Room Canyon is a place that I have known about for a couple of years but never took the time to visit. This was mostly because of being occupied with other hikes and also not knowing exactly where the canyon was located. However, I finally had a chance to find and visit Room Canyon with some family members in March of 2012. And I can tell you this... it is an outstanding canyon quite different from any other canyons in the park. Room Canyon has four significant aspects to it-- (1) It contains the tallest pinnacles in Death Valley, (2) It has a beautiful section of narrows made up of a rock type I haven't seen anywhere else in the park, (3) There are side canyon narrows to explore by way of a loop, and (4) The Room of Room Canyon is quite majestic to walk through and behold. Room Canyon is a half-day hike that you can explore at a leisurely pace in order to enjoy all four of these aspects. As with other select canyons, I am not publishing the exact location of Room Canyon. The reason for this is that Room Canyon does contain some fragile formations that should be properly protected from increased visitation by the general public. However, the veil of secrecy is being lifted for regular hikers of Death Valley, who will be able to figure out where Room Canyon is based on clues contained within this report. If you're searching for Room Canyon, I can tell you that it is located somewhere between Mormon Point Canyon and Scotty's Canyon in the Black Mountains. If you find it, please do not publish the exact location, but leave others with the challenge and rewards of finding it on their own.
The pictures in this Trip Report are also available for viewing in a slideshow format. Click the button on the left to watch the slideshow. This allows for viewing larger images with an autoplay option and a full screen option. The pictures may also be viewed in the standard Trip Report format by scrolling down below.
The approach to Room Canyon. You can follow the course of the canyon back with your eyes into the depths of the Black Mountains:
First up is the pinnacles area of Room Canyon. This area is very similar to sandstone cliffs that I have seen in parts of Utah, although it is obviously a different kind of rock:
Unique formations and walls are found throughout this area:
Two similar horseshoe type openings located side by side:
In the middle of this picture you can see one of our hikers slipping on the slope. The pinnacles area is not the easiest to hike around and explore:
As we round the bend, Room Pinnacle No. 1 comes into view:
Zooming in on the top of Room Pinnacle No. 1:
Just a little bit further and Room Pinnacle No. 2 comes into view. Do the Room Pinnacles remind you of any other spot in Death Valley? They reminded us of the Panamint City smoke stack:
Steve getting a picture at the base of Room Pinnacle No. 1:
Tiffany standing at the base of Room Pinnacle No. 2:
View straight up of Room Pinnacle No. 2 with Steve at the base:
Looking back down from behind Room Pinnacle No. 1:
Indeed, the pinnacles area of Room Canyon has some fantastic formations:
Back on the main canyon floor of Room Canyon and continuing on:
Up ahead we are about to enter a beautiful set of narrows:
Real comfortable walking through this set of narrows and mostly the entire canyon:
The narrows were made up of rock that was a pretty shade of light purple in color:
Our group of four (myself, Daria, Tiffany, and Javan) continued hiking through the narrows:
Contrasting shades of light purple. The left side almost looks red in color and the right looks grey in color:
A towering rock wall stands tall in the narrows:
In this picture, you can see two fun obstacles we encountered in the narrows of Room Canyon. Up above, a large boulder has gotten wedged between the walls. A little further (and lower) is a passage that has to be crawled through to continue:
Two more views of the massive boulder trapped above our heads in the narrows:
I think this was taken looking back once we were on the other side of the boulder:
The passage which we all had to crawl through:
As we neared the end of the narrows, we looked back through Room Canyon:
Looking through the final part of the narrows into The Room:
I am not going to show or reveal too much about The Room of Room Canyon, because it's fun to walk through it and find out for yourself. I will just say that it is like walking through an epic outdoor cathedral of beautiful rock:
Steve walking out of the narrows of Room Canyon into The Room:
At the end of The Room is a dry fall that blocks further progress. Most hikers won't have a problem with this one if they are used to basic dry fall climbs:
Towering walls of The Room above the dry fall:
Looking back down into The Room at our hikers from the top of the dry fall:
View looking down The Room from the same vantage point:
Continuing on past the dry fall, the canyon remains narrow and interesting:
There is a rock slide area which needs to be crossed over:
The canyon's colors are constantly changing through this section:
More variety of colors on display. Room Canyon has quite a lot of variety:
Some short but fun climbs are required to keep going further:
Off to the side, I spotted this carved-out dry fall:
So I took a closer look and was in awe at the beauty on display:
Just a little bit further and the canyon came to an abrupt end at this dry fall:
A closer look at the dry fall which will probably stop most hikers:
Heading back down Room Canyon to rejoin the others:
High up above (left dark circle) we spotted a raven's nest in a place that only the raven could get to:
Zooming in on the raven's nest. You can see some of the branches and twigs forming it. As we walked out of the canyon, we saw two ravens flying towards the nest:
These next two pictures show the side canyon narrows of Room Canyon. These can actually be looped. However, it gets so narrow that you might have trouble squeezing through some parts if you have a pack on your back:
This final picture shows an interesting comparison that I made between Room Pinnacle No. 2 and the Panamint City smoke stack:
