In my opinion, Nemo Canyon has to be one of the most underrated places to visit in Death Valley. It is rarely mentioned in guidebooks, not spoken about a lot by the park service, and to most people it is just a canyon name on a map which they will never visit. Thus, I thought I would use this opportunity to show everyone some of the beauty and colors which exist in Nemo Canyon. And I'm going to do this without even talking much about Mud Spring, which is probably the main reason that most visitors would come here. There are two ways in which to hike Nemo Canyon-- either from the head or the mouth. Hiking in from the head (which is just above Wildrose Canyon and accessed by way of a one mile gravel road which is about 7.2 miles south of the turnoff for Aguereberry Point) is probably the easiest option, but if you're only going to Mud Spring, it's also the least scenic. Hiking in from the mouth (which starts on Lower Wildrose Road about 2.5 miles south of the junction with Emigrant Canyon Road) is a little bit more difficult, as you gain more elevation, but it is definitely more scenic. During our recent visit, Lower Wildrose Road was closed due to flooding, so we had no choice but to hike in from the head of the canyon. But we didn't just stop at Mud Spring, take a few pictures, and return to our vehicle. Instead we kept hiking, in order to show you more of the beautiful canyon and help promote this great area. A few pictures taken at Mud Spring on a later date are included towards the end.
The parking area for entering the head of Nemo Canyon is this large gravel pit:
At the start, you are heading southwest down Nemo Canyon:
There are at least three Joshua Trees which we found along the way:
The scenery is like this for a good mile and a half. Don't let this boring stretch fool you into thinking that Nemo Canyon isn't pretty:
After the first mile and a half, rock formations start appearing and the scenery begins to change:
The next five photos give you an example of the variety and beauty:
What impressed me most about Nemo Canyon was the great display of colors both on the rocks and the desert landscape:
There are also a great abundance of side canyons to explore. This is not the one which leads to Mud Spring, in case you were wondering:
The side canyons each have unique colors and character:
This photo shows an impressive example:
Heading further down Nemo Canyon:
Looking back up canyon at the colorful hills in the distance:
The next two photos show you how the hills were also colored white at times:
We continued down canyon further because we could see these fluted cliffs in the distance:
The next three pictures show a stretch of monolith rocks which were very high, much higher than they appear to be:
And we came across this rock which was resting precariously in a very strange place. How in the world did it get up there, we wondered:
Steve posing by one of the many colorful walls of Nemo Canyon:
This final photograph was taken from the Mud Spring side canyon looking out into Nemo Canyon. This should give you enough of a clue in order to find the treasure of Nemo:
I returned to Nemo Canyon in March of 2010 to hike into Mud Spring for a closer look. Here you can see a trickle of water flowing down the Mud Spring side canyon:
Steve sitting in the Mud Spring side canyon on March 3, 2010 in the fading sunlight:
Looking back out from Mud Spring and the damp water channel that flows through it into Nemo Canyon:
A close-up of some of the water in Mud Spring. There wasn't much during my visit, but the water was there: