So the group was Zack, Dave, and myself. Zack and I met Dave at the parking lot area off Big Tujunga road at I think 10am exactly (would have been there early like 9:20 but Zack took 45min to get out of bed haha). After choosing our ropes, packing our gear, and getting our canyon clothes on, we head out and start following a really nice stream for a while heading east, crossing it about 4 times. It really was some clear water, and we passed some interesting places just hiking on the ground there, including some growth of corn as well as a little "chill zone" of sorts - complete with cushioned chair, clothesline, workbench, signs, etc out in the middle of nowhere.
We actually went farther than most travel, and decided to head up a gully we found and see if that can get us up the mountain, looking for a little more of an adventure I suppose. So instead of taking the trail that leads up the route (which we eventually crossed and continued on) we took a rather difficult but fun climb up the mountain. At first we had 4 short rock climbs - which actually could have been nice rappels if water had been flowing down them - which was followed by a few long loose earth uphill climbs. I led on the first one, and set up a rope to help Zack get up, as it was pretty long and challenging. From there on Dave went first while Zack and I stayed behind til he was up, as we kept dislodging rocks and whatnot by going up, one that landed square on my ankle... still a little sore today. I normally followed close behind Zack in case he needed any spotting, and since he wasn't incredibly comfortable with some of these. Even though he said "I can't do this" on one of them, of course he ended up doing it. Saying he can't and then disproving himself - story of his canyoneering life. He did however get one sharp cut which tore right through his Dickies and then skin, the one cut we actually bothered cleaning and fixing up.
Soon we reached the top of the ridge and introduced ourselves to some telephone poles, intersecting with the actual trail which we then followed up. There were a few more steep uphill sections, but on solid dirt fortunately. All I can say is whoever set up all those ropes to hold on to and pull yourself up on for those short climbs is Grade A in my book. After these of course the trail continued uphill but it definitely leveled out and was actually a very comfortable hike from there on, following pink blazers through the heavily wooded area... which led us to overshoot the canyon. Unfortunately, there was no obvious marker for a turn-off to the west towards the canyon so we continued uphill to the south following the blazers.
Uphill to the south of the canyon, we emerged in this suddenly open area that was nothing but large white rocks and boulders. Long story short, we crossed this, went back into the woods, found 3 dead ends, and went back. We agreed to just start heading back down since we knew the canyon was below us and that we had overshot it. Two minutes later as we are about to exit that rocky area marks my third rattlesnake encounter! Unfortunately, GPS coordinates from the site we use were eerily inaccurate and were really not of much help at all. Also... bugs! After those mentioned loose uphill climbs, once we got into the nice wooded areas... god were there so many. Zack would not stop complaining about getting bitten by horseflies and such. I couldn't feel it, but I definitely flicked some off and saw a minuscule spot of blood were they were. Probably have about 4 mosquito bites leftover right now too. Why oh why do I refuse to hike/canyoneer in pants...
On the way down we take a chance following a faint trail we hadn't seen on the way up (as stated, no obvious markers and it was actually detached from the main trail), which eventually leads us to the first rap. After the short loose downhill surf into the canyon - the first rap of which is to the right - I head off towards a little shady glade to the left to check for water since Zack said there wasn't any at the rappel. Voila! The canyon gods smiled upon us. A nice clear pool to filter. We sat there for a few minutes, got drunk, filled up some bottles, and headed for the whole reason we were even there.
The first rappel - named Lovers Leap - is a good 190-200 foot rappel. Perhaps it was from the previous few hours of climbing and bushwhacking, but my hands got tired on it and kinda hurt a
little. I locked my prusik once just to get the load off my hands for a little bit, don't know what was up. So I was the first down, almost landed on a dead headless squirrel (I think) which sat right at the bottom. We covered it up with some rocks. Zack was down next, his legs shaky as he
got near the bottom. This was his longest rappel yet, but he's come a long way from being afraid of heights and taking an hour just to man up and go down Bailey's first 35 foot slope. Made me proud, my little padawan is growing up *cry*. After being down for a minute he was already saying he wanted to do it again though! So then down comes Dave after tossing the pull rope. I should take a moment to mention that this rappel reminded me of the last rap I did in Zion, at Spry... I couldn't touch my pirana or biner for a good 5 minutes or more because it was so hot.So! We're all down. Start pulling the pull line down. 20 feet later... BAM stuck. Can I get it down? Nope. Can Dave get it down? Nope. Can the 3 of us with our harnesses attached to the rope and putting our combined body weight against it get it down? Nope. Oh yea... and that's why you don't use accessory cord as a pull line :)
Me almost done ascending, maybe a little dramatic, but truly out of breath haha...
So I volunteer to ascend up and get fix whatever the problem is. Of course the one day I get smart and work UPPER body in the gym instead of lower the day before canyoneering is the day I have to ascend almost 200 feet. I actually find it easier to ascend free hangs, as you get to put more/all your weight on your legs. On slants, a lot more arm strength is involved. Thank god I recently got some full-size handled Petzl ascenders... screw tiblocs and ropemans. I get up there, fix the issue, and rappel down again. So commences the pulling and coiling of 450 feet of rope.
The next rap was like a minute or less away, half of which was through a short V-shaped wedge and the other half was just a straight down descent. It was short, about 40 feet. I went down last after Zack and had actually just tied a prusik onto the rope and descended down the "V" while he was on rappel to cut a little time.
Somewhere farther down the canyon we come to a memorable rappel which I thought was just gorgeous. Had some deep green growth in patches and the water was flowing just enough to make the surface of the rock shimmer, not even trickle.
Zack finishing up pretty much the nicest rappel in the canyon...
The last rappel was actually quite nice as well, though we hit this one after sunset and did it with our headlamps. Fun! Unknowing if the rope we used (120 footer) would reach the bottom, I went down first. It was about a 15 foot drop, then a short walk, then about 80 feet. Counting the amount of rope used up at the anchor and tied to the pull line, it was about 10 feet short had I gone down the fall the "normal" way. Luckily we were able to cut over canyon left and land on raised dirt slope with about 2 feet of slack left in the rope. So I get down, Zack gets down, and then Dave... and WHAT DO YOU KNOW! Bad luck strikes again. After trying all the normal methods of getting a stuck rope down, Dave heads up and gets the rope this time. I actually don't know what the issue was with this one. Just a crazy day. The first canyon I've ever done that required ascensions to free a rope... and we had to do it twice. Even though I did the big 190 foot one, I was kinda jealous that Dave got to do the nighttime ascend haha!
So it was a long day, but we saw some pretty cool things, pretty much blazed our own fun trail, and just took our time enjoying the canyon (love nighttime exits!)...
CLICK HERE TO VIEW ALL THE PICTURES FROM THIS CANYONEERING TRIP!
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