Another Kit Fox Hills Canyon

[DeathValleyDazed]

March 2022 - A Kit Fox Hills canyon east of Scotty's Castle Road and west of Death Valley Buttes originates below a small natural bridge making for a splendid sunset hike. The tips of Thimble Peak, Mount Palmer, and Corkscrew Peak line the distance horizon like jewels in a queen's crown.

[Bluegreen kayak]

Short and very sweet video, thank you. One quick question - do you go through the tunnel or up and around it to get to the canyon?

[DeathValleyDazed]

Short and very sweet video, thank you. One quick question - do you go through the tunnel or up and around it to get to the canyon?

Thank you. Sorry to create confusion. The canyon mouth is the first scene heading uphill from the highway. When I noted in the caption "The canyon begins at this tunnel" I was meaning the canyon source or beginning of the drainage commences as a trickle running under the bridge when it rains hard enough. 

Actually there are two other small tributaries that intersects just below the bridge which when combined during a flood make a substantial stream down and out of the canyon mouth forming a flattened alluvial fan. That pretty yellow flower was the only one I saw in the canyon and my guess that it was about 150 to 200 feet elevation above sea level. 

I would be surprised if the cute little canyon even has a name because it's not that prominent. However, prominent enough to capture my curiosity for several years now driving back and forth on Scotty's Castle Road. This is NOT the telephone canyon which cuts through the Kit Fox Hills further south and was the connector between Rhyolite, Beatty, and Stove Pipe Wells. Here's raven escorted hike through that canyon.

[Kauri]

Nice find!! I was sure there had to be at least one "false" or non-major natural bridge somewhere in the northern section of the Kit Fox Hills, but never managed to find one.

[Daymoth]

That tunnel is so neat!

I have no sense of scale though.

[DeathValleyDazed]

I have no sense of scale though.

Yes, sensing the scale of the tunnel is difficult from the video. A six foot tall human like me would have to stoop with bent knees or get down and crawl on all fours to pass through the tunnel. I did not attempt this feat of spine tingling flexibility. 

[MojaveGeek]

Looks pretty.
The views are probably mostly from the top side where it clears the hills?