Conditions:Bear Cloud Canyon-20200629160318

Latest:	28 Jun 2020 (4 yrs, 10 mos ago)

Reported by:	ADubs (13 reports)
Quality:	Good
Waterflow:	Dry
Wetsuit:	None
Water temperature:
Difficulty:	Special challenges
Time:	14 hours

Team: 3 people with experience level Beginner to Intermediate

Trip report URL:

Comments: Brush on the ridge after Supercloud Hollow was very dense and scratchy, but our approach ended up only being about 4 hours because we used the road all the way to where it intersected the ridge and climbed over mt. deception, which has a clear trail. The .2 miles of scramble on the white buttresses was hairy and took most of the 4 hours time. We ran into difficulty on the drop-in, perhaps we chose the wrong side to navigate around the headwall (we came down the south side), but it was extremely loose, steep and the vegetation was particularly brutal (lots of yucca). It took a big chunk of our 14 hours just to get down around the headwall. We entered the talus field from the south side near its bottom. As described in the beta, the talus slope is loose and care should be taken. The R1 anchor was in good shape, DCL looped around a boulder. Try not to miss it, as it helps a great deal to have a rope for that steep 200' feet. There was no anchor as described at R4, perhaps it washed away. We built a new cairn anchor in the watercourse center canyon. R6 is a two-step rappel that can be done with about 120' feet of rope. It's possible we accidentally downclimbed R7, because after R6 and a number of sloping, granite drops, we came to the final two walls without rapping it. The one the beta labels R8 was our next wall, and then the big 200' was last. We replaced the webbing on the cairn anchor at the 200' wall. This drops you directly into the creek... a note that the acoustics in Bear Canyon are such that you cannot hear a damned thing from bottom to top or vice versa, so a whistle or a walkie talkie is handy. This canyon kicked our ass, and was a lot of work... but those final 5 walls were really great and the views from the top of the ridge are hard to beat.

All condition reports

Date	Quality	Waterflow	Wetsuit	Difficulty	Time	Team	Reported by
15 Aug 2020	Ok	Dry	None	Special challenges	8 hours	1 people	Jcsjcs (120 reports)
Comment: Pretty easy approach at first with good use-trail until after Supercloud Hollow. I got too far right after that; it looks like staying on or to the left of the ridge crest is the best call. Bushes were quite grabby at times. Scrambling part of the approach wasn't very bad. Total approach time 2:15. The heat was a significant factor; it was probably around 90 °F. Descent took 1:50. Rappels unremarkable; most anchors in good condition. I think I did a total of 5 rappels. The rest were downclimbed but nothing seemed that sketchy. On the final 200' rappel I made a dumb mistake and a knot in the rope prevented me from pulling it. The heat was making me feel sick by that point so rather than ascend and fix the rope I left it in place. Be warned that if you use it in the future the rappel side has a knot partway down. The trail down Bear Creek and up Arroyo Seco was great. Total time from the Bill Riley trailhead to Switzer parking was 6 hours. A shuttle at that point would have been nice but I instead hiked another 2.5 hours (slow due to the heat) going back along Gabrielino to the parking spot near Red Box.
28 Jun 2020	Good	Dry	None	Special challenges	14 hours	3 people Beginner to Intermediate	ADubs (13 reports)
Comment: Brush on the ridge after Supercloud Hollow was very dense and scratchy, but our approach ended up only being about 4 hours because we used the road all the way to where it intersected the ridge and climbed over mt. deception, which has a clear trail. The .2 miles of scramble on the white buttresses was hairy and took most of the 4 hours time. We ran into difficulty on the drop-in, perhaps we chose the wrong side to navigate around the headwall (we came down the south side), but it was extremely loose, steep and the vegetation was particularly brutal (lots of yucca). It took a big chunk of our 14 hours just to get down around the headwall. We entered the talus field from the south side near its bottom. As described in the beta, the talus slope is loose and care should be taken. The R1 anchor was in good shape, DCL looped around a boulder. Try not to miss it, as it helps a great deal to have a rope for that steep 200' feet. There was no anchor as described at R4, perhaps it washed away. We built a new cairn anchor in the watercourse center canyon. R6 is a two-step rappel that can be done with about 120' feet of rope. It's possible we accidentally downclimbed R7, because after R6 and a number of sloping, granite drops, we came to the final two walls without rapping it. The one the beta labels R8 was our next wall, and then the big 200' was last. We replaced the webbing on the cairn anchor at the 200' wall. This drops you directly into the creek... a note that the acoustics in Bear Canyon are such that you cannot hear a damned thing from bottom to top or vice versa, so a whistle or a walkie talkie is handy. This canyon kicked our ass, and was a lot of work... but those final 5 walls were really great and the views from the top of the ridge are hard to beat.
25 Nov 2018	Good	Dry	None	Special challenges	11 hours	2 people	Willie92708 (997 reports)
Comment: Since this was the maiden voyage, we had to cut much brush to make our path. Especially since we missed the Mt Deception trial and cut a path from the Super Cloud drop-in point straight up to the ridge top. The ridge path is great until Super Cloud Hollow, then much slower going. The last part is scrambling on loose white granite buttresses. The first part after the ridge end is a lot of downclimbing and dealing with the large white granite scree field and the super steep earthen slope below that. Below which Bear Cloud becomes a much better canyon with nice drops and many short downclimbs, although it always is rather open shaped (not a deep canyon) in nature. Many rock cairn anchors had to be built taking quite a bit of time. The final two rappels drop 300 feet directly into Bear Canyon creek bed making for an easy exit.