ADAM HAYDOCK

Purgatory canyon is one of the many wonderful canyoneering routes in Death Valley and one of the best canyons on the Black Range.

One of the great aspects about these canyons in the Black Range, is that you can park your car at the top of Dante's View and park a shuttle at the bottom of the mountain to have a "top-down" route through the canyons on the black range.

For most of these canyons you can hike along the ridge and descend the canyon you will like to choose from and enjoy the ride down.

We had to camp pretty close to Dante's View and set up our shuttle cars the night before and with a group of ten people, it can be a bit of a firedrill to get everything set up. 

We got up at 5am and headed for the top of Dante's View.

Soon after we set out on the ridge of the black range to the tail of Purgatory Canyon.

The hike was straightforward and pretty easy in comparison to other canyons in Death Valley.

After going over a few hills, we made it to the tail end of Purgatory canyon.

Its all down hill from here. We have over 500 feet of elevation loss and the first 4th of the canyon was hiking down broken up scree piles to get to the technical section of the canyon.

We passed by some mining material where they use to mine from the hills which was interesting to see.

After a couple hours from the trailhead we got to the tail end of Purgatory canyon .

Now the fun begins!!!

We had around 19 rappels in the canyon which were up to 125ft in length.

one of the interesting features of this canyon is that ithas some really nice rock colors and marbleized minerals. 

The swirling rock reminded me of similar features I have found in caves where hydrothermal activity was occurring.

What is interesting is that this range appears to be volcanic in nature so I can only assume without a educated guess that these swirls are from hydrothermal activity within volcanic activity.

It also reminded me of Ben and Jerries ice cream which was also quite enjoyable to see.

There were a good amount of raps and down climbs.

The canyon also head great views of the valley floor and some more wonderful short narrow sections.

There were a lot of anchors that we had to re-build so that took a bit of time to do and we added a couple extra to help people get down quicker.

we also staggered more experienced people in the front middle and back and leap frogged each other so we could get the anchors and raps set up.

Everyone carried webbing and carried a rope which helped to keep the group moving.

we got out of the canyon in 10 hours and 45 minutes just after the sun set and got to the cars just as darkness set in.

The canyon doesn't really narrow all that much but the views and the beautiful rock make up for lack of narrows.

I highly recommend this canyon for the black range top down canyons and I think that this is a great trip to run for anyone looking to get some death valley canyoneering.

this blog is only for informational purposes and personal documentation and not to be used as official beta.  please refer to www.ropewiki.com for beta and questions to be answered on how to run this canyon.

Deadeye Dick canyon is appeared to be rated at a 3AII but at the time that we went into this canyon and found some wet water sections so I am going to give our experience a 3BII.  

That being said, we went into this canyon in mid November and found ice sheets in the pools of water that we had to puncture through. 

 Not only was it pretty darn cold, the ice made for some awkward movement through the water wading sections.

We set out from the Dakota ridge trailhead and we found that to be a great option as it shaved off a bunch of time. We also found that we were able to shave off some distance by making a B line into the canyon and bypassing a walk around which saved some more time.

once we got into the canyon, we bypassed the first dry fall on the left and came to the first drop which was around 30ft into the canyon.

The raps in the canyon are straightforward and we found them easy pulls. We found that there were a total of 6 raps in the canyon.

The first two were back to back with a short narrow corridor.  The canyon opened back up and than closed back down into the remaining 4 raps, which all came in a rapid fire succession. 

We found the raps to be 100ft. or less.  The last drop was a really nice fluted rap with some great sunlight coming into the canyon that reflected a fire hue. 

After a short walk from the last rap, we found ourselves in the narrows.  Dead eye dick pours you out into the upper narrows section so a hike out to the Chamberlain ranch trailhead is the way out. 

You will want to set up a shuttle car at chamberlain ranch so you can get back up to Dakota ridge. 

There is another option to run dead eye dick without a shuttle car by parking at chamberlain ranch and hiking in and up a break in the narrows to the top of dead eye dick but we found that this shuttle route we completed was a lot easier. 

Deadeye dick canyon is a great half day can and a great "rest" day canyon if you are planning a week long trip in Zion. 

The hike out of the narrows from Deadeye dick to chamberlain ranch started of pretty scenic but was quickly dissolved by the ice on the river bank that created quite the chill walking through. 

Eventually we got to the valley and continued to walk on a dirt road back to the TH. 

It was a great Sunday

afternoon and I am looking forward to checking out Eastern sun and mighty mouse canyons next time in the area.

If you are looking for accurate information and beta to safely descend dead eye

dick canyon, please refer to www.ropewiki.com or call your local guide to have information provided to you .

White pocket is located on the border of Arizona and Utah, on the Arizona side which is accessed by a remote a deep sandy road on top of the vermilion cliffs.

White Pocket, Arizona

White pocket is a beautiful mosaic of sandstone structures, hoodoos, small buttes, and miniature monoliths.  

White Pocket, Arizona

There are some beautiful color layers with some of the buttes that resemble vein like figurines that that have been fossilized into where they stand today.  

White Pocket, Arizona

It appears various minerals have tinted the sandstone color and water played a role in the formation of these figurines. 

White Pocket, Arizona

Furthermore, wind erosion continued to free form and cut these wavy like formations that we see today. 

White Pocket, Arizona

Some of the landscape resembled dragon skin like texture as the sun passed around the corner and accentuated the hexagon like landscape.

White Pocket, Arizona

White pocket is one of the many places in the vermilion cliffs that has some fascinating sandstone features.

White Pocket, Arizona

The wave can also be found not too far away and a whole list of other sandstone features that are worth a visit.

White Pocket, Arizona

The road to get to white pocket becomes rather sandy and deep sand can become a factor when you are visiting white pocket.

White Pocket, Arizona

It is important to have high clearance and ideally a 4x4 to gte through the deep sand.

White Pocket, Arizona

The time of travel is around an hour from the highway.

White Pocket, Arizona

Once you get to the parking lot you will be able to see the sandstone monoliths and a short hike will take you around the area where white pocket is located.

White Pocket, Arizona

There is a campground beyond the parking lot but the road to the campsite is especially deep and I highly recommend that you use caution when going to the campground..

White Pocket, Arizona

I don't see why you will not be able to camp at the parking lot area.

White Pocket, Arizona