Welcome to APUG, Bob.
I think we've crossed paths on another forum. You're a ranger in Death Valley, no?
I live in New York, but I visit my parents occasionally in Vegas and often find myself driving up to Deep Springs College just two valleys over. Haven't been to Death Valley since I was a student at Deep Springs (1984-6) and we took a four-day hike starting at the Eureka Valley Sand Dunes (we cached water in DV in advance). I remember we went up this canyon that was just off the corner between two topo maps, and it got narrower and narrower as we went up, so we weren't sure if we'd have to backtrack. At the top it seemed maybe six feet wide and opened up onto a plain of Joshua trees and a magnificent view of the Valley.
I should be out there for a couple weeks in January. Might be time for another DV trip.