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Canyoneering Route Description

Bad Canyon - 3A III
Death Valley National Park, California.

Pictures 01-24-10

Quick Facts

01-24-10, 4 people, 1 Day (Travel time in route 10.2 hours) - via the Bad Water Road up route, not the down from the Dante's route.

From Badwater road up.
Time Required - 10 to 12 hours
Distance - 7.6 miles Total, 2.8 miles Technical
Rappels - 11 Rappels, Longest Rappel 180 feet.
Elevation Range - 3815 to -280 feet below sea level
Shuttle Required - No   Vehicle - Passenger Permit Required - No

From Dante's View down.
Time Required - 9 to 11 hours
Distance - 6.3 miles Total, 2.8 miles Technical
Rappels - 11 Rappels, Longest Rappel 180 feet.
Elevation Range - 5680 to -280 feet below sea level
Shuttle Required -Yes  40.6  Miles Vehicle - Passenger Permit Required - No

See the Canyoneer Trip Report Explanation Notes page for an explanation of how the technical mileage or the gear used list is determined.

Gear Used for Canyon

Rappelling and anchor gear, Ropes and or pull cords for rappels up to 180 feet and 70 feet of 1 inch webbing for sling placement.

General Comments

Bad Canyon can be done as a route down from the Dante's View parking area or as a loop route starting from Badwater Road, up a ridge then back down to BadWater Road down Bad Canyon.

The Badwater up route is a little more work but comes with the benefit of not having a Long shuttle involved.  This option is recommended for fit hikers since the route involves 4000 feet of elevation gain in just under 3 miles.  The route from the bottom will require another hour or so in route but will not require the long car shuttle and will result in an overall faster time.  Another plus to the route up from the bottom are the incredible views.  While ascending the ridge you get views in 2 directions over the salt flats of Bad Water, good views of the route up and up close and personal views down into sections of Hades Canyon.

The Dante's View down route requires a long car shuttle but is less strenuous and 1.3 miles shorter.  The car shuttle will add well over an hour at the start of the day and well over an hour at the end of the day so keep this in mind when considering your route choice.

Although 11 rappels are listed here there are only 9 mandatory raps.  Rap 5 is reported on Chris Brennen's site to have a down climb LDC to get around this 110 foot rap.  Rap 7 which is only 20 feet or so is easily and quickly down limbed RDC.  Down climbing around rap 5 may be possible but you would miss out on a 110 foot rappel.  Climbing around the 20 foot rap 7 is recommended to reduce time and hassle.

Getting to the Trailhead and Exit Vehicle (Escape Pod) Parking

To get to the Trailhead

Using the loop route from Badwater road up.
You will need to park alongside the road near the alluvial fan for Hades Canyon.  From the junction of highways 178 (Bad Water Road) and 190, drive 16.6 miles south on highway 178 to Bad Water.  From the Bad Water Parking lot on Bad Water road, drive 2.3 miles south and find a place to pull off the road (pkHades-Bad-Bt).

Using the top down route from Dante's View - requires a long shuttle.
After placing your exit vehicle drive 16.6 miles north on Badwater road to the junction of highways 178 (Bad Water Road) and 190.  From the junction drive east on highway 190 about 10.7 miles to the turn off for Dante's View.  Follow the signs to Dante's View which is another 13 miles.

To leave the Exit Vehicle / Escape Pod

Using the loop route from Badwater road up.
No exit vehicle is needed.  This is done as a loop route. 

However if you want to save about 0.9 miles of road walking after finishing Bad Canyon you can park a second vehicle along side the road near the southern end of the alluvial at the bottom of Bad Canyon.  If you only have one vehicle you will need to walk the 0.9 miles of road back to the start of your route.

Using the top down route from Dante's View - requires a long shuttle.
From the junction of highways 178 (Bad Water Road) and 190, drive 16.6 miles south on highway 178 to Bad Water parking area.  Park here to leave the exit vehicle.

Maps

Click the links for maps of the route. Map of the entire route.
Map of the technical section.

GPS Waypoint Information

Details

The Approach from Dante's View down:

Note:
If you are doing the loop route from Badwater road up, skip down to the description for the approach from Badwater Road up.

From the Dante’s View parking area head north and follow the well worn use trail toward Mount Perry (tMntPeryUseTrl).  The use trail is well worn and passes by Dante’s Peak (pDante'sPeak) about 0.4 miles into the trail.    

1.3 miles from the start of the Mount Perry Use Trail will be a saddle where you will leave the use trail to begin the route down into the head of Bad Canyon (jBadCyn).  There is very little in the way of land marks around this saddle so it is difficult to explain what to look for.  Use of a GPS would be a good idea so you get the correct saddle. 

The only landmark I could find is a reddish rock outcropping to the left of the trail a short distance north of the saddle.  The area where this saddle is has no large rocks and only small vegetation and the rock outcropping is fairly obvious.

From the saddle where you leave the trail (jBadCyn), go west and follow down a shallow drainage.  On the left (south) is a very small ridge running along the south side of the shallow drainage.  This ridge will provide an easier descent than dropping directly down the drainage.

About 500 feet down from the trail the shallow drainage turns southwest around the lower tip of the ridge down from the trail (wBadRP-01). 

Follow down the drainage as it turns southwest around the tip of the ridge. 

About 0.3 miles further down the small drainage meets a much larger and wider wash (wBadRP-02).  There will be a few easy down climbs along the way.  There are some boulders that can be seen up the larger wash that look pretty impressive.

Once in this larger wash (wBadRP-02) travel southwest down the larger wash. 

About 0.3 miles down the larger wash will be a drop of about 15 feet down a smooth fluted wall (wBadRP-03).  Do not down climb or bypass this drop.  Instead leave the wash by climbing up the side to the right (north).  Go about 250 feet out from the wash up onto a ridge (wBadRP-04).  From this ridge is a view over to part of Upper Bad Canyon to the north in the distance.  The wall of Bad Canyon that can be seen from this ridge has sand hills from debris running down the walls.  There is a very large wash between this ridge and the portion of Bad Canyon that can be seen.

From this ridge the next step is to get down into the large wash / drainage north of the ridge.  Travel about 300 feet north east to where the slope down into the wash is more gentle (wBadRP-05).

Continue north down the slope and into the wash as it turns more west.  There will be multiple down climbs along the slope into and along the wash.  The further down the wash you go the tighter it gets and some of the down climbs begin to feel things could get technical soon.

About 0.2 miles down the wash will be a drop of about 30 feet (wBadRP-06).  There is no easy down climb for this drop.  We found webbing rigged here to make the drop a rappel which is not necessary.  From the top of this drop, climb about 40 feet up the right (north) side of the wash.  From the top of the climb out is a scree slope descending all the way down into upper Bad Canyon.

Drop west, down the scree slope about 400 feet down into Bad Canyon.  On the way down the scree slope stay right (north) to avoid a couple drops before reaching the floor of Bad Canyon (yBadtp).

Once in Bad Canyon you can clearly see the Hades Fault to the southwest in the distance.  At this point Bad Canyon is a very wide open flat wash.  Travel south west down canyon about 0.5 miles to the bottom of the Hades Fault (jHades).

Note:
If using this approach for Hades Canyon, climb southwest up the Hades Fault about 0.1 miles out of Bad Canyon.  The top of the Hades Fault is the top entry for Hades Canyon (yHadesTp).  Take a moment to enjoy the view down toward the salt flats over Hades Canyon to the south west and the view up Bad Canyon to the northeast.

Skip down to the description for the canyon. 

The Approach from Badwater Road up:
This approach can be used for Bad Canyon or for Hades Canyon.  This route climbs the ridge between Bad and Hades Canyons.  The ridge leads to the top of the Hades Fault which is the head of Hades Canyon.  From the fault you can choose to drop down into Bad or Hades Canyon.

From where you parked your vehicle along the road (pkHades-Bad-Bt), walk east up the alluvial fan at the bottom of Hades Canyon.  As you walk, look at the ridge on the left (north) side of Hades Canyon and visually follow it down to the mouth of the canyon.  Where the slope meets the alluvial fan (wBad-Up-RP-01) is where you will start the climb up onto the ridge.

Starting north east up the ridge from the alluvial fan, the climb is steep for about 300 feet until it hits a section with an easier grade.  Once at the top of the initial short climb and on the easier grade, follow up along the right (east) edge of the ridge.  This section is wide open and flat with a view of Hades on the right (east).

About 800 feet further up the ridge is a section of loose crumbled earth with large dirt clod like boulders.  Climb up to the top of the dirt clod (wBad-Up-RP-02) section to get to the first long steep section of the climb up the ridge.

After getting to the top of the dirt clod section, the first long steep climb of the approach starts.  The slope is covered in sections of talus but has pretty solid footing.  A short distance up, look for a shallow drainage and follow it up the slope.  The drainage has a fair amount of solid rock not covered in talus that offers good footing.  About 850 feet from the top of the dirt clod section is an almost level section (wBad-Up-RP-03) good for taking a quick breather if needed.

About 350 feet from the large level section is a cairn (not in good shape but there) marking a path up the next section of the climb (wBad-Up-RP-04).  From here a faint path can be seen and easily followed leading further up the ridge.  Great views of the salt flats and down into Hades Canyon can be seen all along this portion of the route.

About 0.6 miles from the cairn is the top out of the first major section of the climb (wBad-Up-RP-05) at about 2240 feet elevation.  At this point you should be about 1.6 miles into the route with a total ascent of about 2500 feet.  As a side note, shortly before reaching this top out, you will have a good view of the 190 foot rappel in Hades Canyon.

About 800 feet from the top out of the first long steep climb is the start of the second long steep climb (wBad-Up-RP-06).  This second climb is not as steep but still feels very strenuous after just having climbed the last section.

About 0.2 miles up the second long climb the incline mellows a little then briefly starts down to where the route crosses a rugged knife edge section of the ridge (wBad-Up-RP-07).

About 0.3 miles past the knife edge section, is a cairn (wBad-Up-RP-08).  

About 0.2 miles from the cairn the climb levels briefly as the route crosses over a rugged protrusion of rock (wBad-Up-RP-09) on a small saddle.

About 0.3 miles from the saddle with the rugged rock protrusion is another cairn almost at the top of the climb (wBad-Up-RP-10).

About 350 feet from the cairn is the top of the second long steep climb and the highest point on the route (wBad-Up-RP-11) at 3815 feet.  Just before reaching this high point you may notice A LOT of sparkling rock, some of which is quite captivating.  The start of the route was from Bad Water road at -255 feet which gives a total elevation gain thus far of 4070 feet over 3 miles to this point.

From the highest point on the route turn east and follow the ridge down to a saddle then back up over another small hill.  On the other side of the hill, continue east down the slope toward the Hades Fault at the top of Hades Canyon. 

About 0.2 miles from the high point on the route, the slope will reach a drop (wBad-Up-RP-12) that is too steep to safely get down.  Turn south west and drop down a chute to get down into Hades Canyon.  This section is loose scree over hard dirt so it is very easy to slip and slide on the way down.  Once in Hades Canyon, turn left (north east) and go up canyon a short distance to the head of Hades Canyon (yHadesTp).

Take a moment to enjoy the view down toward the salt flats over Hades Canyon to the south west and the view up Bad Canyon to the northeast.

If using this approach for Bad Canyon:
Follow north west down a chute from the head of Hades Canyon.  About 500 feet down the chute will be a series of drops (wBad-Up-RP-13).  Turn east and climb up over the small ridge to get to the next chute over then drop down that chute to Bad Canyon (jHades).  You should be at an elevation of about 3470' when you reach the floor of Bad Canyon.

If using this approach for Hades Canyon:
Turn south and start down Hades Canyon.

The Canyoneering / Technical Section:
Once you get down into Bad Canyon just below the Hades Fault (jHades), continue down Bad Canyon (north west). A little over 100 feet down canyon is a down climb of about 10 feet.

About 150 more feet down canyon is a sheer drop of about 40 feet (wBadRP-07).  This drop is bypassed by climbing up and around LDC.  The start of the climb around has a short section of exposure but is very easy to get around.  A cairn style anchor has been set here by previous parties to rap the drop.  With this drop being easy to bypass and the first mandatory rap being quite a way down canyon, it is recommended to bypass this drop with the climb around.

Down canyon of this drop is lots of easy wash walking in mostly wide open canyon.  Along the way are several down climbs.  The first down climb is a drop of about 30 feet with a crack running down it LDC, allowing an easy route down the drop.  A couple more down climbs follow shortly with heights of about 10 and 5 feet.  Next is another down climb of about 12 feet down a rough wall which allows for great footing.

Rap 1 (dBadR1-2) is about 1.1 miles down canyon of the 40 foot drop with the optional rap set up.  Rap 1 is anchored from a large rock in a rock pile LDC of the drop in the wash.  Rap 1 drops about 90 feet down a solid rock section with little to no loose rock.  There is also a ledge a short distance down from the top.

Rap 2 is near the bottom of rap 1.  Rap 2 drops about 35 feet and is anchored from a large rock embedded in the wash about 30 feet up canyon of the drop.

Down canyon of rap 2 is easy wash walking with 3 easy down climbs along the way ranging from 6 to 20 feet.  Then the canyon opens up to a wide open view with a sliver of the salt flats showing off in the distance.

Rap 3 (dBadR3-4) is about 0.3 miles down canyon of rap 2.  Rap 3 is the biggest rap on the route and has 2 options.  Option one would be to rap directly down the drop in the water course which would be about 170 feet down a dry fall.  There is no anchor here at the time of this writing but there is sufficient rock debris in the area to allow for one to be built with ease.  I would not be surprised to see an anchor built here in the future.

To get to the current anchor for Rap 3, walk up and over LDC of the drop in the water course, down climb along a crack in the rock, walk over to a rock slope and then scramble about 100 feet down the rock slope.  At the other end of the rock slope you will find the anchor for Rap 3 which is a large rock attached to the wall of a small chute.  From here Rap 3 starts down a gentle slope then over the edge and drops about 180 feet.  About half way down the drop is a large ledge then the rap continues over the ledge to the canyon floor.  There is a lot of loose rock debris along this rap so try to be conscious of people below at the bottom of the rap.  Just below rap 3 is a short easy down climb.

Rap 4 is about 300 feet down canyon of rap 3.  Rap 4 is anchored from a small rock horn like feature about 20 feet up canyon from the top of the drop.  Rap 4 drops about 50 feet down a rough chute and could arguably be down climbed.  This rap can be up climbed fairly easy but may for safety should be rappelled rather than down climbed.

About 400 feet down canyon of rap 4 is an interesting down climb.  The down climb starts with a chute down a section of smooth rock.  The chute is just steep enough to allow a slow easily controlled slide to the lip of a drop off.  The drop of is 8 to 10 feet straight down.  Those comfortable with jumping will find this to be no problem.  Those that are not jumpers will find this a bit challenging and would best if assisted by someone at the bottom of the drop.  At the lip of the drop there is little to hold on to so grabbing something and letting yourself down easy isn’t going to happen.  There are rocks near the top of the slide that could be slung to set up a hand line but you will need a lot of webbing or would need to use one of the ropes.

Rap 5 (dBadR-5) is almost 200 feet down canyon of this interesting down climb.  Rap 5 is anchored from a cairn style anchor in the water course about 15 feet back from the drop.  Rap 5 drops about 110 feet starting down a fluted fall to a gravel filled ledge then down a vertical rock wall.  Not sure but this may be the big drop that Chris Brennen says can be bypassed with a down climb LDC.  It looks possible but we did not explore this fully.  Right at the bottom of rap 5 the canyon turns right (west) and gives a long gently sloped down climb along pink and gray striped rock.

Rap 6 (dBadR6) is about 400 feet down canyon of rap 5.  Rap 6 is anchored from a large rock about 20 feet up canyon from the drop.  Rap 6 drops about 50 feet from the lip of the drop down a dry fall with a little bit of overhang near the top of the rap.  The natural fall of the rope for Rap 6 leads into one of two pinch points for the rope.  The last person down should rap down LDC of the natural fall line by going over the LDC side of a large boulder wedged near the top of the rap.  This will keep the rope out of the pinch point and allow for a much easier pull.

Rap 7 (dBadR7) is about 0.1 mile down canyon of rap 6 and is anchored from a rock embedded in the wash about 25 feet from the drop.  Rap 7 drops about 20 feet.  This rap is easily bypassed with an easy down climb RDC of the drop.  To save time and hassle it may be best to bypass this drop with the down climb.  To get to the down climb, go up and over RDC then down a slopped down climb with good footing.  A couple people can be down the drop via the down climb before the ropes are set up for a rappel.

Rap 8 (dBadR8) is about 350 feet down canyon of rap 7.  Rap 8 drops about 25 feet down a gentle slope then about 30 feet down a vertical wall.  The anchor for rap 8 is a single piton in the rock LDC of the drop.  This piton is easy to miss (you may even find yourself walking right next to it and not seeing it) if there is no webbing tied to it.  There are few other anchor options here.  One option is a small bush in the middle of the stream bed.

Rap 9 (dBadR9) is about 0.1 mile down canyon of rap 8.  Rap 9 is anchored from a rock pile in the stream bed about 20 feet from the lip of the rappel.  Rap 9 drops about 150 feet down a fluted dry water fall.

Rap 10 (dBadR10) is about 0.1 miles down canyon of rap 9.  Rap 10 is anchored from a small cairn style anchor.  Rap 10 drops about 35 feet.

A little over 100 feet down canyon from rap 10 is a drop that looks as though it should be rappelled.  There is a ledge LDC the leads to an easy down climb along a sloped section of rock.  This down climb looks sketchy from the top and the initial thought is to set up a rap.  Someone has built and anchor here on the ledge.  The anchor is not substantial enough to make for a safe rap.  Not to worry, the walk down the sloped rock is easy enough it can almost be done hands free.  This is a very easy down climb that looks scary until you are on it. Then you realize it’s very easy.

Rap 11 (dBadR11) is about 100 feet down canyon of the deceiving down climb and is the last rap in the canyon.  Rap 11 is a 2 stage drop and is anchored from a cairn style anchor about 10 feet back from the lip of the first drop.  The first stage of rap 11 drops about 15 feet to a gravel filled ledge about 30 feet long then down the next stage of about 40 feet.

After rap 11 continue down canyon along the wash.  About .06 miles from rap 11 the canyon walls end and you have view of the entire alluvial fan for Bad Canyon (yBadBt).

The Exit:
If you are doing the top down route and need to get to your shuttle vehicle left at Badwater parking area, turn right (north) once onto the alluvial fan and walk about 0.5 to the parking area for Bad Water where the exit vehicle was left (sBadWater282).

If doing the loop route from Badwater Road, walk southwest across the alluvial back to the road.  If you parked a car here you are done.  If you only left a car at the start of the route turn left and walk south on Badwater road for 0.9 miles to your vehicle (pkHades-Bad-Bt).

GPS Waypoint Information

Back to the Canyoneering Trip Report List page.

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