Skyrim:Dayspring Canyon - The Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages (UESP) (2024)

Dayspring Canyon is the wilderness area surrounding Fort Dawnguard, accessed through a cave entrance southeast of Riften and north-northeast of Stendarr's Beacon.

The entrance to the canyon is through a narrow fissure in the rock wall a short distance east of the path that leads up to Black-Briar Lodge, along the road to Morrowind. The fissure leads into a narrow crevice that eventually opens into the isolated canyon. It is the only available route to Fort Dawnguard the first time you go there.

Dayspring Canyon People[edit]

Related Quests[edit]

• Dawnguard: Speak with the leader of the Dawnguard.

Walkthrough[edit]

Initial state[edit]

Once through the fissure, there is a snowy path heading east with a few snowberry bushes along it. As the path turns to the southeast, it widens to offer a view of a pool which is fed by melting ice falling as waterfalls from the surrounding peaks. The fertile canyon contains many fauna and flora, including blue, purple, and red mountain flowers, spiky grass and thistles, several types of fungi including bleeding crown and fly amanita, and many butterflies and blue butterflies during the day, with torchbugs and luna moths appearing in the evening and at night. The pool is full of salmon, and there are mudcrabs nearby. Rabbits, foxes, and elk abound in the canyon.

The path leads down past the shore of the pool, where you find a rowboat and two racks, one holding seven whole salmon, and the other drying a net with two food barrels nearby. Past this point, the path turns to the north. Ahead, you get your first view of a fort to the northeast. Farther uphill to the north is an entrance to Mossy Glen Cave. As you near, the fort is identified as Fort Dawnguard. It appears to be a vast, sprawling structure. The path continues past the start of a wooden palisade wall, with some barrels of food behind. Some tools and a saw horse are nearby, implying the palisade is recent work. On your right is a wooden lookout platform. The path passes under an arch formed by a walkway far above. Beyond the arch is a campfire, with Durak standing nearby practicing with a crossbow, and a wood chopping block to the left. You can recover many steel bolts from the tree stump Durak has been using for target practice.

Beyond this area is a fenced vegetable patch containing eight gourd plants, seven cabbage plants, and five potato plants. The path then turns to the south and approaches the entrance to the fort. On your left is another wooden palisade wall, with a gap in the middle. On the other side of the wall, most of the trees have been cut down for the construction. There are two snowberry bushes in this area, and in the northern corner, another entrance to Mossy Glen Cave. To the right of the gap in the wall is another wood chopping block and a woodcutter's axe. The first time you approach the fort, you will meet Agmaer, who has also heard of the vampire hunters and is looking to join. At the entrance, Celann will instruct you to enter to meet their leader.

Later changes[edit]

At the end of the quest Bloodline, a small group of vampires attack Fort Dawnguard. Their bodies remain on the ground until after the quest Prophet, when Dayspring Canyon undergoes a change.

The Dawnguard builds two palisade walls along the narrow path leading to the fort, complemented with chevaux de frise. The inner wall has a heavy wooden gate. Four civilian refugees (Alvide, Barknar, Jayri, and Sern) build a small makeshift camp behind the palisade walls. Tilde and Vori stand sentry on elevated watch posts. Ollrod patrols between the palisade walls. A safe distance from the palisades, two Vampire Scouts scurry back and forth among the bushes near the road.

Notes[edit]

• On the roof of Fort Dawnguard, you can find the One-handed skill book 2920, Morning Star, v1 next to a bedroll, as well as an amulet of Talos atop a barrel.
• The grindstone and tanning rack are on the roof of Fort Dawnguard, reachable by climbing the west stairway inside and exiting at the top. While these are technically in Dayspring Canyon, as opposed to part of Fort Dawnguard, they can only be accessed via the fort.
• Using the Clear Skies shout here will clear away fog and rain, but not cloud cover.
• You can manage to escape the collision box placed around the map from the roof of Fort Dawnguard by hugging the mountain to the west. From there, if you explore the flat world around it, you can eventually find a strange map square, which is between Froki's Shack and the Ruins of Bthalft according to the map. It is modeled and will load its LOD and a rock tower; when approaching, it emits grotto sounds.