Death Valley 2022/23

[DAW89446]

I believe I recall that it was the late Wendel Moyer who lugged up that bathtub in the 1960s. I've read that the natural feature is somewhere nearby in the Last Chance Range.

[MojaveGeek]

Actually the placement of Marble Bath is simply a mistake.  On the old forum, one of our members (forgive me for forgetting who - if you are here please raise your hand!) found some notation of correction, I think at the USGS office in Menlo Park.  And I ran into what I suspect was the real "Marble Bath" in a canyon in the Last Chance range off the Steele Pass road - a rather infrequently visited place, but one that had a clear old two track showing that it was known enough that it might have had a name.

At the risk of stating the obvious, the marble bath is a water polished depression in the narrow canyon floor?  I've seen photos of that canyon.  Long approach for none 4x4ers.  I woudn't be able to make it in a day RT that is for sure.

Right. I saw a nicely polished depression at the base of a dryfall, and someone had pecked in a "petro" in the rock spelling WATER with an arrow pointing down into the gravel in the depression. I assume water could at least at times be found there, and maybe the gravel kept it from evaporating. It was off the Steele Pass road, which I was on because someone I knew with a small wheelbase 4WD wanted to go in there, so we could ascent Dry from the north. It is a VERY lonely place

I have no photos of the site; that was back before digital cameras were something you could carry around the back country.

[Beardilocks]

From what I hear Marble Bath canyon is gorgeous and very well stocked with wonder. I’m hoping to get there in the next month or so when it thaws out a bit. My truck is… not small wheel base, but very capable. Although I hear it’s worse than ever out that way.

AFAIK the original false designation was in error. And these errors tend to stick on maps for the long term. The original name was likely for several potholes in the canyon that sometime contain gravel. Or so I read somewhere at some point. Quite a few folks have used it for this purpose over the centuries and left their marks.

I’ll report back in greater detail if I ever get there. Lol.

[John Morrow]

From what I hear Marble Bath canyon is gorgeous and very well stocked with wonder.  I’m hoping to get there in the next month or so when it thaws out a bit.  My truck is… not small wheel base, but very capable.  Although I hear it’s worse than ever out that way. 

AFAIK the original false designation was in error. And these errors tend to stick on maps for the long term.  The original name was likely for several potholes in the canyon that sometime contain gravel.  Or so I read somewhere at some point.  Quite a few folks have used it for this purpose over the centuries and left their marks. 

I’ll report back in greater detail if I ever get there.  Lol.

I love a narrow waterpolished canyon.  Especially one with such marks.  It seems some ancient peoples felt the same.

[ski3pin]

Seems I recall it is misspelled "WARTER" with the arrow.

[MojaveGeek]

Seems I recall it is misspelled "WARTER" with the arrow.

I guess that proves that you've been there too

[Beardilocks]

Quick hike here up to Ryan benchmark just to keep in shape after resupply & maintenance days 

Beautiful day 



Found a gorgeous arrowhead in the drainage near the saddle.  


Pretty decent views.  Here sort of vaguely towards Lila C Mine and DV Junction.


And here toward DV proper, over northern Greenwater Valley. 


We took a rather interesting route of our own devising down from the peak, scrambling down the east side of the mountain and down an interesting drainage with several large dryfalls.  Fun scramble with exciting route finding.  We revisited some cool places down in the wash on that side (if you know, you know ;-) before finding a scramble back over the ridge to our trucks.  Great hike.

[TacoLand]

From what I hear Marble Bath canyon is gorgeous and very well stocked with wonder.  I’m hoping to get there in the next month or so when it thaws out a bit.  My truck is… not small wheel base, but very capable.  Although I hear it’s worse than ever out that way. 

AFAIK the original false designation was in error. And these errors tend to stick on maps for the long term.  The original name was likely for several potholes in the canyon that sometime contain gravel.  Or so I read somewhere at some point.  Quite a few folks have used it for this purpose over the centuries and left their marks. 

I’ll report back in greater detail if I ever get there.  Lol.

Hope you get there as would love to hear more about that canyon. Would be interesting to hear what you run into with current conditions of Steele Pass. When I finally did it in my moderately-modified 3rd gen. 4Runner in 2021 I approached with mild trepidation, only to only put in in 4x4 to get up the steps coming from the dunes (west to east). The rest was done in 2wd with a beer in hand ... Biggest difficulty was running into a large caravan of bedecked trucks making an overly-produced video for their YouTube channel. Utterly baffling and frustrating. Oh well!

[DeathValleyDazed]

[quote pid="81208" dateline="1674066439"]

This supposedly the “real” Red Amphitheater.  Fits. 


[/quote]
I must confess to being dumb about locating The Red Amphitheater with two failed attempts. It wasn't until my third hike in the general area that just by luck I photographed-video the same area of your shot. Not until Steve Hall happened to see this video and commented on how I had hiked right under The Red Amphitheater did I finally identify the site while sitting at home on my computer reviewing YouTube comments. Duh!

Here are my shots of The Red Amphitheater at time stamp 5:00 and at 4:40 are shot from the canyon rim high above peering down into the vicinity. (Thanks to Mojave Geek for remembering this video connection.)

[jkpaulsen]

Pretty decent views.  Here sort of vaguely towards Lila C Mine and DV Junction.

There's something about this picture that I really love, but I can't quite put my finger on it. It almost looks like a vertical shot that's been squished down to look like a horizontal shot. (Or maybe I've just had a long day.) Was this just a quick snap? Or was there something more you did with this?