Erebus Canyon

Death Valley National Park, CA Southern Death Valley + Amargosa Desert

Trip stats

Distance
7.5 mi
Net Gain
600 ft
Time
8-11 hrs
YDS Rating
Class 2
ACA Rating
3A
Longest Rappel
150 ft
Route
Shuttle
Peaks
1

Ratings out of 10

Effort
4.1/10
Personality
6/10
Beauty
7/10
Solitude
6.7/10
What do these mean? →

Peaks on this hike

Summits listed in route order

  1. Dante's View Peak
    5,704′ elevation · 744′ prominence

Route map + Trailhead

Trailhead Coordinates

36.220820, -116.726420

The directions link below drops a pin on the trailhead coordinates and lets Google Maps pick the route. If the drive has rough roads or access issues that GPS nav might get wrong, I cover that in my trip report.

Get directions (opens Google Maps in a new tab)

Trip report

Technical canyon warning

This is a technical canyon requiring canyoneering skills and specialized equipment. If you are not experienced with building anchors or using the gear required for technical canyoneering, do not attempt this route.

Jan 31, 2025 — Erebus Canyon carves through the Black Mountains, offering sweeping views over Badwater Basin. While other canyons in the range are said to be more thrilling, we all found this one gorgeous in its own right. I wasn’t leading the charge on this outing. Luke and companions had already tackled plenty of Death Valley’s canyons, while my canyoneering in the park was pretty limited and I’m just happy to do new stuff. From start to finish, the views into Death Valley were spectacular, and the canyon itself had some excellent formations and textures.

We set up a shuttle for the descent, leaving the exit vehicle parked on the side of the road just north of Badwater at an arbitrary spot (36.26146, -116.78020). We all piled into the remaining car and drove up to Dante’s View, arriving just in time for a sunrise start. From the Dante’s View parking area, we took a clear trail north, which ultimately leads to the summit of Mount Perry, but we wouldn’t be going all the way there today.

Shortly after starting, the trail passes over Dante’s View Peak before gradually descending to the saddle that separates Dante’s View Peak from Mount Perry. Along the way, the trail undulates slightly over various humps, but it is easy to follow and, in the morning light, absolutely beautiful. I should probably start waking up earlier for sunrises.

At the saddle, we located the spur ridge we would use to descend from the ridgeline to reach the head of Erebus Canyon. A faint social trail leads down this spur ridge, passes an old mining relic, and then drops north down a steep, scree-covered slope. This drop lasts only a few hundred feet, but more than one person ended up on their butt on the way down, and the consensus was that it wasn’t exactly enjoyable. At the bottom of the slope, we found ourselves at the head of the North Fork of Typhon Canyon, another technical slot. Erebus was located one drainage to the north, so we scrambled out of the drainage on a social trail, crested a shoulder, and entered our canyon.

The first half-mile of Erebus Canyon included some small downclimbs but was otherwise uneventful. I’ll let the photos illustrate the canyon and rappels. Most of our anchors were cairn anchors, but there were also a couple of pinch points, which I have always been terrified of, and a few natural anchors slung over boulders. In typical Death Valley canyon fashion, there are lots of big drops in the wide drainage with expansive views. However, I found it a little frustrating that the most beautiful features were located at the very bottom after the last rappel, so you could just hike up from Badwater Basin to enjoy the majority of the colors without having to do any rappels.

Hire me or show some love!

Hire or refer me as a web developer, or send me a few bucks if you find my site useful. I'm not sponsored, so it's funded by yours truly. It also takes a ton of work to edit photos and write these reports. I really appreciate it!

Hire me PayPal Venmo Cash App

Photos

64 photos

  1. Along the Mount Perry Trail.
  2. Mount Perry in the center along the ridgeline.
  3. Descending to the lowest saddle before the trail ascends to Mount Perry.
  4. Our turn-off point. A social trail leads down a minor spur ridge.
  5. Some old mining stuff along the way down.
  6. A steep slope dropped us off the spur ridge and into the North Fork of Typhon Canyon. A social trail led out of this drainage and brought us over a lump.
  7. At the head of Erebus Canyon.
  8. Some downclimbing obstacles initially.
  9. Approaching Rap 1. Likely avoidable on the right.
  10. Looking up at Rap 1.
  11. Approaching Rap 2. I bypassed it left-down-canyon.
  12. Rap 2, seen from the bypass.
  13. Rap 3.
  14. Pretty narrows just after Rap 3.
  15. Bottom of Rap 4.
  16. Rap 5.
  17. Looking down before Rap 6.
  18. View back up Rap 6.
  19. There was a stretch of walking between Rap 6 and Rap 7.
  20. A fun downclimb along the way.
  21. Very pretty sculpted walls.
  22. A nicely-carved obstacle.
  23. Partner-assisted dryfall.
  24. Short section of gorgeous narrows.
  29. Rap 7.
  30. Rap 8. Rap 9 seen directly below.
  31. Rap 9.
  32. Rap 9.
  33. View back up at Rap 9 and subsequent downclimbs.
  34. Rap 10.
  35. View back up at Rap 10.
  36. Rap 11.
  37. View back up at Rap 11.
  38. Rap 12, the biggest drop of the day at about 150'.
  39. Rap 12.
  40. Rap 12. You can see friends setting up Rap 13 below.
  41. View back at Rap 12.
  42. Rap 13, two stage.
  43. More sculpted rock on the way to Rap 14.
  44. Rap 14, very short. We thought we could downclimb it, but a fluted flare at the bottom made it sketchy.
  45. I thought this anchor was a wild choice, but I wasn't LAPAR, so I didn't fight to build a cairn anchor.
  46. Top of Rap 15.
  47. Looking back at Rap 15.
  48. Rap 16. This is 2-stage, and a difficult pull. Stage 2 is located around the corner below.
  49. Rap 17 (or second stage of Rap 16).
  51. Rap 18.
  52. View back at Rap 18.
  53. Rap 19.
  54. Close-up toward the remainder of the canyon.
  55. The rest of the canyon included just a bunch of fun downclimbs and gorgeous walls.
  63. Exiting Erebus Canyon.
  64. From the road, a close-up of Erebus Canyon.

Photo 1 of 1

Hire me or show some love!

Hire or refer me as a web developer, or send me a few bucks if you find my site useful. I'm not sponsored, so it's funded by yours truly. It also takes a ton of work to edit photos and write these reports. I really appreciate it!

Hire me PayPal Venmo Cash App
GPX track

Erebus Canyon GPX route and driving track

The complete GPX track is available to download, so you can load the route straight into your navigation app or device. The trip report, route info, photos and planning details stay free.

Add to cart View cart