Heart of Stone Canyon 3AIII, Death Valley National Park

I want to thank Scott Swaney for pioneering this first descent 4 years ago for the community to enjoy. Heart of Stone Canyon is a very remote Death Valley canyon in the Cottonwood Mountains. The road follows the same track to the Racetrack Playa — at Teakettle Junction turn left and head for the plateau above 6,000ft. The road becomes progressively more sinister; a 4x4 is preferred but Subaru AWD can negotiate it.

We set up camp in the snow and headed to sleep early — the morning rise would be before dark. We hiked the mildly steep 4.4-mile track following the ridge and rolling hills to the drop-in at the tail of Heart of Stone. The canyon is all limestone and quite interesting for Death Valley standards. Unfortunately Jerry caught a large log that slammed the passenger door and deployed the airbags on the way up — startling but everyone was OK.

We found 9 rappels and changed just about all the anchors. The biggest drop was 125ft — rebuilt with a knot chock and backed up with a re-belay and meat anchor. The lower section had deep narrow stained corridors and a boulder keyed into the walls at the end. I highly recommend this canyon — top 3 Death Valley. Got back in 7.5 hours. Refer to ropewiki.com for beta.