Mar 21, 2018 — Finding water sources in the desert is a pretty surreal experience, especially somewhere as dry as Death Valley National Park. Follow a sandy, wide canyon trail into a narrower canyon that leads to Darwin Falls. To the left of the falls, a scramble leads to above the falls. Find a way back into the canyon and scramble to the north in a dirty gully to get just above the Upper Darwin Falls. We went farther up the canyon trying to get to China Garden Spring, but after the prettiest parts of the canyon stopped and we were bushwhacking, we turned back and did the rappel with daylight. Obviously, since we came up the canyon without doing more than Class 3, we could have gone back down, but the upper falls rappel was one of my favorite rappels to date: the falls curve in such a way that you are staring directly at the flowing water as you descend. You can find a natural anchor on the south side of the canyon around a boulder. I didn't take shots during the rappel, so I'll leave the surprise for when you go. Incredibly beautiful.
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