Class: 4 C IV+
Gear:Four wheel drive, Ropes: 2 @ 200’, 2 @ 250’, 1 @ 120’, Rappelling equipment, Self rescue and group rescue equipment, 70’ webbing, bivi gear, water filters, headlamp, extra food.
Expected Time Commitment:14-15 hours. Best done as a two day, allow 3.5 hours for the approach including the four wheel drive section. A competent group of four canyoneer’s should be able to navigate the technical section within an 8 hour time frame, the class III section will take another 2.5 – 3 hours. Once at the road again the walk out is 1 hour.
Technical Obstacles: Several large multi-pitch rappels, 1200′ of technical canyon descent within 100 yards of canyon. Long fun class III scrambles, swims.
Non Technical Obstacles:
Long hot approach, some poison oak, large loose rock columns near rappel route, high level of commitment.
Recommended Time of Year:
Late fall, winter, early spring.
Finding the Trailhead:
Go east on Hwy 111 from I-10, turn South onto Snow Creek Road, turn left or East onto a dirt road that is just before the first power shed on the left side of road. Follow that dirt road as it turns into a sandy wash, four wheel drive will be required beyond this point as it is very sandy. Follow that wash for a couple of hunderd yards as it widens and look for a brushy sand dune that will begin forming on the right. On that dune you will see a series of single track truck trails that are parallel with one another. Keep driving east until you see a truck trail that seems to come in from an angle as opposed to the others that are straight up the dune. Take a right and head up this widely eroded and well driven trail, it will snake up and around, as you go you will be looking for an old 14” rusty water pipe that has been cut off, you will be able to see where a section of this pipe has been removed to allow the road to pass through. Follow that road towards the mountain. The road will have a long section of bumps or whoopdi doo’s that will have your truck rocking up and down. The road will be heading due south until it reaches the mountain where it will bend to the right and end in a round about parking area.
[Alternate route to the trail head/parking area:]
Parking area UTM: 530932.77 E 3750061.72 N
East on Hwy 111 from I-10, turn south onto snow creek road. On the right (west side) of the road are telephone/utility poles. Count the poles as you drive until you get to the 7th one, just past (south) the 7th one is an obvious dirt road that crosses Snow Creek Road, turn left (east) here. There are numerous options to reach the trailhead at this point. Your goal is to continue east across the mouth of the canyon, then south to the parking area. We found the easiest was to continue on the above dirt road, at the first fork bear left (over a bunch of decent sized rocks) and continue east until the road ends at which time you will fork SE, go down a slight incline-across a deep sandy wash, and up an incline to the other side. In this area is where you will come to the a well used north-south dirt road that you will bear south onto. This road has a north-south trajectory of UTM 531500 E–531000 E and dead ends in the parking area. From the turn off of the paved Snow Creek Road to the parking area noted above, it is about a 20-25 minute drive depending how aggressive you drive off-road.
The Approach:
From here you will hike following a faint use trail that contours along with the pipe. The pipe will eventually head up the mountain. Don’t follow the pipe once it leaves the trailside. Continue around the bend ending up in the main river bed. There will be a full size cotton wood tree and a rock we named “cap rock” from there head up the river bed as it lay’s directly next to the mountain side. (You will see the pipeline again as it comes back down the hill side to rejoin with the river bed. You will be able to re-connect with the pipeline once it hits the delta floor. Follow the pipe line until you reach a paved road. Follow the paved road down hill a very short ways until you reach the point where the stream of fall creek runs under the road. This is a great place to take a break as you will have been hiking now for about 1.15 hours. From this point look to the south, you will see a very steep slope with large rock formations on either side of a draw that is wide at the bottom then as you climb gets narrower. Climb this draw, until you reach a saddle at the top. In the saddle hang a left and follow the ridge until you reach a summit. From the summit a natural ridge line begins to from you will now need to track across this flat plateau until you reach a vantage point where you can look down into the fall creek narrows. Take some time to “size up” your canyon route. This is one of the most unbelievable view points that you may ever see looking into a canyon route. From here continue along you ridge until you reach a place that allows you to climb down into the water way. (You begin climbing up the draw in the vicinity of: UTM 530139.06 E 3747925.42 N The drop in to the canyon is in the vicinity of: UTM 530425.18 E 3746892.37 N)
The Canyon Descent:
Once in the water way you will be atop of a 60’ water fall that shoots into a pool that must be swam. A single bolt anchor is available cyn right. At the base you will now be atop of the largest and most challenging obstacle in the cyn. A 400’ two pitch rappel awaits. You will find a pair of good bolts cyn left. be careful as you approach these anchors as there is a very exposed edge just below. Rappel 180’ to a semi hanging re-belay stance that will be directly below your start. A single bolt/ a piton, and a stopper will be found and equalized, deploy a second rope and begin your final 220’ descent into the belly of falls creek. A shallow pool awaits you at the bottom. In pulling your ropes the lower 220’ rap will present several difficulties. There are two different rope eating ledges that you rope may get stuck on as it falls from the anchor point. Be advised that if you loose your rope at this point there is an “escape route” option at the top of the next water fall cyn right. If you need to escape the cyn via this route make sure that you have plenty of water as it is a very steep and grueling climb out with a lot of very loose rock. We recommend that you bring the amount of rope suggested at the top to insulate against having to climb out.
[NOTE: Late February 2010, the webbing on the first 2 rappels had been removed by an unknown party]
The next rappel is a 120’ rap into a deep pool, the anchors are a pair of good bolts cyn left. you will have to climb a safe inside corner up to a ledge that will afford you a great view of the drop. Directly after that rappel is a two pitch 215’ rappel the first pitch is a 65’ rap off of a good single bolt cyn left down a narrow cleft to a two bolt station. From the two bolt station you will find a 150’ rap down to a great pool. A 65’ rap is next off of a good two bolt anchor that is just to the cyn right of the water course close to the edge.
Your final rappel is another two stage rap. A 65’ rap off of a single bolt anchor leads you down to a small ledge that has a two bolt anchor. From that stance you will be able to rig up the remaining 140’ to complete the rappel. There is considerable poison oak beginning to grow from this rappel all the way to the bottom of the canyon.
From there you will find another amazing adventure hike as you explore a perfect class III cyn descent with challenging route finding and down climbing sections. We rigged up a retrievable anchor to do a 15’ rappel to complete this section. As you head down cyn the drainage will turn to the left, soon after this natural bend in the cyn you will reach the damn that the water co. has in place. At this point you can pick up the paved road and follow it back to the point that you reached at the beginning of the cyn route. Follow your pipeline trail back down the delta until you reach your car.
Optional Write Up:
This is a 14-15 hour trip. Plan of a bivi even if you get an alpine start, bring extra food and Gatorade. If using creek water, make sure that your bottles stay full. The rock has an algae growing on the wet rocks that makes it unbelievably slick. Sticky rubber shoes are a must. On the second rappel on the lower 220’ section you will pass though a huge section of loose death blocks that are delicately stacked on top of one another. Take care.
