Rock Nettle Canyon

View looking into the central Grapevines from the parking area along the North Highway (Scotty's Castle Rd.):

The wide fan of Rock Nettle Canyon is straight ahead:

Looking over at the mouth of Red Wall Canyon:

To reach Rock Nettle Canyon, we simply headed toward these light colored hills:

Looking back as we got into the canyon, you can see how the hillside takes shape:

We veered away from the hillside a bit since that led to the lower drainage side canyons:

The lower drainage side canyon is off to the left, but we stayed in the center of the higher wide wash:

Two pictures of Rock Nettle plants that we spotted early on in the canyon:

Charlie and Tobin entering the fully formed canyon:

We took note of the red color of the rock early on in Rock Nettle Canyon:

We also spotted this group of small caves and interesting rock designs up on the right canyon wall:

To the right of this picture is the 1st side canyon on the right. Straight ahead is RN Red Slot Canyon. And to the left is Rock Nettle Canyon:

A picture of Charlie in front of the 1st side canyon on the right:

Looking back down the canyon, you can see the smooth wash that we were hiking in:

Rock Nettle's main canyon continues straight ahead:

But we were turning off here into the RN Red Slot Canyon:

RN Red Slot is narrow right from the beginning and has vivid red colors:

And it features more Rock Nettle plants, thus showing that a good name was chosen:

Two pictures showing the deep red coloring:

We took note of this canyon wall which had a base of shale-like rock and conglomerate rock on the upper portions:

A closer look at the red shale base:

As we moved ahead, the canyon walls grew in height:

Interesting formations and rock textures up on the hillside:

Notice that the canyon walls have dramatically changed since the conglomerate rock earlier:

A comfortable wash to walk through with very few obstacles:

This next section of RN Red Slot proved to be very colorful:

Here we found various shades of purple and tan:

A small steep section that we had to climb past:

View back down canyon from the short steep section:

Impressive scenery as we continue our hike up RN Red Slot:

Notice the large amount of huge boulders which have fallen into the wash:

Just beyond the boulders, we arrived at the base of the only major dry fall of RN Red Slot:

Another look at this dry fall, which hangs out at the top over the wash:

The dry fall is about 25 feet tall with no easy or safe way around it:

So we backtracked down canyon a short distance and headed up this gully on the left side (which would be on the right side going up canyon):

Charlie working his way up through the boulders in the bypass gully:

To complete the short bypass, it is necessary to make a horseshoe turn from where Charlie is seen below to reach the spot where this picture is taken from:

Once at the top, we had to cross over above the canyon to get back into the wash above the dry fall:

Looking back down at RN Red Slot and RN Canyon far in the distance:

In this picture, you can see Tobin and Charlie crossing over the hillside above the canyon rim:

We kept heading straight toward what looked like the easiest way to get back into the canyon:

Once at the edge, we could see an easy way back down into the canyon:

Safely back in the canyon, you can see that the scenery above the dry fall is quite impressive:

Steve getting ready to head farther up canyon:

A couple of small interesting dry falls in the wash:

The section of canyon which we hiked up after getting back into the wash:

Above the dry fall, the canyon remained consistently narrow:

A variety of rock layers on display in the canyon wall:

Off to the right, we spotted a small side canyon leading to some potential slots. We would explore this on the way back:

Our goal for now was straight ahead towards the quickly narrowing canyon:

Up ahead, we could see the beginning of the red slot narrows, the canyon highlight:

This is the beginning of the first section of slot narrows. Extremely impressive:

The colors through here were simply breathtaking:

We were used to seeing colors like this in Utah, but not in Death Valley:

The slot narrows had this impressive passage near the beginning:

A picture of Steve with colors bleeding into him from the background:

You can quickly see why all who have visited RN Red Slot have been very impressed:

Tobin standing on top of a small dry fall:

The colors were a seeming mixture of various shades of red, orange, and pink:

A picture of Steve at this spot in the canyon:

A dry fall which was slightly bigger than the last one we climbed:

Just beyond, there is another dry fall which is one of the most impressive looking ones in the canyon:

Another view of this dry fall. Just above this is a cave on the left which is where we stopped to eat our lunch:

From the top looking back down, you can see how beautiful the cave area is, which you might also call the central slot narrows:

Alternate view looking back down from the top of the dry fall:

The cave is off to the right of where Steve is standing:

Beyond the cave, the first section of red slot narrows continued:

The walls grew in height and the slot became deeply entrenched:

Steve in the central narrows with sunlight creating glowing walls:

A picture of Charlie walking up the first section of slot narrows:

The slot narrows are divided into two major sections. Here we are exiting the first section:

Outside of the first slot narrows, there was this impressive rock wall:

As well as these sections of wall which have broken off and dropped into the wash:

And here is the entrance to the second section of red slot narrows:

High above us, the slot shot straight up in the air and curved in unison with the canyon floor:

This section reminded me of Buckskin Gulch in Utah:

A picture of Tobin shows you how large these slot narrows really are:

A bit reminiscent of the amazing scenery in Funeral Slot Canyon, but a completely different color:

Steve getting a picture at this very impressive spot in the slot narrows:

Check out this amazing contrast between light and darkness:

This was the view high above the canyon floor. It is almost as if the canyon walls lean over and touch one another high up:

My favorite spot of all in this canyon is where this massive overhang curves around and frames a perfect picture:

This can rightly be called one of the most beautiful spots in the park:

The intense beauty on a grand scale continued to impress all of us:

Charlie and Tobin seen as we neared the end of the second section of red slot narrows:

Two more pictures taken just before we emerged from the slot narrows:

The slot narrows come to a close at the end of this small passage between the canyon wall and fallen boulder:

Outside of the slot narrows are these epic red cliffs:

Up ahead, the canyon continues but opens up much wider:

There are a few spots of shallow narrows between here and the end:

All three of us pushed on to see what was at the end:

This small dry fall is a little tricky because the rock is loose and breaks off. I actually got a bad cut right here:

The canyon began to get steeper and more difficult to navigate through:

There were small boulders everywhere which made progress slow:

This is the spot where we stopped and turned around. Things were getting treacherous:

The view looking back and over to the Cottonwoods from the spot where we turned back:

Tobin helping Charlie work his way down the dry fall in the upper canyon:

As we headed back into the red slot narrows, I decided to take some more pictures:

I tried to focus on getting angles and shots that I had not taken on the way up:

Enjoy the next six pictures as we worked our way down through the narrows:

We have now exited the two sections of red slot narrows and are heading up to check out the interesting area we had spotted earlier:

This area had a number of short slots such as this one which we entered:

But the slots didn't go very far. This one came to a quick end at this dry fall:

Steve heading up to check out the next short slot:

It also went for a short distance before closing in and ending:

Neat formations we noticed on the way back out of the short slots area:

Just before reaching the top of the major dry fall in RN Red Slot, we found this gully on the right which is the beginning of the long bypass:

As we headed up the long bypass, we looked back at the short slots area we had just explored:

From the top of the ridge, we could see over to the other side and several side canyons which dead-ended:

Looking down the long ridgeline which makes up the long bypass:

Tobin took the next two pictures of Steve and Charlie as they made their way up the start of the long bypass with impressive scenery in the background:

Charlie sidehilling down the long bypass:

Tobin waiting for us to catch up as he looks back:

The end of the long bypass has a slightly intimidating section with cliffs on each side:

Wondering what is waiting for you farther up Rock Nettle main canyon? This huge dry fall, as I found out 3 years earlier during a short initial exploration: