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 Death Valley National Park is the largest National Park in the United States outside of Alaska. Upgraded to National Park status on October 31, 1994, by the Desert Protection act, within its boundaries are some 3.4 million acres of canyons, sand dunes, salt flats, waterfalls, hot springs, 11,000 foot mountains, strange and compelling rock formations, endless vistas, and stars at night that you can almost reach out and touch. The hottest recorded temperature in the Northern hemisphere occurred here near Badwater at 134 degrees F in 1913, ironically the same year the most rainfall occurred (4.54 inches). It is a strange yet breathtakingly beautiful place. It's landscapes are unlike any other.
Trip Difficulty
The trip will not be too strenuous for anyone in reasonably good backpacking shape. We will be at an elevation between -200 and 1,600 feet, and gain or lose more than 4,200 feet during any given day. We will hike up to nine miles on certain days. The best way to prepare for this trip is to hike in the hills with a loaded backpack, if possible. When we hike, our backpacks will be fully loaded with personal gear; we will carry our food and commissary equipment. This trip is rated moderate.
Equipment
You will need to bring your own personal equipment, including items such as boots, a backpack, a basic first-aid kit, toiletries, and a cup. You might also consider bringing specialized equipment like binoculars or photographic equipment. The Arizona Climbing and Adventure School furnishes all shared group gear, including a group first-aid kit, route finding materials, field guides, maps, and food.
You'll receive a more detailed equipment list from the leaders before the trip departs. Any questions about the suitability of equipment should be addressed to the leaders.
This trip is 4-days, 3 nights.
Fall Canyon Backpack Trip #1
(Note: Additional trips will be posted by 2/1/08)
Fall Canyon is one of many colorful ravines in the hills surrounding Death Valley in California; shaped by occasional flash floods that flow from the higher mountains beyond, the canyon is remote and little-visited; deep and moderately narrow for many miles, with occasional shaded, cave-like passageways of great beauty. Some of these narrow, twisting sections have smooth granitic walls with an unusual bluish tint.
As with most other Southwest canyons, the rocks are layered, but quite differently to the orderly slot canyons of Utah - here the strata are multi-colored, buckled, twisted and eroded, the result of ancient geological forces.
Fall Canyon is located in the Grapevine Mountains, towards the less-travelled north end of Death Valley National Park. It is close to Titus Canyon, another colorful ravine that is popular because of the rough one-way track that extends through it.
Description
The streamway at the mouth of Fall Canyon is quite deep and many meters across - larger than that of nearby Titus Canyon, and powerful evidence of the great floods that sometimes rush out following rains over the Armargosa Mountains many miles away. Upstream the canyon soon narrows and becomes several hundred feet deep. The rock walls are stark, eroded and crumbling, colored variously black, brown and grey, with tints of red and green - often near vertical, but the canyon is not particularly narrow despite occasional sections only around 5 meters wide. The rock strata may be horizontal, vertical or any orientation in between and have an appearance of great age, telling of extensive geological changes.
The character of the ravine remains similar for 3 miles. There are some features of interest such as narrowish side canyons and tight curves in the streamway with channels of smooth rock. The main canyon becomes deeper - up to 2,000 feet in places - with stepped cliffs and plateaux of increasing height towering above. At the 3 mile point, progress is interrupted by a 20 foot dryfall but this is quite easy to overcome, by scrambling up a slope on the south side. Thereafter the canyon becomes quite different; unusual narrows with sharp bends through smooth, dark, marble-like rock.
Sometimes the channel runs between strata while in other places it cuts through, resulting in contrasting colors and textures. The streamway opens out after about a quarter of a mile and becomes similar to the lower stretches, with more frequent narrow passageways. Fall Canyon extends for at least another 6 miles and could be explored more fully on an overnight backpacking trip. Camping is allowed beyond the 2 mile point.
The vegetation changes gradually up the canyon and wildlife becomes more apparent, as the climate becomes slightly more moist; large ferocacti and yucca grow after a few miles, and bighorn sheep inhabit lands above the dryfall. Walking conditions are generally easy although the surface is mostly composed of small, shifting pebbles, and the walk can become tiring after a while. When I visited, on a sunny, windless day in December the temperature was about 70°F and the silence on the whole trip was absolute. There was no sign of life, and the canyon presented an epitome of remoteness. This is certainly not a hike for summer - the canyon offers no shade or water and the trip is sufficiently strenuous to become too difficult in the prevailing temperatures of well over 100°F.
Highlights: Moderate backpacking to the most remote place in Death Valley, spectacular views
Near: Furnace Creek, California
Scenery: Excellent
Distance: 30± miles round trip
Elevation Gain: 3800 ft
Hike Time: 6 hours per day
Difficulty: Strenuous
Trail Condition: Moderate to Strenuous, but a few easy spots
HikeType: Out and Back
Ages:
21 - 59
Cost: $675 (4-day trip)
Dates:
See below
Note:
Previous backpacking experience required
Level of Difficulty
We rate each of our trips as "Easy", "Moderate", "Challenging" and "Strenuous" based on the level of physical ability and prerequisite skills required. This rating system is designed to help you decide which trip is most appropriate. Some trips may be a combination of different activity levels. In these cases we do our best to approximate the general difficulty level for the entire trip. Our trip ratings are subjective and relative to fluctuating environmental conditions as well.
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easy
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moderate
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challenging
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strenuous
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description
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most days involve fairly easy travel and easy activity, if required at all.
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these trips combine a moderate level of activities for both "off the beaten track" and basecamp exploration
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these trips are physically challenging and usually set in remote and rugged wilderness regions. challenging terrain encountered.
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these trips involve strenuous activity in remote and rugged terrain and encounters with wildlife, loose footing, rough seas, extreme weather, etc.
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activities and weather
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day hikes, 4wd, flat-water kayaking, average weather conditions
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trekking. sea kayaking, white water rafting, camping, single pitch rock climbing, moderate weather conditions
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backpacking (light loads under 35 pounds), sea kayaking, multi-pitch rock climbing, cold or hot weather conditions
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backpacking (heavy loads over 35 pounds), sea kayaking, multi-pitch rock climbing
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experience
required
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no experience required
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some experience required
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previous experience often recommended
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previous experience strongly recommended and sometimes required
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fitness
required
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good
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very good
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excellent
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excellent
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activity
per day
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4 - 6 hours
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6 - 8 hours
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6 - 10 hours
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8 - 12 hours
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highest altitude
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5,000 feet
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6,500 feet
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9,000 feet
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13,000 feet
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Physical Fitness
Except on a few trips support vehicles, rafts or kayaks carry all our gear. We do, however, recommend that you be in good physical condition to enjoy our trips to the fullest. If you are not optimally conditioned, we recommend that you start a training program at least 3-6 months before departure, gradually increasing the intensity and duration. We further advise you to check with your doctor before undertaking any new fitness program. For our more difficult trips, we also require a doctor's certificate of good health.
Our instructors are all active climbers, kayakers and backpackers.
Our staff are among the best in the Southwest.
They become full instructors after one year of rigorous training, testing and field work during which they learn ACAS's safety procedures, curriculum, process, technical standards, interpersonal/educational methods, and low impact backcountry techniques.
The majority are former instructors or graduates of the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA) and/or Outward Bound School! Their years of climbing and teaching have made them unequalled in safety and experience. Climbing and wilderness adventures are more than our business, it's our way of life!
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 Arizona Climbing and Adventure School is a unique opportunity for individuals to experience the spirit, courage and exploration of the West. It is an initiation into the unexpected, a chance to accomplish something very exciting and to discover strengths you never knew you had. Additionally, the Arizona Climbing and Adventure School provides education in wilderness skills and working effectively with others.
It is a well known fact that a wilderness experience can effect one person so deeply that it profoundly alters his or her view of self and reality to the positive, changing a person's life for months and sometimes years after the experience.
The skills you must learn in order to safely and ecologically negotiate the terrain, climate and altitude in which our courses are offered include:
• safety skills for travel through rigorous terrain.
• how to pack a backpack.
• physical fitness
• competence with map and compass, gps, route selection, navigation.
• rope use and knot tying, bowline, water knot, square knot, clove hitch, half hitch, figure eight
• basic first aid so that every student can handle reasonable emergencies and recognizes and aid in treating illness related to altitude, hypothermia, fatigue.
• rescue preparedness
• rock climbing, backpacking, hiking, rappelling
• campcraft including minimum impact camping, ecological considerations, wilderness cooking, food selection and nutrition.
• water purification, hygiene and sanitation.
• care of equipment, ropes, clothing, packs, climbing shoes.
• environmental stewardship and Leave No Trace techniques.
• safety from storms and lightning.
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 "Arizona Climbing and Adventure School's outdoor trips have conditions. They require great energy, exertion, teamwork and planning. They also involve me in a process of discovery. It is impossible to hike up a canyon, traverse across a steep hill, rope up on a difficult ridge, establish a new camp, without becoming immersed in the symbolism of the adventure.
I am one person, climbing from the bottom, trying to make it to the top. I am going one step further than I have gone before. I am declaring myself, at least for one moment, free from the sometimes confining shackles of the work world. I am passing upwards, into the clouds, into the sky, into fresh clean air, into a new appreciation of my strength and the strengths of my companions.
When it is over I have not changed the world. But I bring back one small part that allows me to feel more alive, that allows me to give a little more to the ones I love, that allows me to dream new dreams. These adventures are critical, they are the adventures of my passage from the old me to the new. I don't believe that they can be had by sitting and waiting for someone else to do them.
The conditions of these passages require me to take every step. Without them I am less. With them I am more. It's that simple."
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 To sign up for an ADVENTURE call or email us to check availability. If a course is open click on the On-line Application Form or go to our application and map (meeting point) site, print out both the Application (PDF), Map and Waiver. Fill out the application and fax or mail it to us (don't fax the waiver, just bring it the day of your course).
 Note: September thru May ADVENTURES start at 8:00 a.m. at the designated pick-up point. Call us the day before your course starts to verify.
september
2007 |
dates: not available
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march
2008
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dates: 3 - 6
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october
2007 |
dates: not available
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april
2008
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dates: 10 - 13
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november
2007 |
dates: 19 - 22
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may
2008
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dates: not available
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december
2007 |
dates: 2 - 5
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june
2008
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dates: not available
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january
2008 |
dates: 24 - 27
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july
2008
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dates: not available
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february
2008
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dates: 13 - 16
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august
2008
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dates: not available
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course cancellations
While it is unlikely, if the Arizona Climbing and Adventure School cancels a course due to insufficient reservations or conditions beyond our control (weather, etc.); alternate dates or refunds will be given as preferred. If you cancel within 14 days prior to your session, rescheduling your course can be expected. There are no refunds on gift certificates. If you fail to show at the designated meeting place at the appointed time you will be charged for the course - there are no exceptions. If you would like to reschedule within 48-hours of the course's starting date, you may do so. To receive a full monetary refund (minus a 20% handling fee), 14 days notice is required (expect a refund within 2 billing cycles or 60-days of your course date). You may also want to purchase travel insurance due to cancellations – click here for more information.
liability
Although we spare no effort to assure a safe program, we can assume no responsibility for your safety or loss of personal equipment. In a sport of this nature an element of risk is inherent and beyond human control. A signed release (waiver) will be required of all participants. A parent or guardian release is required for students under the age of 18. These can be obtained in advance by contacting our office or downloading from our website.
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