Dark Shadow Canyon 3AII, Death Valley National Park

Dark Shadow Canyon is accessed from Fall Canyon with a traverse over a ridge and a descent into the canyon. We chose to run Dark Shadow first — a good decision as it provided the hike from the ridge to Crater of Doom as the more efficient second canyon of the day. Dark Shadow has around 10 rappels all under 200ft (I believe under 150ft — check ropewiki.com for accurate rope lengths).

The best section was the last two drops into Fall Canyon. The anchor at the second-to-last station was shot and needed a complete rebuild — a V-slot overhang requiring careful positioning of the rapide. We built a backing anchor and set up a redirect to lower people safely. The canyon is quite open with some narrow sections. Combine with Crater of Doom for a full technical day in the Fall Canyon area.