Death Valley 2022/23

[Beardilocks]

Between the weather, some boring hikes where I din't find anything, and a few hikes to sensitive areas that I can't publish, I'm afraid things have gotten pretty quiet in here.  

Here's a quick hike I've been meaning to do for a while now.  This is a canyon off of what the maps call Red Amphitheater (not the real RA).  I believe it is a drainage of Pyramid Peak.  It's a very colorful canyon, if short and quite a scramble to get into.  

You can see the white wall from some distance and that's what originally drew me to it.


A bit of a boulder field on the approach.




The scrambling was basically continuous. 


Extremely colorful though.
















Great views as I climbed up the back of the canyon and checked out a bunch of small caves that were in the cliff faces.  Why is it that caves look freaking HUGE from the ground but are tiny up close?? Way too many times lately I'm looking at a cave that has to be 10ft across and by the time I scramble 100ft up to it it's... 3ft wide.  I cannot figure out what's wired wrong in my brain.  


And a gorgeous view on the way out of Hole in the Wall and on towards Furnace.

[Daymoth]

So pink and orange! And nice clouds!

[Beardilocks]

Took a trip to Sunlight Bridge the other day.  The weather was perfect for once amid wild swings in the forecast.  

Sunshine Bridge is a special place, discovered by our own Kauri, and I'm keeping the location under wrap for now.

The canyon on the way in is very pretty & colorful.




One big dryfall to bypass.




After that it gets very slotty very quickly.


First look at the bridge.


It is very very large.  Definitely no question as to this being a major bridge.







There are quite a few more slots to explore in the neighborhood.


Another big dryfall.


A really stunning bridge.  Very cool to see in person.

[Beardilocks]

After that I went on a short petroglyph hunt.  This "set" is within a few miles of a well know site near a spring, but I have never seen it mentioned anywhere before.  I found it when I was scouring some old maps actually looking for forgotten tourist destinations in the park.  I chalked it up to the map being off by a bit (as is common in old maps) since it wasn't much more than a mile from the other site.  Cartographer's error.  But I decided to investigate.

There was a plethora of good petroglyph canvases in the area, which often means that you will find absolutely nothing.  Lol.  The perfect area to drive yourself completely nuts checking every rock to find zip.  But I found one, and only one, large boulder adorned with petroglyphs.

These glyphs appeared quite old.  They at least look older than the other nearby glyphs.  They are more faded & patinated and the boulder they are on has since fractured (after the glyphs were carved) and I'm sure several glyphs are lost on large chunks of the rock that now face down in the desert. 

This one was the first I found and very intriguing.  It is faded almost past recognition and seems to be 4 glyphs grouped together.  Possibly snake, sun, maybe a bird, and... the other one is very hard to make out.


Hit it with DStretch to try to drag out some detail.


This nearly invisible one was just above it.


It appears to be a figure or sigil inside a circle.  Which is a bit more rare of a design style.


Classic bird footprint style that you see in UT and the four-corners area more than in DV.  Or maybe just an abstract scribble.  Who knows.


Almost looks like a dragonfly.


There were several spirals around existing orifices in the rock.  Feel free to make your own interpretations.








Cool map design or... 




Also in the area I found several dead-fall traps.  At least I'm guessing this one could be.  Unconventional materials.  Pet's grave?




Likely campsite at one time or another. 


Interesting site.  Always cool to find a new set of glyphs.

[Daymoth]

Aw man! Ive been chatting abou that canyon with Mojavegeek now what, 2 seasons? The road closures didnt play nice. Next season hopefully.

That second glyph looks like a smiley face to me.

[Beardilocks]

Took a hike to a very nice, and as far as I can tell on the interwebs, undocumented canyon. I brought Brice along so that he could up with wrong ideas for what to name the canyon.

I'm voting for Glitter Canyon because all the shiny rocks (some form of schist I think?) leave the sand of the canyon floor looking like the floor of a strip club.  Plus all the super shiny rocks glitter in the sunlight.  Brice has bad taste in music and wants to name it Disco Canyon.  Vote below to see what we make unofficial.

The canyon is about 1mi SE of the parking area for Keane Wonder.  It's very colorful, very shiny, and very scenic.  

Colorful


There were many falls to climb or bypass but nothing too hard.




Great views back towards the valley.








One of the bypasses.


The widest section of the canyon.




So much mineralization everywhere.   Forbidden cheesy popcorn here.






These would have all been shiny brightly if the sun had been out.


End of the line.




Great views on the way back.


Finally.  GOLD!  I'm rich and can retire.


This was a really enjoyable canyon.  Not a long one.  About 1mi long and about 800ft of elevation gain hopping up dryfalls.  But fascinating geology and beautiful views.  

We hit a side canyon on the way back that looked interesting on satellite.  It had some nice marble-isn chutes and falls.




Then we found a really well preserved (for DV) Quaker State oil can from Oil City PA.




Good day.

[Kauri]

Wow!! Great find. I’d been very curious about canyons in that area and thought they might be quite nice, since King Midas Canyon is so neat, but wasn’t expecting colors and narrows as nice as this. Well done!

Name: How about Glitter Disco Canyon? Compromise

Unless you want a new and uninteresting name idea: Oil Can Canyon.

You and Brice keep up the great work with the DV exploring!! I’m looking forward to seeing what you two find next.

[Daymoth]

Mmmmmmm I gotta say Disco Canyon does have a ring to it....

I need to see that cheesy popcorn. I just need to see it.

[DeathValleyDazed]

Your photos are always vivid and alive. Keep them coming our way!

[Bluegreen kayak]

Okay, those are some awesome pictures, and I badly want to go there on my next visit to the park. How sure are you about the mile southeast canyon mouth? I'm trying to pin it down on Google Earth.

Thank you very much for sharing so much beautiful nature with us.