What Did You Do in Death Valley Today?

[DAW89446]

Anywho, here's the last photo I shot during my 15th trip to DV in March 2021 .... good times! Can't wait to go back with the new truck!!!

Wild guess … Miller Towing in Lone Pine?

[TacoLand]

Anywho, here's the last photo I shot during my 15th trip to DV in March 2021 .... good times! Can't wait to go back with the new truck!!!

Wild guess … Miller Towing in Lone Pine?

Nailed it! Had a rough go of it in the Park and needed some assistance before I limped back to Northern Nev.

[DAW89446]

The trees, Quonset hut and what little background there is were clues for me.

[Brice]

I took advantage of the cooler weather this week to do some hikes at lower elevations.  The arch photo I posted last time was in a very short side canyon next to a canyon with a surprisingly productive unnamed spring in it.  There were even a couple of ~3 ft waterfalls.  But last week my progress up this canyon was stopped short due to thick vegetation.  So Tuesday I decided to hike around the canyon rim and drop in from the top.  Here's a view from the rim showing a nice horseshoe bend.



The canyon was quite deep.  This photo doesn't really capture it without anyone around for scale.



Wasn't long before I had to go underneath two obstructions, one right after the other.  The first one is impossible to get a photo of without a wide angle lens (or something better than a phone) but it looks like a collapse of the canyon wall from a long time ago.  The second one, photographed here is also hard to shoot but it's a bit easier.  It's a weird shape.  Kinda looks like a proboscis monkey's nose.  Here it is from both sides.





Both of the tunnels are large.  I'm 6 feet tall and I don't remember having to duck at all to walk under them.  Further down the canyon I spotted a possibly interesting dryfall and much to my surprise when I climbed up into its base, to the side was a rather large tunnel.  About 40 feet long and 20-30 feet to the ceiling.  I'm not sure if it eroded this way naturally, or if a shark fin section of wall collapsed to lean against the main canyon wall.  It was too dark in there to see anything very clearly.



So that was a pretty fun canyon to explore.

[Brice]

Wednesday I went to a canyon that I've been to before, but wanted to go all the way to the head this time.  I don't think many people get up to this area because the main attraction is nearer the mouth, and there are some obstacles to overcome to get into the upper reaches.  Nothing too spectacular, but there were some nice walls.  Here's a canyon wall with an abscess in it that I thought was neat.



Then I came across a small pelvis and spine and wondered what sort of animal it belonged to.

 

A few feet later I got my answer.    Coyote.



There was a nice spire.



The main canyon head and every side canyon I went up ended in a huge dryfall.  One must have been the home of a turkey vulture because there were giant feathers and poop everywhere.  Also I spooked a short-eared owl, the second time I've seen one of these in canyon narrows.

[Brice]

Today, Thursday, I went out to the Indian pass area.  Indian pass road is an easy drive but high clearance is needed and probably 4WD too.  The BLM road leading up to the national park boundary is full of that super soft and deep "poof dust" and getting stuck would be pretty easy.  The whole area is littered with prospecting holes, and rock cairns.  Are the cairns seen all around DV on random ridges used to mark the boundaries of mining claims?  I have to assume that's what they were used for.

There are wide open views of rolling hills, some blooming cacti, and this impressive compass rose that somebody put a lot of time into.



On the hike to Indian pass, I found the most complete bighorn skeleton I've ever found.  Skull, full grown horns, and spine all intact.



I didn't take any photos of Indian pass itself.  It's strange that it's even called a pass in the first place because you'd have to downclimb a pretty serious dryfall to pass through it.

[MojaveGeek]

These look pretty cool! What part of the park are they in? Obviously you don't need to name the precise location unless you want to.

[DAW89446]

Follow up of the article I posted a link to on the previous page.

https://pvtimes.com/news/nye-county-sher...se-109618/

[TacoLand]

Beautiful canyon on Tuesday, Brice. Thanks for sharing the one.

DAW– That's a buck wild story. Hope they enjoy prison.

[DAW89446]

DAW– That's a buck wild story. Hope they enjoy prison.

Their motive was probably for likes on Facebook …