I picked up Zack in the morning and we drove out and met Josh, and his friend Addison, and we all headed out to the canyon. It was a nice drive, though the road had a ridiculous amount of bicyclists that morning, who didn't seem to value life (kept swerving into the road). Anyway, we get to the parking lot near the almost entirely dry riverbed, figure out which ropes we bring (thankfully Josh took his 200' so I didn't have to lug around my 240'), got all our gear packed, and started hiking.
Before I go on, this is one of my favorite canyons, it's really a beautiful place as you descend through the canyon, much different than the canyons more near in the Angeles N.F. That being said, this is one of my most hated hikes. It isn't even long - about an hour from the parking lot - but it is just incredibly unrelenting. It's about 10 minutes on seemingly flat terrain and crossing the wash and you're already tired somehow, then 45 or so minutes of a very steep trail. The air is also a bit thinner and there's usually a frosty breeze. We were almost stopped by a ranger on the hike up for not having a Wilderness Permit, which none of knew we needed (never needed it before), but we got it all sorted out and the day wasn't wasted.
So we get up to the first rappel and take our time to get ready. We decide the water is indeed cold and get our extra splash layers on, harnesses, etc. There was no anchor on the tree, so I grabbed some webbing out of my pack, went over, and got a "Wrap-2-Pull-1-" (a way of setting the webbing) at the base of the large tree, using a nearby rappel ring from a smaller, not-so-well-done anchor I dismantled (Josh and I weren't comfortable with what it was tied to, and the webbing felt a little shot). This tree was right on the edge and to tie it I needed to get around it so I attached myself to Zack and had him sit tight on the other side to counter me as a precaution. Anchor set, ropes go on and get tied, I hook up.
Being one of the two really experienced canyoneers (the most experienced of the group :P) I go down first, Josh staying up to make sure everyone else ties in right. It's a two-pitch rappel, meaning it's one waterfall, but some ways down there is another anchor to tie into and finish the descent. We had enough rope to do it as a single pitch but opted to do it as two since it would be Addison's first rappel ever pretty much. So I get down, swoop over to the second anchor - another tree shooting straight out horizontally - and tie into that before disconnecting myself from the rope. From here my job is just to belay people as they come down and guide them over, making sure they maintain a point of connection to something since we're still 100 feet up on a steep/slippery slope. I actually bring up some slack and make myself a "meat anchor" so Zack - the second one down - can rappel down another 10 feet to another tree, so we can have some more space at the anchor. Eventually everyone gets down to me, then we go for the next 100 feet.
Josh went first this time, and I stayed up at the top until everyone else was down. While we were setting up this anchor, Zack took off his helmet for a minute - he was firmly planted where he was, but still shouldn't have - and accidentally dropped it all the way down, I think it bounced 3 times. Miraculously it didn't have any cracks when we found it, but I let him use mine to go down this last 100 feet since he isn't as experienced and may have slipped more easily.
So first waterfall, 160', done. This canyon fortunately has some very scenic short walks between rappels, and the waterfalls are not back-to-back, so you actually get some very nice scenery from one drop to the next. Luckily I was finally able to try out my Totem in a canyon, which is just another rappel device - more on that in the future.
Eventually we arrive at a 70 foot waterfall I thoroughly remembered from the last time I was there. When I last did Vivian Creek, it was just Josh and I. We come up to the next rappel, the anchor which is no farther than 5 feet from the
actual edge/drop. The tricky part is... going by some others' terms... the "edge" can possibly extend even 30-40 feet behind the anchor. Using edge in this sense I mean the point of no return if you mess up (you start sliding/rolling, you might not stop). The stretch to the tree is nothing but loose rock and gravel, you have to be very cautious. Our first time, there was no webbing to tie onto in the tree, so we attached our chain reactors (harness extension slings) together and went on opposite sides of the tree as Josh tied the anchor. The basic idea was "if you slip on that side, im diving on this side" so we could counter-weight each other if one slipped. Luckily, there was webbing there this time and the 4 of us just tied onto it and went about our business after the careful walk to the tree.Finally some time later we come to the final rappel, a 120 foot waterfall which included a short overhang. Somehow this last one I think made Addison and Zack a little uneasy (though Zack had done worse). Maybe it was because of the hang, maybe it was because it was steeper than the 160 foot first rappel, I don't know, but they both took their time and did fine. Josh was down first, and took some videos of the rest of us coming down. This last rap was awesome, real comfortable and fun just free hanging under that water for a few seconds.
After packing up our rope, we start the short, thankfully downhill, hike out. The hike back to the car is one of going through a nice wooded forest, which opens up to a wide and dry wash, then forest again (though you stay near the wash after crossing it). Hearing one person's voice in particular running through my mind after spotting some trash, I pick it up and take it out with me. I know, I'm just awesome.We take our time getting our gear off and changing into dry clothes, waiting on half of our number to finish using the PP rooms, and head off for some food at A&W... mmm... double bacon cheeseburger. Josh, out of clothes really, had some remarkable ensemble of an outfit on, which brought about nothing but constant laughing and smiling from my end. Unfortunately, I have no pictures to share. Suffice it to say I haven't had such an easy time laughing in quite a while by just looking at something.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW ALL OF THE PICTURES FROM THIS CANYONEERING TRIP!
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