TRIP REPORT PHOTOS
This was our starting point, 13 road miles north of Saline Valley Warm Springs camp. This picture shows the view looking back to the south:
Looking to the east into the Last Chance Range. At this point, we were too low in elevation to see Dry Mountain:
This picture shows the entrance to both forks of Tafoni Canyon. The South Fork is located on the left side in between the two dark hillsides. The North Fork is located just to the right of the dark hillside in the middle of the picture, where it meets up with the light hillside:
Zooming in on the entrance to the North Fork, which cuts to the left on the left side of this picture and heads out of view:
And zooming in on the South Fork's entrance, which we were heading for on this hike:
As we climbed the very rocky fan, we turned around near the canyon mouth and could finally see Dry Mountain (red arrow):
Looking up the canyon mouth of the South Fork. Do you notice the white spot on the hillside in the distance?:
This is what that hillside looked like once we arrived at it. It is the first sign of tafoni features:
On the opposite side canyon wall, there was this area where a section of canyon wall has collapsed and created a massive pile of rocks:
As you can see, there was quite a variety of colors and features on the early canyon walls:
Looking back down the curved lower portion of the canyon, which is about one mile in length:
The dark hillsides gradually give way to lighter colors:
The dark pinnacle-like boulder seen on the right side of the picture marks the first junction in the South Fork:
We stayed to the left and continued hiking up the first part of our preplanned loop route:
The early portion of the left fork had hillsides with strange formations sloping down into the wash, rather than actual canyon walls:
Looking back down the wash, you can see that the hiking was not that comfortable as there were so many boulders to contend with:
A large cave that appeared as canyon walls began forming:
Smaller wind caves or alcoves also started appearing in clusters:
Finally, there were fully formed canyon walls on both sides of the wash:
Here you can see how the hillsides sloped down from above until they reached the shallow canyon walls:
The canyon narrows began at this point. The narrows are shallow but very unique:
Notice the variety on the left side canyon wall, with a smooth wall giving way to a tafoni-covered wall:
These features on the canyon walls are what Tafoni Canyon has been (informally) named for:
Because tafoni is so unusual and constantly changing in shape, size, and design, it makes for great scenery while hiking:
Two examples of dramatic cavernous weathering within the canyon walls:
Notice that the canyon narrows were so shallow that we could easily see the scenery which surrounded us:
At least with the narrows, the wash became more defined and easier to hike through:
There were small arches everywhere we looked, created by weathering and erosion:
A long straight section of narrows within Tafoni Canyon:
The farther we continued up the left fork, the higher the walls grew in height:
The beautiful texture of the canyon walls really caught our attention through this area:
This is a really pretty bend in the canyon as the wash is about to become noticeably steeper:
The canyon wall on the left has a very nice surface and kind of bulges out in the middle:
In the narrowest portions of canyon, the wash seemed to be overflowing with boulders:
The tafoni formations in this area were not nearly as deep or well-defined:
As you can see in the next two photos, some canyon walls showed hardly any signs of significant weathering:
Check out the beautiful colored patterns on the canyon walls in the next two photos:
One of the nicer stretches of narrows as we neared the end of this section of canyon:
There were some very large boulders that we had to climb over:
Through the opening in the narrows, tafoni formations are visible climbing up the hillside:
Exiting the tafoni portion of narrows and looking back. The tafoni was completely covering the hillside:
Past the tafoni narrows, there was a completely different type of darker rock which took over the canyon:
A very dramatic bend in the canyon featuring the darker rock:
At this spot, we climbed out of the canyon and began attaining the ridge. This shows the view looking back down into the wash where we climbed out:
We soon had a view of the ridgeline leading to Marble BM, which was covered by snow:
Looking down on the Steel Pass Road as it turns to the northeast and heads uphill:
Dry Mountain became visible once we gained enough elevation. It is the summit peak on the right:
Marble BM also became visible. It is the summit peak on the far left:
Once we reached the high point of the crossover, we could see farther up the left fork we had been hiking in:
But our objective was to drop into the top part of the right fork, seen here, in order to complete our loop of the South Fork of Tafoni Canyon:
It wasn't long before we reached the top of a titanic dry fall:
The wash looked to be at least 100 feet below us as we walked up to the edge:
Looking straight down the polished dry fall. There would be no way to safely climb down here:
This major dry fall and the cliffs surrounding it form the Polished Stone Grotto area:
We backtracked and climbed back up to the southern ridge. While following the canyon rim, we had this view looking down:
This visually stunning area reminded me of a mini-Rainbow Canyon:
Just like in Rainbow Canyon, the high desert terrain abruptly drops off into a deep canyon abyss with colorful walls:
After walking along the rim, we finally found an area which looked like it would allow us to drop back into the canyon:
The going was steep and a bit challenging, but we worked our way down. Here is the view into part of the canyon we had missed:
Once we were back on the canyon floor, we took this picture of the bypass route we had used:
A rock outcropping that was sticking out into the canyon:
This part of the canyon is very reminiscent to the scenery in Middle Rainbow Canyon:
Heading back up the canyon to see what we had missed while walking high above:
Notice the great variety of rock types which were on display through here:
This close-up of the canyon wall shows three different rock types or layers:
You can see Tobin up ahead in this photo taking pictures in the narrows:
This was his view. At this point, the canyon walls were extremely high, the narrows tight and deep, and the wash covered with large and small boulders:
We finally reached the bottom of the Polished Stone Grotto dry fall:
Looking up the major dry fall, you can see the polished rocks which are a part of the dry fall's composition:
Looking to the left from the dry fall's base, more polished stones and other rock layers are evident:
Getting a picture at the base of the 100-foot major dry fall and Polished Stone Grotto area:
View looking back from the dry fall as we prepared to head back down canyon:
A short distance past where we reentered the canyon at the bypass, tafoni features could be seen on the hillsides once again:
Soon, canyon walls formed and we were back into more narrows:
The narrows of this right fork were even more impressive than the narrows we had gone through earlier:
Tobin snapped this picture of me photographing a massive boulder resting precariously on the canyon rim:
This boulder looks like it is ready to roll into the canyon and possibly create a climbing obstacle:
The tafoni features began fully taking over the canyon walls:
There were so many strange shapes and formations on the canyon walls that it felt eerie walking through here:
The placement of the small rocks on the boulder in the foreground was either caused by flash floods or rockfall from above:
Getting a picture next to one of the very unusual tafoni canyon walls:
There are plenty of spaces that a small animal could choose from to sleep in up above:
I really liked Tafoni Canyon because there is no other place quite like it in the park where there is tafoni on such a grand scale:
Contrast this canyon wall in your mind to the canyon walls of Marble Canyon or Mosaic Canyon. True polar opposites:
Tight sections of narrows with sharp bends can be seen in the next two photos:
This part was neat because the two walls converged at the bottom and formed solid rock to walk on:
The wash heading down canyon was mostly smooth as seen here with just a few boulder jams to contend with once in a while:
The canyon walls became covered by convoluted shapes and arches:
Taking a closer look at the small arch which was on the left side canyon wall:
Visibility outside of the canyon was more limited at times with the odd formations high above:
As we approached the bottom of this section of canyon, the narrows began dropping height:
Looking back at the area we had just hiked down. Notice that the tafoni continues far above the canyon walls:
It was easy to lose track of Tobin while hiking through this section of canyon with so many quick turns:
The canyon we had been hiking in came to an abrupt dead end at this junction:
We turned to the left and hiked up the new canyon we were in until we reached this boulder. It was easy to climb but we were under time constraints:
So we turned around and began hiking down the other fork. This would eventually lead us back to the original junction we had encountered within the South Fork of Tafoni Canyon hours earlier:
Tafoni was much less evident as we progressed through these narrows:
It was noted that the height of the walls within these narrows was the highest of all three small canyons we had hiked through this afternoon:
It was good to save the most visually impressive narrows for last:
This round boulder rolled into the canyon narrows at the perfect spot:
Taking a closer look, notice how the round boulder can be crawled under or climbed over:
Check out the two polished dry falls on either side of the boulder. It looks like when flash floods sweep down this canyon, the water flow pours over above the boulder:
This final section of narrows located in between the two junctions extends for about 1/4 of a mile:
The walls were definitely much smoother and more clearly defined:
But there was the occasional odd shape up on the canyon walls, as seen on the left:
Exiting the narrows, hiking out of Tafoni Canyon's South Fork, and driving out of Saline Valley until next time:
