Death Valley 2022/23

[Beardilocks]

Next up I took a hike out in the middle of Racetrack Valley.  I try to make a habit of this in places like this.  Places where tons of people drive through an NO one gets out.  Lest the valle de la muerte reap them as soon as they get more than 20ft from their car.  

Plus, I thought the geology was similar enough to another canyon not too too far away that had a lot of signs of ancient visitation.

It certainly looked cool.  A side-by-side double fall chock full of potholes.  And it looked like multiple slot canyons in the hanging valley above if I could get there.






To get up the first section I simply walked up the face of the rock next to the falls.  It was about 60deg in places but of that particularly grippy "elephant skin" dolomite.  After a quick (but exhausting) climb of 300 vertical feet in about 300 horizontal feet I hit a large grotto and set of much taller dryfalls that would have to be bypassed in a different manner.  


You ever have one of those days where everything is clicking and you have complete confidence in your body and in your split-second decision making skills., where climbing just feels right?  In the groove so to speak?  Yeah, this was not one of those days for me.  At all.  So I bailed on trying to get to the next level.  Maybe another time when I have back-up.

This is the northern of the twin dryfalls, looking into it from the ridge btw them.  Partway down the slope (or cliff) on the left in the photo you can see a dark spot.  That was a rather large looking cave/alcove I would have liked to explore.  But there was no easy way there coming from the south twin fall.  


Looking South.


I'm fairly certain that I might be able to get up to the next level by picking a route (via trail & error) through that craggy junk in the middle of the above photo.  It would be time consuming (and you would need sturdy gloves) but I think it's at least plausible.  

When I left, I saved my butt and my hands the shredding they would have gotten crab-walking down the dolomite I came up and instead carefully made my way down the gravel slope you can see there.  I used poles and managed to stay on my feet, although it was touch and go a couple of times.