Canyoneering Red Wall and Pyromaniac Canyons in Death Valley National Park, California

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This is a technical canyon. If you are unfamiliar with how to build anchors or the gear required for canyoneering do not attempt this route.

Feb 13, 2017 — A long walk up an alluvial fan leads to the mouth of Red Wall Canyon. This is a hike that's marked on lots of hiking maps, but we didn't see anyone when we were here. Red Wall Canyon is beautiful for its named red section, but we followed it well after the red faded away. One section of Red Wall Canyon required a bit of Class 3 scrambling, but there was a rope at the time we did the ascent. After continuing past the gorgeous red wall for a while, we found our halfway point, a big knob on the saddle between Red Wall Canyon and Pyromaniac Canyon. Originally, I found this route on Steve Hall's website listed as "Little Arches Canyon", but he hadn't gone through the canyon itself, so Shawn and I brought a rope just in case it turned technical. It did, fortunately, so we didn't carry a rope for nothing. Lots of fun rappels led through absolutely crazy colors and formations through the length of Pyromaniac Canyon. That name came from later research, where Scott Swaney posted it in his Death Valley canyoneering guide. I decided to use his name for it instead because we did the same route he took. From the look of the poor shape a piece of webbing we found in the canyon, it seemed like very few come through this canyon. Pyromaniac Canyon was one of the most colorful canyons I've ever seen. Nearing the exit, we saw a few little natural arches toward the mouth, and then we followed the alluvial fan back to the car. I marked a couple of "side canyons" on the map. We explored a few side canyons, but these two were the most interesting.

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A long, long walk through the open desert alluvial fan leading to the Red Wall Canyon mouth.

Looking back toward the road.

Does it look close from here? It isn't close. Definitely not.

Finally entering Red Wall Canyon.

Crazy bright reds.

The obstacle in Red Wall Canyon. There was a rope. If there isn't when you go, it's just a few Class 3 moves, nothing too crazy.

Shawn using the installed rope to get up.

The narrows open up for a while and bring you through a wash.

The Red Wall side canyon that leads to a dryfall (seen in upper right).

Mini scramble in the Red Wall side canyon up to the dryfall.

The knob in the distance is our halfway point. Go up the ridge to get there.

From the top of the knob looking toward Red Wall Canyon.

Looking down into Little Arches Canyon.

Little Arches Canyon has lots of crumbly, colorfully lit canyon walls for almost the entire first half leading down.

A recent rock slide made this area muddy.

Hairpin turn in the canyon.

The canyon opens up once in a while.

Fun downclimbing obstacles.

A side canyon on our way down.

Within the random side canyon.

Side canyon walls.

Back to the main canyon, where it becomes a wash again.

We built a cairn anchor! There was some super old webbing on a really sketch natural anchor that we replaced. This was our first cairn anchor we've made for real-world use.

More downclimbing, one of many which we likely should have rappelled.

Crazy reds. It seemed that any time the canyon became red, the more technical it became.

We were able to get away with only rappeling twice. All others were downclimbable, but a bit dangerous. I definitely recommend bringing some webbing since there are some tricky down climbs you may want to rappel on.

After the last rappel, a big boulder field leads down the canyon.

A little arch toward the end of the canyon.

Looking back toward Little Arches Canyon before starting the long slog down the alluvial fan toward the car.

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Canyoneer Red Wall and Pyromaniac Canyons Death Valley National Park, CA

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