Fall Canyon is a colorful, narrow canyon in the northeast of Death Valley National Park. There are perhaps more spectacular canyons in the park than Fall Canyon, narrower, their walls more polished, with more fun rock scrambles, but Fall Canyon scores with a rich palette of red, orange and black stripes adorning the walls and a quiet, more remote desert environment that we had almost to ourselves.

The Fall Canyon Trail is a little more challenging than most other short trails in the park, but never technical and easily doable for anyone with a basic level of fitness. Without the crowds, we really loved this quiet and rewarding hike, winding among the imposing walls of the canyon. Keep an eye out for bighorn sheep.

The trail starts as a faint footpath just behind the restrooms at the foot of Titus Canyon and traverses the alluvial fan at the foot of Grapevine Mountains. You’ll have lovely views of the gently sloping valley floor before the trail drops steeply into a wide drywash, taking you to the mouth of Fall Canyon. The rest of the hike is pretty straightforward as you simply follow the pebbly wash framed by vertical winding cliff walls ever deeper into the canyon.

The trail is a faint trampled path at best, and you’ll be walking on gravel, rocks, and sand. There’s no rock scrambling required, but the incline, although gradual, adds up to a 400m elevation gain as the sheer canyon walls steadily encroach upon the canyon bottom until the trail meets a towering dry fall, a smooth, nicely sculpted rock, at the end.

Return by the same route.