Step 15: Walnut Canyon Ski Trip

I've had an enjoyable 5 days off and will be going back to the canyon tomorrow for 9 days. Upon my return from that I will be heading to Joshua Tree for a climbing trip. So this may be my last post for a while.
On the 27th I decided to head out in the woods behind my place and explore the area on skis. My destination was Walnut Canyon. Its a prominent 400ft deep canyon about 6 miles south of us. I left around 11am. Here is me leaving:

After 2.5 hours of going in a general south-east direction I made it to Fisher Point at the edge/mouth of the canyon. Here is a view from the point up the canyon and out away from it.


Once on the edge I looked over and saw it would be pretty tight to explore the bottom of the canyon. So I strapped my skis to my pack and scrambled down the 400ft or so to the bottom. Here I am looking back up about 1/2 way down.

Upon getting to the bottom and starting to explore I had no idea what I would find. But I was quite pleased with the results. Many cool rock formations, caves, and animals.

The coolest thing was a cave I found. It had a large entrance room followed by a narrow 20ft corridor and opened up into a huge cavern. In the center was a large ice formation formed by water dripping from the roof. Check it out:

I spent about 2 hours exploring the canyon before it narrowed too much and became overgrown and had to turn back because the sun was setting.

Overall the trip was awesome and I wish I had more time to explore it. There looks to be a lot of climbing possibilities as well as side canyons to explore so I am sure I will go back and camp a few days there in the months to come.