What's the most remote difficult place to reach in the park?

[TacoLand]

Dang. Would have been more than happy to do water drops for you but work has me unable to travel until the very end of the year at the earliest. Sorry about that.

I do sympathize with your friends’ lack of enthusiasm for backpacking DVNP due to lack of water. I carried 13+ liters doing the Upper Big Fall out and back to help support the person I was hiking with. That was a total drag.

[John Morrow]

Dang. Would have been more than happy to do water drops for you but work has me unable to travel until the very end of the year at the earliest. Sorry about that.

I do sympathize with your friends’ lack of enthusiasm for backpacking DVNP due to lack of water. I carried 13+ liters doing the Upper Big Fall out and back to help support the person I was hiking with. That was a total drag.

i remember your report about that water carry.  I'd like to repeat your trip.  They look like beautiful canyons.  I thought about a daytrip water drop across the valley floor, then backpack your rough route to it.  but it is up to 8 miles wide in that general area!

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I’ve not done Dry Bone thru but I’ve done the top portion as an out and back day hike.  The drop into the canyon in order to bypass the technical falls at the head is largely a talus slope most of the way and then some rock scrambling closer to the base.  You need to do some route finding so as not to end up above a ledge along the way.  It is pretty solidly class 3.

With a daypack it was really not a problem at all though trekking poles are nice to have on such steep and unstable slopes as they can help to keep you upright when talus starts sliding.  With a heavy pack for an overnight I can imagine it being more awkward in spots and perhaps taking off the pack being a good idea in spots.  I went both down and up it so really it’s not that bad.

Photo from the top of the drop in:


And from the bottom looking back up (from a bit down canyon so that the whole route can be seen):

Your pics on your site are really beautiful!  Natural color 9 not over saturated) and beautiful textures and composition.  Talk about stoke!

[GowerGulch42]

Just how hazardous is that descent? A 1200-foot talus slope seems pretty intense.

[DVexile]

Your pics on your site are really beautiful!  Natural color 9 not over saturated) and beautiful textures and composition.  Talk about stoke!

Thanks!

Just how hazardous is that descent? A 1200-foot talus slope seems pretty intense.

It's really not hazardous in the sense of any serious fall injury or having giant boulders go tumbling by you. Occasionally the talus will slide for a short bit and you stop walking and go for a ride for just a few feet before it settles again. I had trekking poles so I could stay upright for the short slides. Without trekking poles you might just choose to sit down when a slide starts... and then shake dirt and pebbles out of your undies afterwards. And on the route I took the talus didn't lead anywhere tragic, it was relatively short sections at the angle of repose that stopped at small terraces at more stable angles. Only a fraction of the descent is on talus and for the rest of it you can stay on the margins of the talus on more stable ground. Honestly it felt fine. Mostly I dreaded slogging back up it! That ended up not being too awful either, just slow and tiring.

[DeathValleyDazed]

DVexile
Without trekking poles you might just choose to sit down when a slide starts... and then shake dirt and pebbles out of your undies afterwards. 

I employ two techniques when going up or down the "talus temples" in DEVA. I wear gators that fit tightly around my ankles over the boots and pant legs thus keeping the debris out of my sock and boots. Instead of trekking poles I use a fiberglass collapsible Home Depot painting pole which is thick enough for firms grasping with one or two hands, strong, lightweight, and can be used for balance, back dragging like an anchor to control sliding down talus fields and for grasps down short drops offs that otherwise would be beyond my free climbing skills, which are minimal to start with. Once in a while I'll extend the pole for longer stretches. (I have yet to pole vault up a fifteen foot dry fall. LOL) I should do a short video of my use of the pole when I next visit DEVA.