Tough country to get across, the limestone badlands that lie at the head of Darby Canyon are an incredibly convoluted landscape of sharp limestone knobs and small slot canyons. It's deceptive - from the point on the path that overlooks the basin, it appears to be a wide, flat expanse of grass and smooth stone that slopes gradually up to the rim behind Mt. Jedediah Smith that overlooks the Death Canyon Shelf. The edges of the eroded limestone are sharp as razors, and falling on the stuff is something you definitely wouldn't want to experience. Having said that, it's a fascinating place to explore.

I found tracks of lion and mulies in the sandy bottom of a couple of the little slot canyons that thread the basin. Bighorn roam the grassy fringes of the badlands, around the bases of Mount Meek, Mount Jedediah Smith, and Mount Bannon. Marmots and pikas are everywhere, scurrying about as each prepares for winter. The marmots will spend most of the year tucked away in deep burrows, hibernating during the cold winter months. The pika, in contrast, will gather haystacks of dry grass that it will secret among the rocks and talus slopes to feed on throughout the winter.

Three peaks are standing against the skyline in the top photo. The sharp peak of 11,938 ft. Buck Mountain peeps over the ridge on the left side of the photo. Buck Mountain is part of the Cathedral Group that includes the Grand inside the Grand Teton National Park on the east side of the range.
The next peak, in the center of the three, is 10,681 ft. Mount Meek, with 10,610 ft. Mount Jedediah Smith on the right side of the photo. The easiest way to reach the cliffs above the Death Canyon Shelf from the timberline area is to cut north to the rim of the cliffs that overlook South Teton Canyon Shelf, right at the base of the Wedge. From there, you skirt the northern edge of the badlands, moving along the southern base of Mount Meek until you reach the wide bench that parallels the Death Canyon Bench.

Bottom photo: Mount Jedediah Smith stands at the head of Darby Canyon, surrounded on 3 sides by limestone badlands. The path to the rim overlooking Death Canyon passes between Mount Meek and Mount Jedediah Smith.