Overview

Upper Fall Canyon is a long (14.6 miles round trip) hike through a truly spectacular piece of narrow, water-polished canyon in the Death Valley Wilderness Area. The route follows the Lower Fall Canyon route to the lower pour-over, which blocks easy passage. The Upper Fall Canyon route passes the pour-over by climbing a 4th-class crack on the wall of the canyon and traversing narrow ledges.

From the top of the pour-over, the route passes the best of the narrow, water-polished gorge in about 10 minutes, although there are more narrow sections above. About 7.3 miles out and 3,000 feet up, Fall Canyon is blocked by another pour-over that is not so easily passed. The entire route follows the bed of Fall Canyon, but the hike is fairly strenuous because the gravel is loose all the way up.

Link to an area map or a trail map.

Watch Out

Other than the standard warnings about hiking in the desert, ...this route requires some moderate rock-climbing skills. Although the climbing is not technically difficult, it is a bit high, and the downclimb looks pretty bad from above. Other than that, this is a fairly safe hike, but stay out of the canyon if rain threatens (even if it falls high in the mountains), because of possible flash floods. The canyon is narrow, and in many places, there would be no place to escape the floodwaters.

Much of the canyon is too deep and narrow for accurate GPS readings. In addition, historically, there has been a mapping anomaly in this area for online maps that I think is the result of a misalignment among map projections along the east side of California. The result is that map-tiles didn't align properly and didn't display GPS coordinates correctly. Printed USGS topo maps are okay, but hikers should rely on instinct, route finding, and map reading skills if there seems to be a problem with online maps. Don't rely only on technology here.

While hiking, please respect the land and the other people out there, and please try to Leave No Trace of your passage. This is a hike into an isolated canyon where rescue would be difficult, so be sure to bring the Ten Essentials.

Getting to the Trailhead

This hike is located in Death Valley National Park, about 3.5 hours northwest of Las Vegas.

From town, drive out to Death Valley. From the Furnace Creek Visitor Center (Table 1, Site 0712), drive north on Highway 190 for 17.4 miles to Scotty's Castle Road (Site 0763). Turn right onto Scotty's Castle Road and drive north for 15.0 miles to Titus Canyon Road (Site 0761). There is a large sign at the intersection. Turn right onto Titus Canyon Road and drive east for 2.7 miles. The rocky road runs up the bajada to the parking area at the edge of the mountains. The road is a bit rough, but it is fine for all vehicles (except not trailers as there is nowhere to turn a trailer around).

Stop in the parking lot just before the "one way, do not enter" sign (Site 0760). The parking lot is the end of the two-way road. Above this point, the road is one-way -- downhill. Park here; this is the trailhead.

The Hike

From the outhouse at the Titus Canyon Trailhead (Table 2, Waypoint 01), a use-trail runs northwest, then northeast along the base of the mountains to Fall Canyon Wash (Wpt. 02). A few yards upstream, the trail arrives the mouth of Fall Canyon (Wpt. 03), which is marked by abrupt cliffs. Farther up, stay to the right at a fork (Wpt. 04) in the canyon. The trail continues up canyon for a total of 3.7 miles to a 20-ft pour-over (Wpt. 05) that blocks passage. See Lower Fall Canyon for details on this section of the hike.

The 20-ft pour-over (Wpt. 05) blocks the canyon, and there is no way past it at this point. To pass the pour-over, return down Fall Canyon 50-100 yards. On the south wall of the canyon (left side hiking back down), watch for a pile of rocks on a ledge 10-12 feet above the wash. Climb onto the pile of rocks, and then climb the 4th-class crack and ledges to a use-trail that leads up the canyon. The route looks hairy from above, especially on the way down. Follow the narrow use-trail as it runs over a high point (about 150 ft above wash) and then drops down to the top of the pour-over.

Just above the pour-over, Fall Canyon narrows into a truly spectacular narrow section of water-polished limestone. This remarkable section is fairly short, and in about ten minutes hikers are above the narrows and back into a wider section of canyon. By about 40 minutes above the pour-over, the canyon is wide enough canyon to get good GPS coverage.

From there, the route continues up the canyon. There are sections of narrow canyon and sections of wide canyon, and overall, the place is spectacular.

About three miles above the lower pour-over (7.3 miles from the trailhead), the route arrives at the upper pour-over, which is about 20-ft high (Wpt. 06). Although not tall, this pour-over is well polished and looks difficult to climb. I got there late in the day and all alone, so I didn't try the climb.

I've been told that a bypass route goes around the pour-over on the north side a few yards back from the pour-over, and that the pour-over isn't too hard to climb. However, about 50 yards above this pour-over is another, which is, in fact, difficult to climb or bypass.

Enjoy the place, eat lunch, relax for a few, and return to the trailhead by following your footsteps back down the gravel wash. Don't be late for dinner.