CA: Death Valley – Vinegaroon Canyon, In Praise of the Approach

I realize this is a canyoneering website, and it’s rare that people discuss the approach to a canyon other than route and perhaps its difficulty. But I would like to offer a trip report for a decent canyon with an amazing approach. Getting to Vinegaroon Canyon (by the way, a vinegaroon is a type of scorpion) involves starting off at a small turnoff in Death Valley’s Twenty Mule Team Canyon, already a picturesque spot. Hope no one has already taken the turnoff for their car or you won’t find too many other places to park along the one-way road. We walked back down the road a short distance and then hiked up a wash, passing a couple of old mine shafts and rusted cans appearing to be relics from some sloppy miner.

And then the fun begins.

The route starts climbing, turning into a scramble at places.

Pretty soon, the views start appearing behind you.

From here, you descend into the upper reaches of Scorpion Canyon, hiking through a wash filled (at least for us) with wildflowers and multi-colored rock formations. A stunning place.

Nearing the end of the main wash, one has the option of turning left and going down to Scorpion Canyon (a really wonderful canyon), or go right and start climbing again to the top of a ridge for more views and the approach to Vinegaroon Canyon.

The views are sometimes stunning, looking down to Zabriskie Point or all the way through the park.

Finally, you reach the top of the canyon and a down-climb to the first rappel, a wonderful free rappel of some 80 feet.

And so it goes through the canyon with five rappels, most of them slightly challenging for their awkward starts and many overhangs.

I would not recommend doing this at any other time than the winter. We went through the end of March and the heat was brutal.

Finally, the canyon involves a fairly short car shuttle. One car is parked at the end of Desolation Canyon Road (off Highway 178, 3.7 miles from Highway 190) and the drop-off car is in Twenty Mule Team Canyon (2.6 miles from the entrance off Highway 190). While most of us would come for the canyon, I would do this again just for the approach.