Thanksgiving ramblings

[Daymoth]

Hi desert rats!

We missed DV last year (boo I missed lake manly) and we had big cravings to get back. We both had been too busy and had no time to plan so I hoped that all the points my past self had put on a map made sense.

The rangers as usual mentioned that cottonwood marble road would not be great for an SUV but they said Echo and HITW were good and we havent been to those roads yet. 

Took of wendnesday and drove to the park. Ah... I forgot to bring Digonnet...bummer.

Thursday we head towards HITW. The road is fine but the camping thing is very stupid. There is nowhere to park for day use. Can I park in a camp turnout during the day? This is all really silly. We throw the car in the gap in a stupid place across a stupid camp turnout and head towards the slit. 

The gap is really something



Undertaker looking pretty


The first dryfall is very pretty with marble stripes. We take the bypass wich is loose but not bad. 
At the top we enjoy the smooth marble canyon with fun obstacles


I noticed a lot of ground cherries in this wash


Cool rocks embedded in the polished marble




We get to the slit and husband struggles with the chockstone. I climb down and boost him up and then I go and climb the 10ft fall. 

And I have no idea how to downclimb that. 

Husband stays below until I figure how to downclimb. I have a handline but nothing but smooth marble to attach it to. I cant see any bypass. I end up downclimbing in a very uncontrolled and unconfortable way while husband spots me and gives me a foothold. If I cant downclimb this without help he wont be able either so its time to turn around. Im disapointed. Very disapointed, I was having so much fun and got filtered out so soon. 
I was so sad I didnt even remember to take a photo of the slit. 

We head out and since we have plenty of time we start thinking what else we can do today. 



The gap is glorious in the mid morning light



To be continued....

[netllama]

Oh nice! That whole area is lots of fun to explore. Thanks for sharing, and keep it coming.

[MojaveGeek]

Glad you got there. The designated camp site vs day use parking is a real screw up which I have fretted about too. I want to get back in there in the spring but the place I park near the Hole is now a camp site. What to do? You can leave a note at your car, but then some poor person who has that designated site shows up and can't park. Grumble.

The place you had trouble. I'm trying to visualize it. Is it on your right as you go up the canyon, sort of a broad wall of smooth stone? I do recall tying a kid-size swami belt together to haul up 2 year old Ben using a hand line at some point in there

Looking forward to more!

[Daymoth]

Glad you got there.  The designated camp site vs day use parking is a real screw up which I have fretted about too.  I want to get back in there in the  spring but the place I park near the Hole is now a camp site.  What to do?  You can leave a note at your car, but then some poor person who has that designated site shows up and can't park.  Grumble.

The place you had trouble.  I'm trying to visualize it.  Is it on your right as you go up the canyon, sort of a broad wall of smooth stone?  I do recall tying a kid-size swami belt together to haul up 2 year old Ben using a hand line at some point in there

Looking forward to more!

At least most if not all campsites pack out in the morning but yeah, there should at least be a time period when it becomes night use and the rest is day use. Its just so badly thought out right now! Right at the gap the road is a bit wider so I parked on the right with the campsite on my left. And a car passed in between no problem. And when leaving I used the campsite to turn around, but that would be ackward if people had arrived and camped. 

Yes thats the spot, going up was ok but downclimbing without a handline was rough...im vertically challenged and not a great climber...

Im still going through my next batch of photos, it has  been a very busy week. Bah humbug.

[Daymoth]

Ok so next we decide to go quickly check Echo canyon and the Inyo mine since thats another road weve never been on. The road was in great condition but the gravel is soft and moved under my wheels, the AWD came in handy.

The canyon is very beautiful with colorful and funny shaped rocks: 
Turtles kissing



The Eye


We get to the mine and start poking around


The engines are fantastic! 





We may or may not check out the mine. Dont do this at home, mines are a death trap, etc etc  



I find something truly wonderful and gross inside one of the shafts. Beware its  GROSS. Mummified pack rat? 
.
.
.
.
BEWARE GROSS
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.




I warned you. 

The mine is dug in gorgeous pink rock.


By the time we are done enjoying miners trash its getting dark and we dont have time to continue up the road. The peaks around us look beautiful in the afternoon sun and we start thinking about wich ones we can check out next time as we head back to dinner. 

To be continued...

[Brice]

By the time we are done enjoying miners trash its getting dark and we dont have time to continue up the road. The peaks around us look beautiful in the afternoon sun and we start thinking about wich ones we can check out next time as we head back to dinner. 

To be continued...

If you really are going back to climb something, here's my assessment of the peaks around Echo.

Peak 3600 at the entrance to the canyon.  The most difficult of the high points around Echo with the most amount of scrambling and route finding required.  Gloves are necessary equipment.  There are two competing high points and it's fun to visit both of them.  Start hiking from campsite E8.  Approximately 3.25 miles RT, 1500 feet of gain.

Winters Peak.  Excellent views of the valley.  Hike is class 1 and pretty boring the whole way.  5 miles RT, 1800 feet of gain.

Rockfall peak, east ridgeline.  Interesting rock formations to look at, nice views of Echo canyon and surrounding area.  Class 1 or maybe class 2 in areas.   5 miles RT, 1500 feet of gain.

Peak 5969.  I didn't climb this one from Echo canyon road (I came at it from the east), but it looks like it will be the most boring option of the ones I'm outlining here.  The park service calls it "weird schwaub" and I have no idea why.  Perhaps climbing it from Echo canyon road would shed some light on the name.

Schwaub peak.  Class 2, maybe easy class 3 in spots (I can't remember for sure).  The best views in the area will be found from this summit.  7.5 miles RT, 2300 feet of gain.

[jkpaulsen]

I'm sorry to hear about your frustrations with Slit Canyon. I've got a (long overdue!) trip coming up in January and was hoping to hike up Slit and camp near Inyo mine. Is this the place where you had to turn around? Just trying to get a sense of where we might run into trouble, too.

I solved the parking problem by booking the site at the gap in the Wall.  That'll allow us to get an early start the day of the hike, as well as a good place to crash if we have to bail. 

Thanks for sharing your trip!

[John Morrow]

Schwaub from near the end of the Echo Canyon Road narrows.  I took the center rib with the distinct shadowline to find some Class 3.  Other ridge options are Class 2 for sure.

North side of Schwaub Peak by John Morrow, on Flickr

[Kauri]

@Daymoth is the dry-fall you had difficulty with in Slit the one at the very end of the slit going up-canyon? I recall (and given how long it's been since I've been up that canyon I could be completely wrong, sorry!) that you can bypass the entire slit area including that dry-fall on the right side (going up-canyon) by extending the workaround for the initial grotto area. Or maybe not but I do think we found that we were able to bypass the slit somehow on the hike back. Is the rock nettle bush still growing in the middle of that dry-fall? I remember that made it an even bigger challenge to climb.

@jkpaulsen do you have any other pics from the folks who did the hike other than the one you shared? I'm pretty sure that's not the one Daymoth is referring to; that's not the fall at the end of the slit. I *think* the one in the pic you shared might be the initial grotto dry-fall section that's bypassed on the right side going up-canyon, and is before the slit. Digonnet indicates there are more dry-falls up canyon a bit beyond the 50-foot fall but I've never gotten that far in the canyon so I'm not sure of any info about those (@Brice have you or @Beardilocks been up there?)

Also figure it's worth adding: The bypass for the 50-foot fall, at least many years ago when I hiked it, had a slippery section with huge barrel cacti at the bottom almost looking like they were waiting for unlucky hikers to slip and land on their thorns. I nearly did.

[Daymoth]

If you really are going back to climb something, here's my assessment of the peaks around Echo.


Rockfall peak, east ridgeline.  Interesting rock formations to look at, nice views of Echo canyon and surrounding area.  Class 1 or maybe class 2 in areas.   5 miles RT, 1500 feet of gain.

Schwaub peak.  Class 2, maybe easy class 3 in spots (I can't remember for sure).  The best views in the area will be found from this summit.  7.5 miles RT, 2300 feet of gain.

Thankyou!!

Are any of these super crumbly shitty class 2? ill take solid class 3 over super crumbly slippery shitty class 2 anytime