I have organized this story a bit differently than most.
Some of the locations have little or no reporting on the internet and I feel they should remain that way or someone I respect has personally requested that I not share them; as such, locations have been redacted and/or not mentioned, I've used non-official names for local landmarks, and the order of the trip has been randomized.
Please, if you know the locations shown here, I encourage you to enjoy them as much as I did - and follow my lead by not mentioning their names or locations in order to keep them a little less well-known, and special.
For more on my approach, you can read Do you have a GPX for that?.
For nearly three years now - ever since I met ▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮ in a Eureka Valley silt bed - there's been a special canyon in the Cottonwood Mountains that I've known I needed to visit. This canyon was one that I'd heard whispers and hints of through other sources, but never a name and certainly never a specific location.
As we chatted for a few minutes - after a small tug freed his pickup from the silt - our shared love for Death Valley was immediately obvious. He shared the joys of his trip that was coming to an end; I excitedly listed the places I planned to visit on that particular adventure. One of those places - another little-known spot in Saline Valley - prompted Wells to share just enough of this mysterious canyon that I was able to sleuth out the location - or at least, believe that I'd successfully done so - for a future trip into the Park.
Still, for 34 months and more than a dozen visits to Death Valley, the location I'd marked remained unexplored. The remoteness of the spot put it out of reach of anything but a concerted effort to find myself nearby, and the elevation precluded many of the months that I find myself wandering the desert.
Finally, though, it was time. A trip to the middle of the park - to explore the Canyons of the Cottonwoods - was the perfect opportunity to wander to the mouth of a seldom-visited canyon, my fingers crossed - and my anticipation piqued - that I'd found the right spot.
As we neared our destination, nature's drone kept tabs on our approach.
This beautiful bunch cactus gleamed in the bright sun.
As @mrs.turbodb and I approached the point at which we'd know whether I'd gotten it right or not, a polished chute of dolomite climbed steeply into the mountain from the alluvial fan. Too steep, perhaps.And then, we saw the first faint petroglyph.
When visiting rock art and ruin sites, be respectful.
This is most easily done by following the Leave No Trace principles; leaving the place exactly as you found it and taking with you only photographs and memories. In case that is not clear enough for some reason, here are examples of respectful behaviors:
A familiar form.
Unsure what to expect as we climbed further into the canyon, we pushed our way into the narrow passage. Within just a few feet, pools of water presented themselves, an indication of why this was a special place to those who came before us.
And then, the polished dry falls began.
Gatekeeper.
Here again, rock art decorated the walls. This time, the figures were even more recognizable, with bighorn sheep and ornate shields pecked into the smooth surfaces.
Typical sheep.
Turtle sheep.
This shield, carved into a polychromatic wall, really caught my eye.
Collection of shields.
Here too, the first red pictograph was fading below an unrecognizable petroglyph.
Ancient artists competing for canvas.
It was here - at the base of two more dry falls - tricky to navigate without ropes - that I left @mrs.turbodb as I continued up the nearly vertical slot canyon. Bridging my body between the walls, I worked my way up and over a double-chockstone-fall, leaving the problem of downclimbing for my return trip down the canyon.
Following my bridge, this 20-foot problem was a welcome relief.
Sheep parade.
This arc was more than seven feet tall, it's meaning, to me, unknown.
Twenty feet further, a sheer vertical conglomerate wall signaled what initially appeared be the end of my exploration. I couldn't exactly put my finger on it, but something was off. Thinking back now, it felt as though there hadn't been enough rock art, and - more importantly - the polished dolomite chutes I'd navigated in the lower canyon suggested more water - and finer formations - than the conglomerate wall.
Still, the wall captured my attention, and I approached for a closer look. There, hidden from view until I was within a few feet, I noticed a two-foot-wide, 40-foot tall, chute that cascaded through the solid rock to my left, just before the wall. Water, rushing down this formation had shaved off the conglomerate.
I had more climbing to do.
Up (top left, top right) and down (bottom left, bottom right) the narrow chute.
Clinging to the wall of the narrow passage, this Z-shaped snake was my favorite of the canyon.
At the top of the chute, I entered main grotto. This was not the end of the art, but here, the highest concentration of petroglyphs - and a few pictographs - crowded the walls.
Entrance to the main grotto.
A polished V terminated at a spectacular shield.
A wall of work.
Walking on water.
Three sheep.
This reminded me of the blueprint petroglyph.
Pigmented pictographs were fading here as well.
Vertical panel.
Having explored the grotto, it was time to head back to my companion, still waiting patiently near the bottom of the first falls. With up-climbs always easier than down, I wasn't sure how exactly I'd retrace my steps, but after some careful placement of hands and feet, and plenty of horizontal pressure on the polished surfaces as I wedged myself between the canyon walls, I eventually worked my way down.
Back down a high fall.
And then we were done.
The canyon had been everything I'd hoped. While the rock art in wasn't the most impressive in the park, the setting in which it was found - polished walls and dry falls - made for a magical experience. One easily worth 34 months of anticipation.
The Whole Story
Love your treatment of this place, Dan. Thanks.
Thanks Wells!
Great photos and you are quite the rock scrambler to get them.
Thanks! Was a fun time working my way up through that canyon. So grateful for those who trust me enough to share a place like this.
We were there last spring, and made it as far as mrs.turbodb. BTW, we also live in the Puget Sound area. It's good you didn't share the location!
...and - we pulled a guy out of the silt in Hidden Valley on that trip. We later learned another vehicle got stuck there the day before.
Well, good on you for helping to free someone from the silt pit, that's always a nice feeling (my most recent extraction has led to a really nice friendship)! Were they in an appropriate vehicle, or were they destined for rescue from the start? I know that a couple years ago, there were like 3-4 minivans that all had to get rescued there.
And, glad you had a chance to at least see as much as you did of "this spot." It's a special one for sure, and you can always go back for more (with a rope) should the urge develop!
The vehicle was appropriate, but going through what is normally deep sand, but had a foot of water didn't work out too well. Once he broke free he cruised through the rest of the mud.
We had some serendipity though. While finding rocks to put under his tires, we found some petroglyphs!
Wow, that is serendipity! Super cool; and now I'll have to go explore up there for the rock art, lol!
I just read your "most recent extraction". We got stuck there also! But I had an avalanche shovel that worked well to get weight back on our tires. You could tell that others had gotten stuck there. It took us about 30 minutes to get through it. I decided we could drive through it using another path, and fortunately it went.
We continued to Dedekera Canyon and decided that was too much. So we walked it. We enjoyed going all the way through it on foot and discovered some cool things. On our return, with some momentum the sand went ok. Whew! Now we have "pizza cutter" tires so it might be slightly more challenge.
Ahh yes, a snow shovel is about the only device that could clear enough of that silt to make a difference. It's sort of luck of the draw there... you either make it through, or you get high centered, it seems. A 30 minute self-extraction seems like a huge success to me... though I bet it took quite a bit longer to "extract" all the moon dust from your selves, hahaha! 😉
As for tires, you may find that you have better luck with pizza cutters. I've always run narrow tires on my truck, and they've never let me down.
Dedeckera is a fun little trail, though definitely intimidating the first time through. Especially running it uphill. What sort of vehicle are you in?
It's a Tacoma with 32" tires (235/85R16). We have a popup camper in the truck bed.
You ain't kidding about the silt! It's like talcum powder. We sunk in pretty deep walking around. I was diggin' like crazy and got my heart rate up pretty high. Maybe it was more like 45 minutes? It seemed like a lot of digging, and pretty awkward. The truck's "crawl mode" and locked rear diff may have helped.
Having never driven (off-road) anything but a 1st gen Tacoma (well, with the minor exception of an old Jeep CJ5), I can't really say how well the crawl control and various other computer-assisted modes work. Would be fun to try them though...
Not sure how much exploration of DV you've done, but if you were hesitant to go up Dedeckera, I'd suggest coming down it from Saline. There's only one real squeeze that you want to really get the right line on (for the sake of your tires). The rest are steps/drops that look worse than they are, and there are always plenty of rocks around to stack. Anyway, I did it "down" the first time, and that gave me a lot of confidence for "up." Great fun now, and a great way to connect Eureka and Saline, which each have so much to offer.
Oh, and if you didn't get to experience the fighter jets screaming by overhead as they transition from Eureka to Saline Valley, that's reason enough to give it a go again. They only run on weekdays, and generally between 9am and 3pm, with a break for lunch. Oh, and they are always in pairs, so if you hear the first one (which will be too late to really enjoy it), look for the wingman who will be along shortly! 👍
Yeah, that tight squeeze is one of our concerns -- it looks like one tires has to climb up the side of a rock. We've done a lot in DVNP with our 3rd gen (my wife wrote a book about DV history, and gives talks there) but prefer to walk Dedeckera. Our under-engine armoring is quite dented and I wonder if we can clear the steps. We've been up to Steele Pass via Saline and would love to go back. We had a nice two weeks in Saline area in November exploring abandoned miner trails.
We were serenaded by the fighter jets quite a few times in various areas of the park, sometimes 50' above us. Their route is on the FAA sectionals, see VR 1205 and 1255 for example on this map: https://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=36.25287,-117.9703&z=11&b=faa
If you have access to my email address via this reply, feel free to contact me. SF
Once again you have graciously shared your adventure. I applaud your approach to preserving the remoteness,beauty and historical resources. Cheers, Ralph
Thanks Ralph, this was a fun one - glad you enjoyed it. There are a few places like this in DVNP, and by and large they are not publicized, which is a good thing, I think. While I think our National Parks are a good place - in general/relatively, due to the resources we spend to make them accessible - to direct people who want to experience the wonders of nature, they still have places like this that would quickly become overrun.