Conditions:Big Creek (Sierra National Forest)-20230912005953

Latest:	9 Sep 2023 (12 days ago)

Reported by:	Freddy (50 reports), Johnbcaves (139 reports)
Quality:	Great
Waterflow:	Moderate
Wetsuit:	Thick wetsuit
Water temperature:	50 deg F
Difficulty:	Special challenges
Time:	5 hours

Team: 15 people with experience level Intermediate to Expert

Trip report URL:

Comments: All hangers are intact. Heavy rain on the way in, cleared up at the start of the canyon.

All condition reports

Date	Quality	Waterflow	Wetsuit	Difficulty	Time	Team	Reported by
9 Sep 2023	Great	Moderate	Thick wetsuit	Special challenges	5 hours	15 people Intermediate to Expert	Freddy (50 reports),Johnbcaves (139 reports)
Comment: All hangers are intact. Heavy rain on the way in, cleared up at the start of the canyon.
1 Sep 2023	Amazing	Moderate	Full wetsuit	Special challenges	7 hours	1 people	Willie92708 (795 reports)
Comment: I ran the non-shuttle route and spent a bunch of extra time checking out other rappel options coming off Kerchoff Dome. Mainly because it was chilly (60F, slightly cloudy and a stiff breeze) that day, I was waiting for the Sun to hit the creek bed itself by R5. Once I got down to the creek and suited up, I spent a bunch of extra time going down the drops, since all the webbing was shot from Sun beaching and or abrasion. I replace all the webbing on the normal rappels from R5 to R11 (normal exit point). Also, I was in no hurry to rush through the canyon. Thus the 7+ hours (special challenges). The water temp was cold at 52F, and the flow "Moderate", but no other logjams or other significant changes after the harsh winter.
24 Jul 2022	Amazing	Moderate High	Full wetsuit	Normal	7 hours	9 people Brand new to Expert	Johnbcaves (139 reports)
Comment: Great day in the sun! Jumped R1 pothole (OK just 2 of us), slid all the slides, got some new kids canyoning. Looked for a previously lost pack which slowed us down a bit. 5 of the team did the rap below the weir- this was fairly dangerous in this flow. The rest of the canyon was in good balanced flow for slides but also pourover exits.
17 Jul 2022	Great	Moderate Low	Thin wetsuit	Normal	7 hours	7 people Beginner to Advanced	Epeairs (33 reports),Ameister (29 reports)
Comment: Two weeks later, the lower flows meant that R1 wasn't as pushy, but R7 was more fun to swim out of. R12 was just as much trouble, so the beginners opted to take the express exit instead.
4 Jul 2022	Amazing	Moderate High	Thin wetsuit	Normal	6 hours	2 people Advanced	Rodtel314 (32 reports),Epeairs (33 reports)
Comment: Moderate-high Big Creek is great! The flow was running high enough that escaping the pothole in R12 was challenging. All other obstacles were fine to get through, and most of the webbing is in good shape, though it hasn't been replaced recently.
4 Jul 2022	Amazing	Moderate High	Full wetsuit	Special challenges	8 hours	6 people	Willie92708 (795 reports)
Comment: We split the group, 4 did the shuttle route, 2 did the non-shuttle of the dome, and we meet at R6 within minutes of each other. The flow was no issue in the canyon until we rigged R11 with an alternate anchor to go into the brunt of the flow. That made R11 quite a sporty rappel (special challenges)! We had the pull side rigged through the normal bolted anchor that is far DCL out of the watercourse so when the rope falls, it would not get caught on the big boulder on the shelf near the bottom of R11. We decided to exit before R12 so we could get into town for dinner, since it was already 6:30 PM by the time we were back at our cars at the bottom.
30 Jul 2021	Great	Moderate	Thin wetsuit	Normal	7 hours	2 people Intermediate to Expert	Aquamoo (85 reports),Willie92708 (795 reports)
Comment: Fun day in big creek! We did the sneak approach and rapped off the dome. Some of the webbing was in really rough shape which we replaced. I did the big slide which was awesome. The last rap (R12 through the hanging pothole) was amazing, by far the best rap of the canyon. Ascending back up was a pita though. Water temp was 62F
11 Jul 2021	Amazing	Moderate Low	Thin wetsuit	Normal	7 hours	6 people Brand new to Expert	Johnbcaves (139 reports),JohnMetz (14 reports)
Comment: With 3 newbies, exited at weir for a reasonable Sunday. Overcast on approach, sprinkled a little, then got sunny and lightly breezy. Enough flow to enjoy all the slides, but not too much flow to worry about pourovers or hydraulics. As usual, did ~6 of the 11 raps.
30 May 2021 Trip report	Great	Moderate	Thin wetsuit	Normal	6 hours	3 people Brand new to Advanced	Johnbcaves (139 reports)
Comment: Parts of the approach are thru the Creek Fire burn area- the hike down the hill is now free of manzanita and whitethorn. Some logs have moved around in the canyon. We jumped the R1 pothole and did several slides. I replaced all the necessary anchor webbing. Late start made for a shady canyon trip and near-sunset exit.
29 May 2021		Moderate Low					Johnbcaves (139 reports)
Comment: Drove by on a Creek Fire burn tour and looked at the falls - looks like a solid "moderate". Also emailed SCE Hydro: Huntington outflow gage reads "approximately 3 cfs and will likely stay around the 2-5 cfs range."
22 Aug 2020	Amazing	Moderate Low	Thin wetsuit	Special challenges	6 hours	6 people	Willie92708 (795 reports)
Comment: Our team split into 3 doing the full shuttle route and 3 doing the non-shuttle route. I installed bolts to make the sneak (non-shuttle) off Kerckhoff Dome easy to rappel thus fixing issues I had on the previous run. Even so my group waited about an hour for the other group to catch up. Water flow (see my pic) matches the Moderate-Low reference and really did present no significant hydraulic issue using the existing bolted anchors.
22 Aug 2020	Great	Moderate Low	Thin wetsuit	Normal	5 hours	3 people Intermediate to Advanced	Johnbcaves (139 reports)
Comment: Water was fairly warm, smoky air, saw a lot of the canyon thru evening and sunset- new for me. We enjoyed as many slides as we could find.
16 Aug 2020	Great	Moderate Low	Thin wetsuit	Normal	4 hours	3 people Advanced	Johnbcaves (139 reports),Nkowalcz (10 reports),Xenonrocket (94 reports)
Comment: Ran laps on the big slide, had a great time. Slid, downclimbed and jumped where possible.
26 Jul 2020	Amazing	Moderate High	Full wetsuit	Special challenges	6 hours	10 people	Freddy (50 reports)
10 Jul 2020	Amazing	Moderate High	Thin wetsuit	Special challenges	11 hours	1 people	Willie92708 (795 reports)
Comment: This was a non-shuttle exploration trip (special challenges). I hiked up the penstock tramway to the shallow gully that heads toward the Kerckhoff dome saddle (30 min), worked on a minimal bushwhacking path up the gully (2 hours), then headed over to the Kerckhoff dome summit which has amazing panoramic views of Big Creek (town), Big Creek (canyon) and Pittman Creek and enjoyed the view! (30 min) From there I hike down a bit to a large live pine tree (there is a big dead one over there too) on the Big Creek side for my first rappel station to rappel down that side of the dome targeting R6 in Big Creek. I built 3 more anchors down the face (one questionable rock cairn backed up by a pinch point, and 2 good pinch points over 2.5 hours) and this put me directly on the ledge where the R6 anchor is located. All these rappels were under 150 feet, but the top 2 should be broken into 3 with bolts, because of potential for rope to get caught, and for ease of passing stations. Once down at Big Creek, I spent time taking more pictures of the dome face, eating lunch and suiting up for class C fun (30 min). I proceeded down the normal rappels at a lazy pace, since it was already getting blazing hot. All the technical stuff went smoothly, except on R11 (last rappel before the sneak exit) I managed to short rig, had to ascend up and adjust the rope length, then when I got down the pull side (bag) was slightly above the water, but was still reachable with some rock climbing moves on the slimy rocks at the pool's edge. R6 through R11 was 2:15 hours. Since it was not even 3PM, blazing hot, and I had nothing to do except go to camp for Stevenson, I proceeded down the rest of the rappels. I had not done R12 before, yet it's the best rappel in Big Creek with its hanging pothole, water pouring on you, and you escape the pothole to rappel down another 100+ feet. At the bottom, it's just an amazing place to hang out, which I did for quite a while. Below which it's a bit of a boulder maze and I did a few more rappels that were not needed but made it easy to get down. I found the final bolted anchor after I had already rigged a bush ghosted (1.3 hours after started down R12). I finally reached my truck about 2 hours after starting down R12. Also, I chewed up a bunch of time that day, because I was texting and posting pictures while in the canyon because I had a good cell connection. Easily a couple hours overall doing that. Water flow matched the moderate high reference picture, but since I skipped R1 with this non-shuttle approach, only the pool at the bottom of R7 (V shaped crack, see pic) had any hydraulic issues, since the waterfall pours directed onto the thin pool. Yet even it was mild. The water pounding in the R12 falls is much stronger, but avoidable with good lateral positioning on rappel. Overall, an amazing trip at a casual pace, which made for a LONG day, but totally worth the effort!

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