Pahrump Canyon trip report

PAHRUMP CANYON is what I call an interesting canyon on the east side of Pahrump, Nv. Vic Priebe and I went down it on Nov 19, 2015. We had 3 rappels. The first was about 100 feet and the last 2 were much less and had bypasses on the right. From the Maverik at the south end of town, we drove 4 miles south on SR 160 to mp NY 3.5 at a sign for Carpenter Canyon. We went east there for 3.2 miles on a crude road to a road on the left. We spotted one 4wd a mile down that road, staying left at a fork. Then we drove back almost to the Carpenter road then turned up a wash along the base and stayed on the main road for 2 miles and parked. We walked the flats for a half mile to a little valley at N36 11488, W115 49926 el 4300. We went up the center of that on the high ground and thru a low saddle then down a little and over to the right to a rim at 11732, 50506 el 4600. We dropped down there to the big rap with good anchors. We went down a single 150 foot rope with pull cord and had 30 feet left over.  That put us in the main canyon. Next we came to an oblong pothole with a pictograph. A few feet past we came to the second rappel into what I call the Sewer Hole.It would be 5 or 6 feet deep when full. This pothole and the oblong one contain water longer than any limestone potholes I've ever seen. We rappelled along the side of that one to stay dry. The 3rd drop was about 30 feet then we got to the mouth and stayed left on the flats back to the road. It took us nearly 5 hours with the shuttle and didn't involve any steep uphill hiking. No shuttle would mean 3 miles of road walking. Some cars might make the 3.2 miles up Carpenter road then just hike the loop from there. I hiked the upper main fork of this canyon and found it boring. Posted 2015. We are around Pahrump in October and again in April. Send us a note at canyonsATgmx.com if you want someone to go with. We only check our email once a month.

Agave roasting pit