Overview

In the old days, this was a moderately strenuous hike up a steep gravel wash to three amazing narrow slot canyons cut into the walls of the main canyon. It turns out, however, that without signs or GPS devices to find the way, people have been exploring the first three side canyons they encounter and often not finding the original three, which could be renumbered to Slots 4, 5, and 6.

To preserve the original numbering (Slots 1, 2, and 3) from published descriptions, I've included the three lower side canyons, but listed them numerically in the order encountered: Slot Minus 2, Slot Minus 1, and Slot 0.

Here, deep within the Death Valley Wilderness Area, the main wash cut down through an old, solidified alluvial fan (conglomerate rock). On the sides of the main canyon, several narrow slot-canyons cut back into the cliffs. Three of these slot canyons are narrow, winding, deep, dark, and fairly long, and in one case, a flashlight is needed because it is too dark to see where it goes.

Link to Route Map.

Watch Out

Other than the standard warnings about hiking in the desert, ...the main canyon is pretty safe, but stay out of the canyon if it is raining or threatens to rain because of flash flood dangers. There are pour-overs in each of the slot canyons, most of which can be climbed easily or scrambled around (2nd- or 3rd-class climbing). However, pour-overs in two of the canyons are at least 4th-class (which is to say, fairly difficult and somewhat dangerous). The rock is cobbly conglomerate with lots of handholds, but it is water-polished and slick, plus it is covered with dust and gravel, so there is a greater than usual risk of falling. Also, the handholds tend to break off. It would be very difficult to rescue an injured hiker from the slots, so consider carefully your circumstances before climbing a pour-over. Pour-overs always look higher and steeper from the top, and climbing down is always harder than climbing up, especially in the dark.

While hiking, please respect the land and the other people out there, and try to Leave No Trace of your passage. Also, this hike is fairly long and remote, so be sure to bring the 10 Essentials. Pay extra attention to respecting the land because this is designated wilderness.

Getting to the Trailhead

This hike is located in Death Valley National Park, about 2.5 hours northwest of Las Vegas.

From town, drive out to Death Valley. From the Furnace Creek Visitor Center, drive south on Highway 190 for 1.25 miles to Badwater Road (Highway 178). Turn right towards Badwater, and drive south for 31.2 miles to Sidewinder Road on the left (no road sign). Turn onto Sidewinder Road and continue southeast 0.3 miles to the gravel pit at the end. Park towards the right, but don't block road crews from access to the gravel. Park here; this is the Sidewinder Canyon Trailhead.

The Hike

From the trailhead (Table 1, Waypoint 01), a use-trail runs south and out of the gravel pit, trending a bit right, working up the hillside towards the top of the alluvial fan (Wpt. 02) where the main wash comes out of Sidewinder Canyon (about 0.27 miles out). The alluvial fan is composed of fairly small cobbles and the walking is firm and fairly easy. Along here, the vegetation is sparse and dominated by creosote bush and desert holly, plus few other species (emphasis on the few). Spring wildflowers can be good too.

At the mouth of the canyon (Wpt. 02), the use-trail fades out, but the route bends southeast to continue up the gravel wash, and walking becomes a little harder. Initially, the wash is about 100 yards wide with 30- to 40-ft-high sidewalls. The canyon narrows, then widens again, and the walls get higher and lower as one heads up the canyon. Watch the sides of the canyon for evidence of flash floods and earthquake faults.

There are few large boulders in the main wash, but at about 0.66 miles out, several large boulders lie near the north wall of the canyon. Behind these boulders, the first of the interesting side canyons, Slot Minus Two (Wpt. 03), cuts into the wall of the main wash. The first 100 yards of this side canyon are interesting, and there is a large chockstone bridging the canyon a short way in. For information on this side canyon, see Slot Minus Two.

Continuing up the main wash, in another 70 yards, hikers encounter the second interesting side canyon, Slot Minus One (Wpt. 04), on the right (south) side of the main wash. This side canyon is relatively wide and shallow with lots of rocks in the bottom, and it runs out to a high pour-over that blocks further passage. For information on this side canyon, see Slot Minus One.

Continuing up the main wash, in another 200 yards, hikers encounter the third interesting side canyon, Slot Zero (Wpt. 05), on the right side of the main wash. Slot Zero is set back from the main wash, and too is fairly shallow and open, but it is steep, has several interesting pour-overs, and provides an express route to the top of the cliffs and a great overview of the surrounding landscape (including views of Slot #1, Slot #2, and the main wash). For information on this side canyon, see Slot Zero.

Continuing up the main wash, in another 300 yards, hikers encounter the fourth interesting side canyon, Slot #1 (Wpt. 06), on the right side of the main wash. Actually, at this point, Slot #1 is a large side canyon that comes in from the south. At this point (Wpt. 06), hikers are about 0.96 miles from the trailhead, and the main canyon can be seen narrowing abruptly about 200 yards farther up the main canyon. Watch for bighorn sheep, or at least their scat, along here.

The route to Slot #1 leaves the main canyon and heads up the broad side canyon. Before leaving the main wash, look up the side canyon and notice that the canyon runs south, then curves to the right and goes out of sight. At the back of the curve, there is a little box side-canyon with some broken boulders along the back wall; it looks like cracks in the wall that are full of big boulders. Head for the boulders; this is the actual entrance to Slot #1.

At the back of the little box canyon, crawl up through holes around the boulders to get into Slot #1. This slot canyon is deep and dark, and a flashlight is helpful (although not essential). There is one spot where you walk into an inky-black passageway, abruptly encounter a pour-over, and instinctively reach for your flashlight. It takes about 10 minutes to scramble back to a 10- to 12-ft pour-over. This pour-over is passable (minimal 5th-class climbing) just to the right of a chute (not on the far right), but remember that if you fall and break an ankle, it is dark and help is a long way off. Above this pour-over, the canyon winds around a few bends to yet another, even more difficult-looking section where (alone and in the dark) I turned around. In all of the slot canyons, be sure to look up to see what is above your head. When finished exploring, head back down to the main wash (Wpt 06).

Back in the main canyon and continuing up the main wash, in another 250 yards, the main canyon abruptly narrows from about 50-yards wide to about 7-yards wide. On the right before the narrows, about 30 yards back from the mouth of the narrows, hikers encounter the fifth interesting side canyon, Slot #2 (Wpt. 07), on the right side of the main wash in the back of a cleft.

Slot #2 starts out deep and narrow, then it opens up and gets shallower with a bunch of eerie eroded hoodoos in the alluvial deposits; then it gets deep and narrow again. At the top of the wide section, there is an 8-ft pour-over that can be passed on the right. Above that, there are 6 more little pour-overs and several scramble-ups before a 10-to 12-foot pour-over (capped by a big chockstone) blocks progress (probably passable, but a rope might be nice for the downclimb). This pour-over is about 20 minutes from the main wash. When finished exploring, hike back down to the main wash (Wpt. 07). Bighorn sheep use the lower end of this canyon.

Back in the main canyon, which gets quite narrow, the route continues up the wash for about 0.26 miles to the entrance to Slot #3 (Wpt. 08), an 8-foot-wide slot on the south wall. If hikers encounter a big overhanging washout cave on the south side of the canyon, they've gone too far.

There is a big boulder about 30 feet into Slot #3, and after that, it gets slotty. A few tens of yards into the slot, there is a pretty little arch, then another arch just beyond the first, and then an enormous boulder to crawl under. There are narrows, twists and turns, hanging chockstones, and dark areas, making this perhaps the most interesting of the six slot canyons.

If hikers are quiet in here, the echoes of footsteps can be heard. About 15 minutes into Slot #3, hikers emerge through a slot into a wider canyon. Continuing up the wider canyon, hikers can climb above the alluvium and into the metamorphic parent material with interesting, layered rocks at the interface of the two. Eventually, about 30 minutes out, progress is blocked by a 30-foot pour-over in the metamorphic parent material.

When finished exploring, hike back down to the main wash (Wpt. 08). This canyon is shallower and wider on average than Slot #2, but it is technically more difficult with more boulders, more pour-overs, and taller pour-overs to climb over. On the way down, when getting to the edge of the taller pour-overs and looking down with a dim flashlight, it looks like a long way to the bottom. Bighorn sheep use the upper end of this canyon.

For those inclined, the route continues up the main wash for an hour or so until the canyon opens up into the cliffs. About 10-15 minutes up the main canyon past Slot #3, hikers climb above the alluvial material and get into the metamorphic parent material. Farther up, the canyon widens, bends off to the south, and narrows again. Up there, the main canyon is narrow with boulder-choked pour-overs. After climbing several water-polished pour-overs in the colorful metamorphic rock, the canyon runs out into cliffs (Wpt. 09). Hikers can keep going, the bighorn sheep do, but this seems like a good place to stop.

From wherever you stop, follow your footprints back down the main wash to the trailhead (Wpt. 01), and find the slots missed on the way up.