Little Bridge, Crack, Brimstone, but not Corkscrew

[Bluegreen kayak]

Arrived in Death Valley Sunday Feb 26 after a night's delay in Las Vegas - the pass to Pahrump was closed and traffic turned around. It was a cold and windy week in the park, but I'm looking back with fondness for the things I was still able to do. Plan A was for my son and I to climb Corkscrew, as an overnight (camping partway there) since last time I couldn't make the whole climb. As soon as I arrived, I could tell that wasn't going to happen:

Evening in Texas Springs was pleasant. I jinxed myself with my previous comments about the campground being quiet; there was a large group having fun playing cornhole and being a bit boisterous, but to their credit, they were quieter after supper and no noise problems at night. I'd already selected a site some distance away. I enjoy walking up the hills around Texas Springs at sunset to catch interesting colors and highlights.




Monday then. Little Bridge was on my list for a re-visit, with the addition of exploring the side canyon on the right as you trudge up the hill. It had three major forks and was enjoyable. I found tracks in the sandy parts and thought maybe someone else had been here recently, but with further scrutiny, the tracks were shorter and rounder than most shoes, and at one part there were many of them.


Since I doubt there were hordes of people in this waste, I'm thinking maybe burros, as there were some small puddles left from the rains. Didn't see any scat.
There were fossils, both real and fake:


Also one that I thought might be plant fossils, except that I didn't see any veins in the shapes.


On the leftmost fork I found a dryfall that I might have tackled with more time; I was curious how close to Little Bridge's canyon it would take me, but wasn't up for the gamble.


When I came back to the mess of ridges that form the approach to Little Bridge, I picked one that turned out to be wrong, taking me way up but without any connection to the main wash. I trudged back down a minor wash, contemplating my next move and wondering how far I'd have to go back down to find the right way, when voila! There was a hiker on the ridge next to me, heading up. He said he thought it was the correct one, but where he was I couldn't get to, as it was over 20 feet almost straight up. Okay, but now I at least knew. I continued down to a spot where I could ascend the ridge and took it up to the canyon mouth, happy to be there but a little concerned as it was well after lunchtime already, with still the canyon to go up - and it's a steep one.

Ate a quick lunch and hoofed up the gravel as best I could, with stops for interesting features such as this one, which made me think of the entrance to the mines of Moria in Lord of the Rings (that's for you, Kauri!).

Made it up to Little Bridge, which looked as sturdy as ever. The last time I was here I hung around, admired the bridge from all angles, and even took a nap on a flat boulder nearby. Today I was worried about reaching my car before sunset, so it was hi and goodbye and I was on my way down.



More amazing rock colors and bends in evening light.


More fossils as well, similar to the ones in Bighorn Gorge.


I saw several instances of what looked like recent rockfalls, either from winter or all the rainstorms.

Now the amusing part - the gentleman I met before, who was on the correct ridge, finally caught up with me as I was almost out of the canyon. I'd been wondering what happened to him. He had hiked up much quicker than I did and missed the arch on the right that his trail guide mentioned. Consequently, he thought that Little Bridge was the "arch", so he kept going and going until he hit a dryfall that finally stopped him. I confirmed for him that yes, that was Little Bridge, and that the arch is hard to spot going up and almost impossible to see going down.

He went back up the ridge to return - I think maybe he was running late for something - and I decided to walk down the gravel wash that the trail guide describes as easier to follow but longer. That it certainly was. As confusing as the ridges are, I don't think I would ever go up this wash to get to Little Bridge; it would use up all my energy and leave nothing for the canyon. I did beat the sunset by about 40 minutes, happily so.

I've got to go paint a wall, but there'll be more.