Conditions:Big Creek (Sierra National Forest)-20250819233543

Latest:	19 Jul 2025 (1 month ago)

Reported by:	Sqshemet (83 reports)
Quality:	Great
Waterflow:	Moderate Low
Wetsuit:	Thin wetsuit
Water temperature:
Difficulty:	Normal
Time:	9 hours

Team: 9 people with experience level Brand new to Advanced

Trip report URL:

Comments: Always a good day in Big Creek. Shuttle approach. We tried an alternate drop-in with a sequence of dry rappels off of the dome before the descent chute to the normal drop-in. It was silly, slow, and bad. Would recommend the alternate described in subsequent trip reports instead. That ate up our spare time and we exited at the dam. Maybe the lowest water I've ever seen?

All condition reports

Date	Quality	Waterflow	Wetsuit	Difficulty	Time	Team	Reported by
17 Aug 2025	Amazing	Moderate High	Thin wetsuit	Normal	8 hours	8 people Brand new to Advanced	Feroz (36 reports),Boof (34 reports),Levr (23 reports),Avk (5 reports)
Comment: We ran a group of beginners through Big Creek and had a great time. We used the newly placed redirect on R1 to avoid the pothole, but for a group of beginners next time I would skip R1 and rap in before R2 entirely, as the redirect was difficult for some (but still preferably to going through the pothole in current conditions). Despite initial nervousness everyone enjoyed the Big Slide. We exited after R11 due to timing, but R12 did look like a lot of fun.
16 Aug 2025	Great	Moderate Low	Thin wetsuit	Normal	8 hours	13 people Brand new to Expert	Xenonrocket (106 reports),Johnbcaves (164 reports),Sqshemet (83 reports)
Comment: Giant beginner trip! Shuttle approach. We tried two alternate drop-ins. R1 alternate, we set a knot chock webbing redirect in the crack on the RDC wall of R1. Clipping the redirect keeps the rappeller out of the pothole. Some of our beginners struggled with the redirect a little. Note if anyone ever resets this, it's very length-sensitive, the aperture of the pothole is wider than it looks from the top and any longer isn't effective. We also rigged a traverse line from the tiny tree near the top of the sloping downclimb to the watercourse at the drop-in to a larger tree downcanyon (RDC). The rappel from that tree skips the chute stem after R1 as well. I thought this worked well, and it's what I intend to do with beginners in the future. Most of our group did R12, but took the gully up to the trail instead of continuing downcanyon to the bridge.
26 Jul 2025	Amazing	Moderate	Full wetsuit	Normal	7 hours	9 people	Mikeatran (85 reports)
Comment: Nice run of Big. Team took the shuttle approach. Time was 6:50 c2c including a nice lunch break before the penultimate. No hydraulics were found; rappel anchors were in good shape (some are double slinged using a single bolt). No issues with depth jumping what I assume are the standard spots. Granite was slippery but manageable. Approach on shuttle variant had a lot of loose dirt but was easy going for the most part. Some members rapped the bonus rappel multiple times for fun. Most folks ran either 4/3mm or some other thicker variant and didn’t have any concerns for warmth.
19 Jul 2025	Great	Moderate Low	Thin wetsuit	Normal	9 hours	9 people Brand new to Advanced	Sqshemet (83 reports)
Comment: Always a good day in Big Creek. Shuttle approach. We tried an alternate drop-in with a sequence of dry rappels off of the dome before the descent chute to the normal drop-in. It was silly, slow, and bad. Would recommend the alternate described in subsequent trip reports instead. That ate up our spare time and we exited at the dam. Maybe the lowest water I've ever seen?
7 Jul 2025	Great	Moderate High	Thin wetsuit		5 hours	2 people	RFontaine (304 reports)
Comment: Beautiful and super fun! We did bottom up approach without shuttle following the Penstock up. We then turned off and headed up to the big dome where we rappelled a few very nice dry drops down into the gorge. Many of the raps in the gorge are out of flow or in very little of the flow. None the less many of them were of high quality and the scenery was splendid! Waterfalls all very picturesque! 4/3 wetsuit was cool but comfy. Beautiful swimming holes. Plenty of sun throughout. This canyon is definitely a worthwhile excursion!
8 Sep 2024	Amazing	Moderate	Rain jacket	Normal	6 hours	3 people	Willie92708 (1007 reports)
Comment: We did the non-shuttle version off Kerchoff Dome with a lazy pace and a "crack of noon" start. The water was so warm that we really did not "need" wetsuits, but it was nice when we were floating and swimming in the pools. Air temp was 84F and totally sunny skies.
17 Aug 2024	Amazing	Moderate	Full wetsuit	Normal	7 hours	6 people Brand new to Advanced	Kirbside (98 reports),Epeairs (73 reports)
Comment: Wetsuits in the 4-3 and 5-4 range were adequate. One person with minimal natural insulation got slightly chilly in a 4-3. We lapped the last rappel and were moving fairly efficiently for having 3-4 beginners (we started with 8 but 2 bailed over the dome due to one person having slippery shoes and feeling uncomfortable on the stem + slickrock + slippery rocks on the section after R1).
14 Aug 2024							BWylie (24 reports)
Comment: "Per our Big Creek Hydro Staff: Due to downstream water demands, Huntington Lake will not remain full through the month of September. We will begin lowering the lake fairly quickly beginning the night of Sept. 8 and we will likely see the elevation drop 1 to 1.5 feet per day. By Sept 20th we expect the lake to be about 15 feet down." -received via email, 08/24
10 Aug 2024	Amazing	Moderate High	Thin wetsuit	Normal	7 hours	4 people Beginner to Advanced	BWylie (24 reports)
Comment: Beautiful day out, lovely weather. Got a late start at 11am at the shuttle. Flow was higher than reference pics for moderate and R7 upper pool was turbulent, but R1 and R12 hydraulics did not present an issue. R7 has a rock inside the curtain to stand for the pull. Replaced webbing on R2 & R4, took the dry R11. Lapped a slide, had some nice breaks. Some people chilly in 3/2s and would recommend thicker. Great canyon.
27 Jul 2024	Great	Moderate	Full wetsuit	Normal	7 hours	7 people Advanced to Intermediate	PMartzen (3 reports),Johnbcaves (164 reports)
Comment: Started off as 3 but 4 visiting canyoneers caught up just as we were suiting up. Late start of 11:30 on trail and various delays had us in shade between the R5 slide and R9. Windy day as well and cooler than past week made for a chilly day. Everything was flowing great: we jumped the R1 pothole, lapped the big slide, slid the ski jump, enjoyed sun-warmed ripe blackberries between R8 and "R9", and exited at the weir for a 7pm exit. Spent time making new friends at a slow pace- great day out.
7 Oct 2023	Great	Moderate High	Full wetsuit	Normal	7 hours	8 people Brand new to Advanced	Ameister (45 reports),Boof (34 reports),Jennj (11 reports),Ethersnet (2 reports)
Comment: We had meant to run Jump, but due to conditions we ended up commuting over here and dropping Big Creek at noon with a group of eight including some beginners on the very slow end. From starting so late along with the sun setting at 6:30pm, at 5pm we made the decision to exit before R5 out of the dome approach. This ended up working pretty well and was just a looot of downhill on the other side (but not bad bushwacking or anything). Would recommend this as a good escape option if the conditions are not what you were expecting or you're running way longer than expected (and don't think you'll make the R11 express exit before dark). As a canyon was really great though! Will definitely be back to have the full experience starting much earlier.
29 Sep 2023	Great	Moderate High	Full wetsuit	Special challenges	6 hours	6 people Brand new to Advanced	Reiternick (39 reports)
Comment: Great day. Anchor for the rap 5 slide is a dead cracked tree unless we missed something else. R11 or so is a pretty sketchy pool that leader has to exit at downstream end to then traverse right to 2 bolts: A no fall zone on a slippy 3 foot wide section. In restrospect I wouldve done this while on belay from the tree DCL and setup a handline for my buddies. Instead we all jumped into this pool and did the sketchy traverse right with a little handline I setup from the DCR anchor.
9 Sep 2023	Great	Moderate	Thick wetsuit	Special challenges	5 hours	15 people Intermediate to Expert	Freddy (51 reports),Johnbcaves (164 reports),Kirbside (98 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 (1007 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 (164 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.

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