Upper Fall Canyon in Death Valley National Park, CA

Hike Upper Fall Canyon Death Valley National Park, CA

Class 3 14.2 miles 3400 gain 5-7 hrs Out + Back Oct 29, 2015
Effort
Beauty
Personality
Solitude

Upper Fall Canyon GPX Track

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Fall Canyon is a popular and advertised slot canyon in Death Valley National Park. A trail leaves the parking lot and heads into the mouth of Fall Canyon, where a wash continues through the slot. Most people turn around at the first dryfall. In my opinion the best part of the hike is directly after where the narrows become tighter. Past the first dryfall feels a lot more remote, but requires some scrambling to get over. Bypassing the fall can be done by more difficult climbing or a cairn-marked scramble that leads around the fall via ledges. The narrows past here are incredibly beautiful and the slick walls continue to be very cool for a long time. Fall Canyon opens up for a time and a few miles after the first dryfall offers a relaxing trip through untouched canyon wilderness though the sandy wash. Fall Canyon then narrows a bit again, and I continued past a second dryfall via difficult scrambling. Shortly after here I turned around since there was a significant blockage and it looked like the canyon opened up again anyway. I was content.

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Hire me or show me some love!

Hire/refer me as a web developer or send me a few bucks if you find my site useful. I’m not sponsored, so all fees are out-of-pocket and my time preparing trip reports is unpaid. I really appreciate it!