After traveling by bus to South America, I visited my family for a few days in the Bay Area. After two days at home, Matt and I drove out to Death Valley. We stopped by Tehachapi, saw hiked a few steps on the PCT and then drove north up into the desert.
It had been a few years since I had been to Death Valley and I was excited to be going back. Death Valley is one of my favorite places in the world. It may appear unassuming to the passing motorist, but by exploring the canyons and ridges on foot year after year, a fuller unforgettable picture of the park emerges.
As we crossed over Towne Pass and into Death Valley itself, Matt and I both agreed we were a bit overwhelmed by the heat and vastness of the park. We had planned to do two trips and had each bought ten days of food, on the drive down. The nerves were only natural for hiking in such a place. There is a reason few other hikers venture far from the pavement here.
We started our first hike around 6pm and headed up Fall Canyon. A canyon so beautiful the when first Lady Bush came to the park, this was one of two places she was taken to. This time there was no secret service, just the two of us at the [‘]. Titus Canyon had been closed during the 2023 floods, so the usual throng of motorists exiting the canyon in the afternoon was absent.
It was late April, and the temperature was nearing triple digits. We each packed nine liters of water, chugged as much water as we could and set out into the desert. My pack weighed heavily on my back as we trudged up the canyon. I had not been doing much backpacking in the past month, mostly sitting on buses and trains. I knew that my body would soon readjust to the rigors of backpacking as it had done many times before.
Around sunset we reached the first narrows, and a short third class bypass brought us around the first dryfall. The ensuing narrows are truly majestic and one of my favorite places in the park.
Darkness mercifully fell upon us just after the narrows and we laid out our sleeping pads. It felt great to sleep under the stars again for the first time in a few weeks. It was very hot even in the night, we had not bothered to even bring out tarps due to the dry weather.
The next day, we continued up Fall Canyon, there were two more dry falls. One of them was easily circumvented, the other gave us more pause. I shed my pack and found a 4th class chimney to climb up, which I eventually climbed after quite some time. I used the sling Matt brought to pull both of our backpacks up. Not liking the look of the chimney, Matt found another route which consisted of a lot of very loose rock.
If attempting this route, I’d recommend going counter clockwise, in order to climb up this section and down the dryfall in Red Wall Canyon.
Around midday we reached the watershed divide between Red Wall and Fall Canyons. The canyons snake up slowly through the mountains, but lots of gain is achieved eventually. We started at around 1000′, but the gentle yet constant grade of the canyons had been deceptive. We were now at 7500 feet surrounded by junipers and pinyon pines.
We left the bulk of our water and gear at the saddle separating the Fall and Red Wall drainages, under bush. Our two objectives for the day, Grapevine and Waghuye loomed above us.
I was pretty beat from the long climb with the heavy pack, but it felt great to take the pack off.
Waghuye has a very unique (and steep) summit. The views on top were incredible. We debated going back to camp, as it had already been a long day, but we decided to push on towards Grapevine.
We took another route down and stumbled upon a babbling brook, an extremely rare site in Death Valley.
We chugged water gratefully for the next 30 minutes and then hiked the few miles to Grapevine Peak. Again we were treated to panoramic views, but were concerned to see storm clouds on the horizon.
I almost didn’t trust my eyes. For a storm to get here, it had to clear the Sierra, the Inyos and the Cottonwoods. We hurried down the slope, knowing we were still two hours at least away from our gear. We had not been expecting rain at all. Neither of us had our tarps. I had at least my raincoat and a trashbag, but Matt was not so lucky. Rain started to drip as we picked our way down the mountain. I was tired from the long day (at least 10k feet of gain), but I thought of my quilt slowly getting wetter and wetter and pushed on.
Matt and I talked strategy and we agreed to try to get partially down Red Wall tonight, to seek shelter from the storm. Our plans to attempt Mt. Palmer, would have to be shelved for another time.
By the time we returned to our gear and packed, it had been sprinkling on and off for an hour and darkness was fast approaching.
We began to descend down the canyon, looking for any sort of cave or similar overhang to protect us from the storm.
We stumbled into the darkness, the rain continuing to sprinkle but not escalating into a full blown storm. Not finding any shelter, we eventually settled for a small Pinyon Pine to be our roof for the night.
Rain dripped on us all night, but we were able to get some sleep. We cursed ourselves for not bringing our tarps, which were sitting uselessly in Matt’s van thousands of feet below. We knew worst case we could walk out, but that would involve navigating Red Wall Canyon (and its 20 foot dry fall) in the dark and rain. Not wanting to get stuck in a flash flood or worse, we opted for the Pinyon Pine in the upper draignages of Red Wall Canyon.
I messaged Noe from my inreach to inquire about the storm. Noe has taken a keen interest in the weather over the last year and replied back with a very detailed forecast, which correctly predicted on and off drizzling all night, but nothing major.
The next morning, we were cold and wet, but thankful the storm had subsided. We walked a few miles down the Canyon, flying now with light packs and gravity on our side. Soon, we were stripping off our layers and walking through the narrows.
We had some beta from the internet that the dryfall was passable with 30 or so feet of sling to do a hand-over-hand lower, but I was pretty nervous. I knew I could physically walk all the way back around, but I also knew it would be a major challenge.
I marveled at the spectacular narrows, but anticipation grew inside of me as the dry fall approached. Finally we reached the dryfall. Webbing had been placed in order to allow us to do a hand over hand lower, after testing its strength, we decided to save our webbing for a future time and trust the existing webbing.
Matt lowered first, I then lowered the packs, and then myself. I was finally able to enjoy the beauty unencumbered by worry. Red Wall Canyon is a spectacular Canyon, most of its beauty hidden behind the 20 foot dryfall.
We walked for 4 or so miles across the alluvial fans and then we were back at Matt’s car. The storm had past and, the sun shone down on us. Red Wall Canyon looked like just a small slit in an impassible mountain range. Our cold night under the Pinyon Pine seemed but a distant dream.
Matt’s trip report here: https://mattymorrison.com/pages/trips/routes/fallRedWall.html
Matt’s Film:
Anthony Ottati 