Canyoneering in Eaton Canyon (3BIV)

I was Itching to get out again since my adventure at Lytle Creek, Middle fork. Eaton Canyon was on the top of my To-do list. We needed a permit to go due to the popularity of this hike due to Covid-19. But luckily, the top of the canyon was open despite being closed a few years back due to several deaths. We called into grab permits the Tuesday before for an 8am entrance Saturday. Easy. The trip was on.

I asked my dear friend Liz to join us. Liz is one of those friends whose love of the outdoors matches mine well. It wasn’t hard to talk her into this. I can not explain what a relief it was to not have to beg and plead for her to try it. Her immediate yes made me quickly scan the efforts I have made in the past month to build my tribe, and realized that maybe I have been trying too hard. Friendship should be this effortless. This is quite a time to decide this, when I just started deciding to put more work into my relationships. I relished in Liz’s affirmation. I’m still a beginner canyoneer, and this phase is the best time to build a group that will tackle big objectives with me in the future .

The 3.3mile approach was steep, and took us about two hours. We had to leave from the Eaton Canyon Nature center due to the permitting restrictions. There was a lot of bush whacking involved. The trail disappeared in several areas underneath massive bushes and clusters of poison ivy. We had to downclimb sketchy, chossy class four sections and slide down rocky dirt slides to get to the canyon. It would have been very difficult for us to find if we did not have the watch map downloaded to our watches from ropewiki. It is clear that this trail was very infrequently used. This is surprising to me since this was one of the best Canyoneering canyons in all of southern California. It was clear that the sport we chose was not that popular. I liked this. I’ve seen climbing crags blown up not being fun. I’ve experienced those friends that try to one up your accomplishments. I see the appeal of keeping canyoneering a well kept secret.

Clip showing the approach view

This route was more similar to river tracing than strictly vertical rappelling than our experience at Middle Fork Lytle Creek. Much of the day was spent following the river. We only roped up 5 times out of the potential 9 rappels. The rest of the rappels we were sliding on our butts on smooth rock into deep pools. We elected to jump into pools as well. We were the sole benefactors of natures waterpark at Eaton Canyon. We did not see a single soul until the final rappel.

We did see traces of people though. Parts of the canyon were trashed by what we were assumed were disgruntled youths. There was graffiti deep into the canyon, past what I would consider are areas requiring technical skill to reach. I can imagine angry rappelling teenagers getting overwhelmed and pausing during their adventure to spray paint a penis onto a rock face. We saw trash building up the closer we got to the final rappel. I saw waterbottles, golf tees, buttons. It was gross. We picked up a little of it, but it only took so much before I became disaffected by the trash. I have never had a horse in the race in the San Diego vs LA feud, but I started to form opinions in the more trashed parts of the canyon.

Graffiti next to a waterfall evident in this photo

Robin and I took this opportunity to practice some of the canyoneering techniques we read about since our experience at Middle Fork Lytle creek.

I purchased a black diamond super 8 rappel device. I saw how dangerous it could be to have too much friction when stuck under a waterfall. I wanted a rappel device that had less friction and was easier to escape from than an ATC. I used this trip to practice single strand rappelling with the super 8. It was a successful and worthwhile practice. There was much less friction with the super 8 and I still felt in control. My rappels were smoother and much faster than they had been in the past. To implement this style of canyoneering, however, we also had to set up a single strand rappel with a knot block and a retrieval line. This also turned out to be a worthwhile event. We only rappelled with as much rope as we needed, and stuffed the rope back in the rope bag when we were done. We cut out almost 75% of the flaking we would normally do. Our systems were improving, and it improved the speed (and safety) of our trip.

The dry rope was also a worthwhile investment. The rope did not feel as tuggy during the rappels, and did not get waterlogged like our retired climbing rope got previously.

Short Clip of one of the slides! This one was actually a bit taller than I would have liked.

The ambient temperature got up to 95 degrees in Eaton canyon yesterday. The trip was casual since the water was reliably low but still high enough to use all the water slides. We spent the day in icy then temperate water for an entire 8 hours. It was refreshing. It was an incredible way to spend a hot day in southern California while still enjoying the outdoors.

We were done around 5pm. We finished in a timely 7.5 hours, right on the dot. We purchased dumplings and had a picnic in downtown Pasadena. It was so wonderful seeing my friends.

This Adventure continues to stoke my excitement for canyoneering. My adventures with climbing are getting so big that they are getting more scary and high commitment. Canyoneering takes the adventure of climbing and introduces an exciting exploratory element that excites me. And since I am still a beginner at Canyoneering I can stick to things that aren’t yet incredibly sketchy for that dose of adventure I crave.

GEAR LIST

Shorty springsuit (me) and neoprene socks. My friends did not wear a wetsuit and seemed happy with the decision. I was happy wearing a wetsuit
Oboz hiking boots – but approach shoes would have been fine. I just don’t have any with good rubber
200ft static dry rope. Well worth the investment since the previous trip. The rope did not get heavy, and we were not delayed by the belays. It felt safer.
A 200ft Retrieval line. We used retrievable anchors and belayed on single strands. Well worth the investment. Our rope flaking time was easily cut into half.
No autoblock
A black diamond super 8 belay device. I am glad I exercised using this tool. The belays were much smoother, easier, and had less friction.
Leather Belay gloves. I felt more comfortable maneuvering the rocks wearing these gloves. I wish I did not purchase such buttery soft leather, though. The leather got loose when it get wet.
A thick climbing harness formally used for big wall climbing (a designated canyoneering harness would have been better).
A helmet (I used a black diamond climbing helmet)
Garmin inreach (unused, but having it in my bag is reassuring).
Printed beta from Ropewiki in a ziplock bag. (Handy to debrief what the next rappel would look like at each station.)
3 liters of water in a camel pack that Robin and I shared. (3 liters was plenty for us, too).
Garmin Watch + map (a definite nice to have)
Additional Cordelette. Came in handy when we came upon a rappel with no anchor. (perhaps the 3rd or 4th formal rappel). We were able to ghost the anchor, but I felt bad not leaving tat knowing that the next group may not be as prepared. The Ropewiki indicated that all the anchors were complete
Headlamps in a drybag (unused)
A change of clothes.