpretive marker (WARNING: was this still there last time I went by? Not sure) you can travel up that canyon till it ends and takes you up to the flats pf desert pavement above, then head north, pick up the old road from Rhyolite, and down the larger canyon - which still has some of the poles from the Rhyolite - Skidoo phone line. When that hits pavement, just turn left and walk 1/2 mile or so back to your car. This was the very first hike I did out there, carrying my then 3 1/2 year old daughter, decades ago

If the interpretive sign is indeed gone, it's the first canyon south of the telephone line canyon. And that canyon empties out just where the dirt road to the Stovepipe Well site is - no surprise, it was all part of the same road down from Rhyolite.

I highly recommend doing your Redwall hike on a sunny day. The sunlight really brings out the amazing red colors on that canyon, the light in there makes it one of my favorites!

Anyway, have a great trip, and keep on hiking!! 2020 did a number on me, but I feel "young for my age" again after a summer of hiking this year.

[trailhound]

Yes. we got to the mouth of Red Wall before the rain falling on the Cottonwoods scared us off. I agree, it has to be sunny for the hike to be worth it. I took some pictures, but it was overcast. They look like crap.

I plan on hiking Palmer from the road. I want no part of The Cauldron area. I wish I was still fit enough to explore it. 

Kauri documents the Kit Fox Hills slot here:

http://kaurijacobphotography.yolasite.co...ch2015.pdf

[MojaveGeek]

Oh, that slot looks like fun!

Palmer from the road is about a mile longer. And "the Cauldron" (I call it "the Hell Hole") is no big deal. There are several use trails you can follow over from the Fall outwash, and one of them simply bypasses it entirely, the other drops in, crosses quickly, and pops out the other side. There is a good use trail up from that wash into Palmer. Whether it's any easier, despite a couple extra miles round trip, from the road of course depends on whether you find much desert pavement as you ascend that alluvial fan.