Alley Canyon
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| | Difficulty:3A III (v3a1 III) Raps:4, max ↨100ft
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| Best season: | Oct-April
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36.7547, -117.6158
36.7493, -117.5850
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Introduction
Short canyon with a neat slotting section where the watercourse has carved a narrow alley between vertical layers of harder limestone.
This canyon is a good way to check out Corridor Canyon, which you rappel into, and is worth checking out on its own.
Approach
Walk down the gully. Go through the first set of narrows, then head right where it opens into a wash, ascending a gully up and over a pass, then head left to get into the drainage.
Descent
Two straight forward rappels (we used knot chocks on 1 ~30ft, bushes on 2 ~70ft), then the canyon turns into the alley. Watch for loose rocks as you descend. The end of this gets steeper, and is possibly down climbable, but we rigged a short rappel (3) off of knot chocks. Rappel 4 is 100ft from a convenient pinch.
Exit
Just below the last rappel is a large pile of boulders. For a detour, instead of scrambling down, turn right to climb up and over above the dryfall of the canyon you're dropping into. This is worth taking a hike up for a ways.
Then walk downstream to the confluence with Corridor Canyon, also worth walking downstream a bit to explore.
When you head up Corridor Canyon, you'll encounter one notable climb, then eventually came back to the first narrows where you originally left the wash.