Death Valley 2022/23

[Beardilocks]

Brice & I took a walk into the Sidewinder Slots to see how many natural bridges we could find.  There’s has been some dispute over how many bridges there are exactly in the Sidewinder Slots.  We counted 5 bridges.  Two in #1, one in #2, and two in #3.  I’m not sure why one of them (seemingly one of the two in #3) was either overlooked or not considered “major” enough as, to our eyes, all three in #2&3 are of equal size and splendor.  

Also, after some rather spirited scrambling into #1 from the top AND bottom we found that, contrary to what’s typically written online, you can absolutely hike #1 all the way through to the top and out.  There’s some minor class 3 scramble/climbing but nothing difficult.  The crux is a ~10-11ft fall deep in a dark cave that appears to immediately dead end at the top.  But it doesn't!  And that section is actually the most fun part.


View of the salt pan from the ridge. 




Scrambling down #1 from the top:



Descending into the deep dark slot of #1:





*(apologies for the crappy photos coming up: iPhone long exposure without a tripod will need some more experimenting with… lol)

What I believe Steve Hall refers to as Cavern Bridge in #1:



The dryfall deep in #1 climbing up from the bottom:



Just some eye candy from #3:




At the time of the hike, we thought it was one of the two bridges in #1 that was disputed.  Not #3.  So I wasn’t focused on getting pics of all 5.  I wish I had now.  Oh well, just another hike to add to the future “to-do” list now.