The parking area for a hike to Double Bridge and Squeeze Slot is located 0.9 miles south of the Hwy 190 and Scotty's Castle Road junction:
The hike begins by heading straight up a nondescript wash. The key at the beginning of the hike is to stay to the right of the hillside outcropping seen here on the left:
Spectacular views of Corkscrew Peak are enjoyed during the hike:
In addition, there are great views of Thimble Peak:
As soon as possible, it is best to climb up on this bench above the wash:
Notice the excellent walking terrain which can be found along the bench:
There are great views looking back toward the Mesquite Sand Dunes:
As you can see, we stayed on the bench above the wash a little bit too long and almost got cliffed out:
Back in the main wash now, the small canyon has narrowed down just enough to limit visibility:
Up ahead, it appears as if the canyon walls get higher:
Sure enough, this is an area of tall vertical cliffs which really stands out in this generally shallow area:
Notice the odd triangular shape high up the canyon wall:
Taking a closer look, it appears as if the canyon wall partially gave way at some point:
After about 2 miles, we spotted the potential slot canyon which we were targeting:
From a distance, it looked like this slot canyon definitely had some potential:
As we got closer to the slot canyon, we were stunned to see this double natural bridge right at the entrance:
A closer look at the double natural bridge formation reveals that the left side was the old channel for water flow, while the right side is the current channel:
This picture of me reveals that the left side natural bridge opening is about 7 feet tall and the right side is about 4 feet tall:
Double Bridge (our name for this formation) is difficult to photograph in a single frame. This large photo combines three images into one to show the full scale of the natural bridge:
Looking up high at the top portion of Double Bridge:
On the opposite side of the natural bridge formation now:
The two options to continue are to walk through the left side bridge or crawl through the right side bridge. Once inside, the slot canyon turns dark:
This is me crawling through the smaller Double Bridge passage:
A picture of Tobin preparing to enter into the darkness:
The focus was now on the slot canyon behind Double Bridge. Looking straight up once inside reveals this spectacular sight:
Double Bridge Slot Canyon also holds a lot of beauty and makes this an even more worthwhile destination:
Zooming in on the crack down the canyon wall and the various colors on display:
Another lengthy crack could be seen on this part of the canyon wall. Perhaps this will form a new side slot canyon in 1,000 years?:
Because the walls were so high, I often couldn't get the entire canyon wall in one shot. This is the bottom half of the unseen part of the previous picture:
Another place within the canyon of tremendous beauty and lighting:
This is the area within Double Bridge Slot which I refer to as the Dark Spot:
The Dark Spot is pitch black and makes it appear as if you are heading into a dark cave:
In this picture, I am beginning to get lost in the darkness:
One final picture showcasing the eeriness of the Dark Spot:
I love how the light is filtering into the slot in this picture:
High up in the slot, the canyon wall curves into interesting designs:
If I remember correctly, this picture was taken as I was leaving the Dark Spot to continue up canyon:
Looking high up and out of the canyon while spotting a balloon that appears to be stuck on the wall:
Double Bridge Slot truly has some impressive narrows:
This picture shows the bottom half of where the previous picture ends. Definitely a pretty turn in the canyon:
Another beautiful spot in the canyon with so much variety and large rocks forming part of the conglomerate:
Walking around a turn which allowed more daylight into the slot:
There is quite a bit loose conglomerate within the slot and if you are concerned about safety, you might want to wear a hard hat while walking through:
Up ahead, a couple of boulders have fallen into the canyon and gotten wedged right in the middle of the passageway:
View at the far end of the slot canyon. This area was a fantastic discovery:
Double Bridge Slot soon splits into two forks and the narrows end in both. Here, we have continued up the left fork:
After some time, we ended up high above the neighboring main wash to the north:
Our next objective was to safely find a way down into this main wash:
Our hiking group soon found a good route to get down. We followed the ridge past where our group is seen standing on the cliffs until the darker rock disappeared and there was a more gentle slope down:
Once we got down to the wash, we explored around a little bit and had this nice view of Death Valley Buttes:
As part of our exploring, we checked a number of side canyons and a little drainage arch was found on one of the walls:
Two more side canyons that we went into. All of these side canyons were interesting but not special in any way:
However, that was about to change as we headed toward one final side canyon which we wanted to check:
This is the entrance to the side canyon which would come to be known as Squeeze Slot:
The slot canyon got tight right away but sometimes that happens and then there isn't much else to see:
But this time, the canyon walls grew a little higher and there were some confined sharp turns:
We quickly noticed that this slot canyon was tighter than most and there wasn't a lot of space to move around:
This made picture taking difficut, as it became too tight to showcase the slot properly:
There was barely enough space for a person to walk through:
In fact, some in our group had to resort to crawling to get through various spots:
While shallower than Double Bridge Slot, Squeeze Slot has its own unique beauty:
Because there are so many sharp turns in the slot, it was possible to quickly get separated from the rest of the group:
Up ahead, I literally had to squeeze my way through the canyon walls. Be careful when doing this, so that erosion can be limited:
Even at wider areas, sharp wall edges jut out toward the opposite side:
I began having more and more trouble working my way through Squeeze Slot:
This was the point in the slot where I could no longer physically continue. To see more canyon, it requires a person of smaller size:
Looking back down Squeeze Slot, it was hard enough to make it this far:
While slowly working my way back out of Squeeze Slot, Kauri took this picture of me from above:
After exiting the slot, I climbed up on the hillside. This is a partial view of the canyon rim:
Notice how tight Squeeze Slot is at the very top:
The slot is actually too tight and twisty to see all the way down at some spots along the rim:
Squeeze Slot does not enter the main wash at the spot it appears to do so in the background. Instead, the slot turns to the right and continues longer:
One final picture of Squeeze Slot which shows the place where I got stopped (left side). Kauri and Tobin made it through this. Kauri made it all the way through Squeeze Slot, while Tobin made it most of the way:
