Coffin Canyon
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| | Difficulty:3A III (v3a1 III) Raps:5-7, max ↨190ft
Red Tape:No permit required Shuttle:None Vehicle:Passenger | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Condition Reports: | 14 Feb 2026
"I always enjoy Coffin. The view from CoCo Peak is my favorite view from anywhere in the park. The 190 rappel is vertical and fun. Spectacular wildflo |
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| Best season: | Nov-Mar (avg for this region)
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36.1562, -116.7507
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Introduction
Coffin is a great canyon for a half-day trip. This scenic drainage starts off as a wide flat wash but then narrows and drops suddenly. It's got great views on the hike up, some beautiful narrow sections and even a giant chock stone reminiscent of "Levitated Mass".
Approach
Descent
Waypoints in the KML map contain detailed descriptions of all the rappels (courtesy of Bluugnome.com).
The first drop in the canyon is 40ft from a cairn anchor. This can be avoided via a moderate downclimb RDC if you like avoiding rappels.
Shortly down canyon from here there is another downclimb/rappel of 30ft. If you choose to downclimb this, the easiest way to do so it to stem down a slot RDC from the established rappel anchor.
In order to avoid confusion on the rappel numbers matching the .kml only the 5 rappels are numbered. Most parties will likely have a few more rappels.
Rappel 1: 190' from 2 bolts backed up by a cairn anchor.
Rappel 2: 60' (Anchored 30' up canyon with a 30' rappel)
Rappel 3: 30' from 2 bolts a bit over head high. (can be combined with previous rappel)
Rappel 4: 20'
Rappel 5: 80'
Exit
Red tape
Beta sites
BluuGnome.com : Coffin Canyon- Chris Brennen's Adventure Hikes (Southwest) : Coffin Canyon
- Super Amazing Map : Coffin Canyon
Trip reports and media
- Lori Curry on Canyon Tales : Styx & Coffin
- https://www.stavislost.com/hikes/trail/coffin-canyon
- http://www.bogley.com/forum/showthread.php?67696-Coffin-Death-Valley-02-17-13&p=527606#post527606
- http://adamhaydock.blogspot.com/2017/02/coffin-canyon-3aii-death-valley.html