blue corgi's photostream  

The mouth of the canyon is in the center of the image where the red wall appears. The floor of the canyon was a wash consisting of loose gravels and small stones.

During our Death Valley trip this year my brother and I spent most mornings and evenings shooting in the Mesquite Flats dunefield to catch the low angle light, which brings out the marvelous textures and shapes of the dunes. During midday, however, we usually went for a hike up one of the many and intriguing canyons that cut through the mountains surrounding the valley. So, I thought I'd put together a little travelogue of a one of them for my Friends.

These are all iPhone photos. After packing my large format camera, heavy tripod, and 15 or so film carriers in and out of the dunefield twice a day, I wasn't all that excited about carrying all 40 pounds (18 kg) of gear up and down a steep canyon. ;-)

This particular set of photos is from a hike up and into an unnamed canyon (at least, as far as we could tell) above Cottonball Marsh. To reach the mouth of the canyon from the nearest road we had to hike a mile (1.6 km) across a rocky fan and gained 1000 ft (300 m) in elevation from the valley floor. We followed the canyon another 2 or 2.5 miles (3.2 - 4 km) and gained another 1800 feet (500 m) in elevation.

Obviously we weren't the only people who had hiked here, but the only sign we did see was footprints in the wash. We also saw footprints of the desert bighorn sheep, but no sign of the shy creatures.

During our Death Valley trip this year my brother and I spent most mornings and evenings shooting in the Mesquite Flats dunefield to catch the low angle light, which brings out the marvelous textures and shapes of the dunes. During midday, however, we usually went for a hike up one of the many and intriguing canyons that cut through the mountains surrounding the valley. So, I thought I'd put together a little travelogue of one of them for my Friends.

These are all iPhone photos. After packing my large format camera, heavy tripod, and 15 or so film carriers in and out of the dunefield twice a day, I wasn't all that excited about carrying all 40 pounds (18 kg) of gear up and down a steep canyon. ;-)

This particular set of photos is from a hike up and into an unnamed canyon (at least, as far as we could tell) above Cottonball Marsh. To reach the mouth of the canyon from the nearest road we had to hike a mile (1.6 km) across a rocky fan and gained 1000 ft (300 m) in elevation from the valley floor. We followed the canyon another 2 or 2.5 miles (3.2 - 4 km) and gained another 1800 feet (500 m) in elevation.

As we gained elevation in the canyon we started seeing junipers and other small trees growing on the rock walls or in the wash near the edge of the canyon walls.

During our Death Valley trip this year my brother and I spent most mornings and evenings shooting in the Mesquite Flats dunefield to catch the low angle light, which brings out the marvelous textures and shapes of the dunes. During midday, however, we usually went for a hike up one of the many and intriguing canyons that cut through the mountains surrounding the valley. So, I thought I'd put together a little travelogue of one of them for my Friends.

These are all iPhone photos. After packing my large format camera, heavy tripod, and 15 or so film carriers in and out of the dunefield twice a day, I wasn't all that excited about carrying all 40 pounds (18 kg) of gear up and down a steep canyon. ;-)

This particular set of photos is from a hike up and into an unnamed canyon (at least, as far as we could tell) above Cottonball Marsh. To reach the mouth of the canyon from the nearest road we had to hike a mile (1.6 km) across a rocky fan and gained 1000 ft (300 m) in elevation from the valley floor. We followed the canyon another 2 or 2.5 miles (3.2 - 4 km) and gained another 1800 feet (500 m) in elevation.

Headed back down the canyon, you can see how wide it was even in the upper reaches of the canyon. The gravel wash continued up as far as we went. The mountains at the horizon are part of the Funeral Mountain Range.

During our Death Valley trip this year my brother and I spent most mornings and evenings shooting in the Mesquite Flats dunefield to catch the low angle light, which brings out the marvelous textures and shapes of the dunes. During midday, however, we usually went for a hike up one of the many and intriguing canyons that cut through the mountains surrounding the valley. So, I thought I'd put together a little travelogue of one of them for my Friends.

These are all iPhone photos. After packing my large format camera, heavy tripod, and 15 or so film carriers in and out of the dunefield twice a day, I wasn't all that excited about carrying all 40 pounds (18 kg) of gear up and down a steep canyon. ;-)

This particular set of photos is from a hike up and into an unnamed canyon (at least, as far as we could tell) above Cottonball Marsh. To reach the mouth of the canyon from the nearest road we had to hike a mile (1.6 km) across a rocky fan and gained 1000 ft (300 m) in elevation from the valley floor. We followed the canyon another 2 or 2.5 miles (3.2 - 4 km) and gained another 1800 feet (500 m) in elevation.

After emerging from the canyon on our descent we had to walk another mile back on these rocky fans. Fortunately the rocks were stable and didn't move much, but you had to concentrate on every step, which was tiring. In this view you can see the funeral mountains on the right and on the left edge of the photo you can see the Mesquite Flats dunefield.

During our Death Valley trip this year my brother and I spent most mornings and evenings shooting in the Mesquite Flats dunefield to catch the low angle light, which brings out the marvelous textures and shapes of the dunes. During midday, however, we usually went for a hike up one of the many and intriguing canyons that cut through the mountains surrounding the valley. So, I thought I'd put together a little travelogue of one of them for my Friends.

These are all iPhone photos. After packing my large format camera, heavy tripod, and 15 or so film carriers in and out of the dunefield twice a day, I wasn't all that excited about carrying all 40 pounds (18 kg) of gear up and down a steep canyon. ;-)

This particular set of photos is from a hike up and into an unnamed canyon (at least, as far as we could tell) above Cottonball Marsh. To reach the mouth of the canyon from the nearest road we had to hike a mile (1.6 km) across a rocky fan and gained 1000 ft (300 m) in elevation from the valley floor. We followed the canyon another 2 or 2.5 miles (3.2 - 4 km) and gained another 1800 feet (500 m) in elevation.