Cottonball Marsh Canyon

Getting a sunrise start at Salt Creek for our hike to Cottonball Marsh Canyon:

Crossing over a low point of the Salt Creek Hills:

View of the mouth of Cottonball Marsh Canyon far in the distance:

Meeting up with the old closed road which goes out to Cottonball Marsh and the West Side Borax Camp:

We aimed just to the left of the small hillside seen in the center of the picture:

Crossing some marsh terrain that was crunchy, soft, and rough on the boots at the same time:

Passing under some telephone wires as we got closer to the base of the small hillside:

Looking out at the telephone poles as they head toward Stovepipe Wells:

Our hikers heading up a rugged fan:

Reaching the rim which overlooks the mouth of Cottonball Marsh Canyon:

Notice how wide the lower part of Cottonball Marsh Canyon is:

The extremely wide portion of the canyon doesn't last for long:

Colorful fluted mud cliffs on display:

Easy walking in Cottonball Marsh Canyon:

Breccia rock makes up part of the canyon wall:

Notice the sharp and interesting ridges up on the hillside:

Moving ahead in the canyon, we could see that it had a lot of potential:

This canyon wall had interesting shapes and contours to it:

Coming around a wide bend in the canyon:

We found lots of footprints in the wash of the canyon, which is likely a favorite of canyoneers:

Notice the curved rock shelves rising above the canyon floor:

The morning sun was creating challenging shadows:

A closer look at the canyon wall as we entered the narrows of Cottonball Marsh Canyon:

The canyon was magnificent from this point on:

A few small plants thriving in the canyon wash:

A long straight section in the narrows:

The surrounding terrain on the hillsides is not friendly to hikers looking for potential bypasses:

The distance between the canyon walls continued to shrink:

This spot in the canyon is nearly 6 miles away from the parking area at Salt Creek:

The beauty of the narrows continues to increase by the minute:

Notice the massive rockslide which is coming down the gully to the right:

The narrows have a great contrast in colors:

This is such an impressive little section of canyon to walk through:

The walls continue to grow in height the deeper we get into the narrows:

Up ahead we encountered a hike-stopping obstacle:

Check out this beautiful 30 foot dry fall which blocks further progress:

A closer look at the gorgeous texture of the dry fall:

Another full view of the dry fall:

Zooming in on the upper portion of the dry fall:

A picture of Steve standing at the base of the dry fall:

At this point, we turned around and headed back down canyon:

Walking out of the impressive narrows of Cottonball Marsh Canyon: