Death Valley 2022/23

[Beardilocks]

So next we took the short drive past SPW and down Cottonwood Rd. for the second sojourn of the day out to the Princess Bride Canyons.

We had originally wandered out here a few weeks back to look for what we thought was a bridge on a canyoneering route in Humperdinck Canyon.  Our Beta was... non-existent.  Lol.  So we of course walked away empty handed that day.  A bit more research showed that it was actually in Dread Pirate Roberts Canyon (one canyon West), so we didn't even have the right canyon.  However further research could find absolutely nothing else on the canyon or the bridge.  Apparently the bridge had only ever been accessed by a few cannoneers rappelling the canyon and we had no clue if the bridge was accessible to hikers or not.  And the satellite view was neither helpful nor encouraging. 

The hike in is pretty straightforward.  You have an option of approaching in the slot canyon drainage or on the fan, both of which have one section of mild/moderate exposure (more about that below).  Once you reach the base of the canyon you begin a rock scramble in an absolute rubble pile of rock all the way up to the top.  There was one tricky dryfall section, but the exposure is fairly low.  

A short distance up canyon we found a set of small minor bridges or arches leading to a tunnel.


Human for scale.


Peering into the depths.


How far will we be able to climb/scramble/crawl?


View back.  Bloody hell you gain elevation quick in this stuff.




Then around a corner... Paydirt!


This thing is a monster of solid rock.  About 10ft tall and 15ft wide inside.  The slope is WAY steeper than it looks in photos.  It's extremely confusing because the bridge opening is pointed at the same angle as the slope making it look much more like it's on a flat surface.  


Human for scale.


Interior.


Looking back down.




Human for scale again.


Long bloody climb back down.


On the way back we found this kill scene.  Red-tailed Hawk.  There were several very large nests in the cliffs above the canyon.




We also found these bushes blooming beautifully.  A local hummingbird was flitting about making sure to get every last drop out of these impossibly small flowers.


I was very happy to find this bridge at last and document the size and the route to get to it.  It is one helluva bridge, one of the larger ones in the park and one of the few made solely out of solid rock.  It was MUCH larger than we expected.  

The climb up there isn't for everyone.  I think the total mileage on the roundtrip was about 5-6mi.  But the last .25mi gains about 700-800ft of elevation.  And that is almost exclusively crawling up and over the rock-fall that chokes the whole canyon.  You never know which pieces are solidly placed and which are loose.  There is one section on the approach up the fan to the canyon that has mild exposure but very grippy rock that can be done as either a climb up from in the slot canyon (next to a white dryfall chute) or as a mildly exposed rock-face crossing, if hiking in up on the bench to the south of the drainage.  There were a couple of short class 3 climbs (5-7ft) that were pretty easy.  Only one section on a dryfall was a bit tricky, but not bad.  It's grippy sharp rock (great for footholds, tough on bare hands for hand holds) but it's very solid.  If I was in a group I would advise hardhats or being very well spaced to avoid getting brained by someone above when a rock is kicked loose.

We decided to name the bridge BOUS Bridge after the ROUS's (rodents of unusual size) in order to keep with the Princess Bride theme of the area and for the unexpected unusually large size of it.