TIM McLENEGAN

Death Valley Backpacking in Cottonwood and Marble Canyons

  1. Setting up camp on the side of a hidden dirt road on the night before we actually start walking.
  2. Looking at the Cottonwood Mountains before heading down for our last "real" breakfast and then the trailhead.
  3. Ready to go!
  4. View of the Cottonwood Mountains from the trailhead.
  5. View inside a large cave in Cottonwood Canyon where we stopped for a break.
  6. Large cave in Cottonwood Canyon.
  7. One of the narrow sections in Cottonwood Canyon.
  8. A canyon bend.
  9. Nice patterns in the rocks on the side of Cottonwood Canyon.
  10. The spring where we filtered water the first night.
  11. Venus setting behind a cottonwood tree at our first night’s camp.
  12. Venus setting behind a cottonwood tree at our first night’s camp.
  13. Orion and the Milky Way from our first night’s campsite.
  14. Orion and the Milky Way from our first night’s campsite.
  15. More water in the desert!
  16. Joel hiking through a grove of cottonwood trees near the mouth of Cottonwood Canyon.
  17. Not a bad place to stop for lunch! This is just outside the upper mouth of Cottonwood Canyon.
  18. A nice relaxing spring.
  19. After lunch, we hiked three hours up a large wash. This is looking back from the end. We started from the mouth of the canyon which is off to the left where that large step is past that hill in the middle. It was a long climb.
  20. Joel heading down to our second campsite. It was a very steep drop through loose sand.
  21. Looking from the dryfall in Deadhorse Canyon.
  22. Joel is climbing down the side of the Deadhorse dryfall.
  23. Joel is climbing down the side of the Deadhorse dryfall.
  24. Bones in Deadhorse Canyon.
  25. Entering upper Marble Canyon for a short side trip.
  26. At first we saw just the bottom bush and thought it was growing upside down somehow, but then we saw the higher bush and decided that the bush's roots decided to start growing leaves.
  27. A large chunk of very nice marble inside upper Marble Canyon.
  28. A nice striped salmon-colored rock.
  29. Raptor hunting for food above upper Marble Canyon.
  30. Joel admiring a very large chunk of marble in the canyon wall.
  31. Hiking in upper Marble Canyon.
  32. Joel is admiring these very large boulders that traveled a very long distance to get here.
  33. Smooth marble on the canyon walls.
  34. Nice white marble walls.
  35. Hiking deeper into upper Marble Canyon.
  36. Outcropping of marble in upper Marble Canyon.
  37. More marble walls.
  38. Some crystals were able to grow in a gap in the marble.
  39. Another large marble boulder.
  40. Beautiful marble formations in upper Marble Canyon.
  41. Standing on one of the large wandering granite boulders in upper Marble Canyon.
  42. The meandering upper Marble Canyon.
  43. Wavy marble in upper Marble Canyon.
  44. Wavy marble in upper Marble Canyon.
  45. Beautiful colors in upper Marble Canyon.
  46. The spines on those cacti are over an inch long.
  47. Hiking down Marble Canyon.
  48. Hiking down Marble Canyon.
  49. Approaching the zebra stripe formation in Marble Canyon.
  50. The zebra stripes in Marble Canyon.
  51. Close up view up the marble zebra sripes in Marble Canyon.
  52. Joel and the zebra striped marble in Marble Canyon.
  53. Tim and the zebra striped marble in Marble Canyon.
  54. Interesting red bush that looked like a little bonsai tree.
  55. Another striped pattern lower down in Marble Canyon.
  56. Hiking along some red-colored walls in Marble Canyon.
  57. More colors in Marble Canyon.
  58. Colorful reds and oranges in Marble Canyon.
  59. Lots of colors in Marble Canyon.
  60. Petroglyphs in Marble Canyon.
  61. More stripes in Marble Canyon.
  62. Tall layered canyon walls.
  63. Entering the middle narrows in Marble Canyon.
  64. Inside the middle narrows in Marble Canyon.
  65. Smooth marble walls in Marble Canyon.
  66. Joel in the narrows.
  67. Hiking further in the narrows.
  68. Someone made a nest high up on the canyon wall.
  69. We had to hike around this large chokestone.
  70. Rock layers in Marble Canyon.
  71. Hiking down Marble Canyon.
  72. More stripes in Marble Canyon.
  73. Inside the last narrow section in Marble Canyon.
  74. Fossils!
  75. 60,000 steps and 30 miles later, we are back at the trailhead.