2025-01-28, 01:56 PM
(2025-01-28, 01:39 PM)Beardilocks Wrote: This was a canyon that I dipped my toe into a couple of years ago with Brice. We were out exploring an undocumented canyon we ended up calling Glitter Canyon and poked our noses up this canyon that shares a drainage with it. But we had other goals that day and didn't explore it fully.
So I decided to make another incomplete attempt at flushing this canyon out after an already full day of hiking and the light fading early as it likes to in January in the desert.
Honestly, my memory of this canyon was that we would likely hit an impassable dryfall very quickly, so I didn't re-document any of the lower canyon. So the first few pics here are from when I checked out the lower canyon a few years ago.
The first set of falls start a little ways up the canyon after the lower part carves it's way through a gorgeous polished concrete section with large embedded stones that housewives in Salt Lake City would pay a small fortune to have as their kitchen counter tops.
The wash base then transitions to dolomite limestone that is polished to a white marble that make up the first of a seemingly never ending string of china teacups pouring one into the next up the slope of the mountain. So I have dubbed it "100 Teacups Canyon". Until I go back and count how many teacups there actually are.
...
This canyon is easily one of my favorite unknown canyons that I've ever explored in Death Valley. It's stunningly beautiful, 100% unique in the area, fun, just challenging enough, and with fascinating geology. I think I need to go back, if not to see if that Final Boss of Teacups is undefeatable, but to experience the whole canyon as it's own pleasure and not tacked onto another journey where I'm rushing to beat the sun back to my truck. It's a very special place.
That does look like a blast! Roughly what kind of distance was this from where you parked to that "Final Boss of Teacups" ?