Last day in death Valley and the weather was a beautiful 72 degrees in Badwater basin with a cool breeze in the shade.  It was a great condition to hike up the mountain for a nice loop trip to pull down Helios Canyon 

 Helios canyon is in the Badwater basin region so it is accessible by any car and is great for a half day trip through a pretty straightforward canyon.

 There is a sneak route which will drop you into the canyon but to get the full effect, I recommend starting from the top.

 The hike up is straightforward regarding the route but does require you to negotiate the scree slopes you will encounter on the way up. 

 The views were really nice of badwater basin and I could see cars driving by as I made my descent down to the bottom.

 There were a few raps that were between 160 and 180ft but the remaining drops were less than 100ft which made for a nice quick pull. You want to make sure you check the natural anchors being used and check the webbing before loading the anchor to ensure that they have not shifted.

 The breeze was a  cool wind and the canyon was dry as a bone.  there is some exposed climb downs but with a little team work, negotiation, and scrambling, it should not require the use of a hand line but I can see where it can be helpful.

 I am looking forward to going back to Death Valley for more canyoneering routes as they have been recently ben uncovered and look quite interesting for a dry pull in the Valley.