Canyoneering; Deadman’s Canyon
Deadman’s Canyon. Northern Black Mountains. Death Valley National Park, CA. 11/15/2024.
Lauren and I had been eager to kick off our canyoneering season, and with a free weekend, we decided to head to the desert! On a Thursday afternoon, we set out from the Owens Valley, crossing North Pass through the Joshua Trees and down into Eureka Valley. From there we crossed the Last Chance Range, passing near the starting point of my previous year’s traverse of that range. We descended into the Death Valley Wash, enjoying the freshly grated roads of North Death Valley road before dropping from the high country towards Badwater Basin. The drive was stunning, weaving between the Great Basin and Mojave Deserts, with the Basin and Range landscape offering incredible transitions. By nightfall, we reached our camp east of the Black Mountains, stoked to be back in our winter stomping grounds.
We had a slow morning, enjoying the atypical moody weather of Death Valley in November. The smell of the creosote from the sprinkles of rain from the night before was lingering in the air, and went quite nicely with a hot cuppa. Eventually, we got moving, and headed for the Artist’s Pallet drive. Stopping along the road to check out numerous other canyons that caught our eyes, we finally made it to the parking area and set out around 1030.
This was a pretty sneaky canyon, with a lot of variety, steep slots, and very little evidence of past use. With 5 rappels, and a somewhat short approach (on DV standards!), it was the perfect canyon to warm-up the canyoneering season with!
Now, into the meat and potatoes of it all…
The approach is a typical death valley approach, and as expected the crux of the whole bit. However, if you stay more north in the canyon you may find an easier, more solid route up the wash. Whatever you do, aim for the 1800' shoulder. Our route took us about 2 hours to ascend 1200’.
We had 5 rappels total, all being bomber anchors with the last truly being a buried "deadman" anchor. Lots of downclimbing throughout the canyon, but all easily managed. Here is a link to a Caltopo map https://caltopo.com/i/RNJU0
R1 : Cairn anchor (pic 5) - rebuilt and backed up - ~30'
R2 : Tore apart old anchor. Wrapped a massive boulder with a 25' cordelette! (Pics 6 and 7). Two tier rap ~40'
R3 : Tore apart old "anchor" wrapped around a small unsecure "horn" (see pic 9) . Built horseshoe cairn anchor... would be wise to bring down more boulders to back this up for next decent, or means to bury. ~20'
R4 : Cairn anchor. Old, (pre-Hurricane Hillary??) but solid and "cemented in" by flood debris. Backed-up with more boulders. ~35'
R5 : The Deadman! Old anchor deep under some "cemented" mud flow debris. Had to excavate to access solid tat. Backed up with new tat. We did not excavate fully to get eyes on due to fading daylight, but felt sturdy from all angles. Given more time, would have pulled apart and re-examined, and rebuilt. Great rap, watch for lose rock! ~60'.
The descent from here was smooth and straightforward, bringing us back to the truck by 1730, wrapping up a solid 7-hour day. Most of our time was spent on the approach and, more notably, on rebuilding and reassessing all the anchors. With everything dialed in now, future teams should move through much faster, as we took our time to thoroughly enjoy the process and knock the rust off of our skills.
This canyon was an absolute blast, and I’m so glad we got after it! Lauren and I are already looking forward to more canyons this winter.
Thanks for reading! If you are interested in exploring Death Valley, please reach out!
See you in the desert,
Larry
