For anyone familiar with recent Death Valley weather history, the impact of hurricane Hillary in 2023 will be a memorable event. After 2.2 inches of rain fell in a single day - more than the average annual total of 2.15 inches - nearly every road in the park was closed. Only a few opened within days, and a few more within weeks. Months later, many major thoroughfares were still closed. Today, more 15 months later, nearly all of the roads have been reopened, with the exception of the one we wanted to use to reach our next destination.
Exiting Telephone Canyon after our hike to the summit of Tucki Mountain, I'd normally have turned left on Emigrant Canyon Road, in order to cut our way through the Panamint Mountains to Wildrose Road. Alas, Hillary carved a 9-foot-deep cut across the road, rendering it completely impassable, and forcing us to take the long way around - up and over Towne Pass, then south along Panamint Valley Road - in order to reach our trailhead along the eastern skirt of the Panamint Mountains.
We'd need larger tires to make it through this washout on Wildrose Road.
Luckily for us, this was the one day that we planned to have a little extra daylight, since the hike into Nemo Slot Canyon was only 5-miles roundtrip, 3.5 of which were the alluvial fan approach to the slot canyon itself. And so, as we coasted down the Panamint Valley side of Towne Pass, I didn't feel bad stopping to admire the view that unfolded in below us. This was a day to take it a bit easy, and really enjoy our time in the desert.
A gleaming Argus Range greeted us on the opposite side of Panamint Valley's dry lake bed.
We even got a brief glimpse of the Sierra!
Once on the valley floor, we opted to cover much of the distance to the trailhead - on East Panamint Valley Road - by taking a slightly longer, but significantly faster, route along Panamint Valley Road, before cutting over for the last few miles on Minietta Road.
The view of the northeastern Panamints - a badland paradise - as we approached was dramatic to say the least.
I'm not sure we've ever seen the Desert holly covered in berries, so this was a neat discovery! (Atriplex hymenelytra)
Arriving at the trailhead shortly after 10:00am, we gathered up our supplies for the day - mostly water and camera gear, but also the ingredients for PB&J sandwiches that had worked out so well on our trek to Tucki Mountain - and set our sights on the entrance to Nemo Slot, some 800 feet higher than our current elevation, and a long way up the alluvial fan.
With our dual-purpose windshield shade pumping electricity into our batteries, anticipation of what lay beyond the mouth of the canyon had us grinning as we got underway.
We learned our lesson when hiking Military Canyon - another Steve Hall inspired destination - and now approach every canyon we can by following a wash up the alluvial fan.
Nemo Slot is an isolated, rarely-visited narrow canyon with a beautiful slot and extensive mud drip structures which is located 6/10 of an air mile west of Nemo Canyon in the Panamint Mountains. Difficulties encountered on the hike include driving a rough 4WD road to get to the starting point, route finding to access the canyon, and being aware of potential rockfall within the narrows.
Steve Hall
The imposing headwall hinted at good things to come.
By the time we entered the mouth of the canyon we'd been hiking for more than an hour. Even following the wash, the loose, rocky terrain up a steep fan made for slow going. We were both hungry and decided that before investigating either of the two main forks of the canyon that we'd find a bit of shade and put the jars of peanut butter and jelly we'd hauled along to use. It was a great decision, made even better by the potato chips and Cosmic Crisp apple that also found their way into our stomachs!
Lunch view.
Refreshed, we eagerly dove into the right fork of the canyon where the walls quickly closed in around us and the already steep wash kicked it up a notch or two. Despite the seemingly more difficult terrain, the visual interest and reflected light on the walls around us made the hiking here an afterthought. We hopped from boulder to boulder, excited to see what was around the next corner.
Reflected light.
Huge stones, once embedded in the conglomerate walls, littered our path.
The higher we got, the more the walls closed in around us.
Shadows and light played off the canyon walls, adding texture and depth to an otherwise homogonous environment.
It wasn't just the light on the canyon walls that caught our attention, though glowing orange walls are always a highlight. The plant life here - in nearly perpetual shade - was greener, flowers more plentiful. And then, there was the fox. Or, perhaps more appropriately, once-fox.
This is a common plant in the Mojave, but I don't know if we've ever seen it green, and certainly never flowering. (Wild buckwheat - Eriogonum heermannii)
Poor fox. (I think it was a fox.)
The walls of the canyon were covered in mud drips, adding an amazing texture as they cascaded down toward the wash.
This massive chockstone - more than10-feet in diameter - sits atop a 40-foot dry fall in a cathedral of conglomerate.
After exploring the side slot, we pushed further up the main canyon. Here too, light played off the walls and Wile E. Coyote boulders hung precariously overhead.
Seems safe.
Still, @mrs.turbodb and I both agreed that the side slot was actually the more interesting fork of the canyon, though after re-reviewing Steve's photos on our return, I believe that may be due to the fact that the main slot is no longer passable to the same extent that it was when he visited in 2016
The main canyon was spectacular, even if slightly less so than the side canyon.
In an environment like this - where the canyon walls are but mud, sand, and stone compressed together by the same elements pushing down from above - a little rain can make a big difference. Surely Hurricane Hillary dramatically changed parts of this canyon, carrying material rapidly to the alluvial fan, carving new falls into the crumbly walls.
It was one of these falls - 15 feet tall and difficult to climb due to the lack of solid rock on which to find hand- and foot-holds - that forced us to cut our exploration of the main slot short. Perhaps the final few hundred feet will be accessible again - or gone forever - after the next big storm. There's only one way to find out. 
Heading back, the downhill direction of the already short hike was - except for the fact that we were walking directly into the sun - an easy affair, and by 3:00pm we were reading our books in the cab, enjoying a cool northerly breeze in the shade of the solar panels.
All that was left was to figure out where we would camp for the night.
Our plan for the next day - to hike Towne Peak and a remote plane crash high in the Cottonwood Mountains - was the most ambitious of our hikes for the entire trip, and we knew that the 9-mile roundtrip - with more than 3,000 feet of elevation - would eat up almost all of our daylight. As such, we'd planned to camp near the trailhead, though at 5,000 feet, we knew it would be a very chilly and reasonably windy night.
And so, I suggested that - if @mrs.turbodb was amenable to getting up 45 minutes early so we could drive to the trailhead by sunrise - we could camp in the relative warmth of Panamint Valley, sheltered from the wind by a few of the lower folds of Wildrose Canyon. It was - looking back now - the obvious choice, and before long we were working our way along East Panamint Valley Road in the hopes of finding the perfect spot to call home.
We encountered a few small washouts along the way, but were ultimately able to navigate them all.
Camp doesn't get much better than a private view of Telescope Peak.
We even had a view of Nemo Slot Canyon as the sunset blanketed the hills.
As darkness fell, the Milky Way gleamed overhead.
Asleep by 7:15pm, Nemo Slot Canyon had proven to be a wonderfully relaxing adventure and the perfect prelude to the grind that we'd experience the following morning, afternoon, and evening as we struck out for the summit of Towne Peak, and the Albatross that lay - precariously perched on a steep cliff - beyond...
The Whole Story
Some of those images are kinda stuck in my mind now. You're inspiring me to get out there.
Thanks for the great story and pics.
You're absolutely welcome, glad you enjoyed! I highly recommend getting out to this one, it was a fun little hike with really great rewards.
Of course, we have Steve Hall to thank for it, we were just following in his footsteps!