Conditions:Charisma Canyon-20231016024909

Latest:	15 Oct 2023 (2 yrs ago)

Reported by:	Nclegg (446 reports)
Quality:	Ok
Waterflow:	Very Low
Wetsuit:	None
Water temperature:
Difficulty:	Normal
Time:	5 hours

Team: 3 people

Trip report URL:

Comments: Intense bushwacking on the approach and exit. Lots of loose material to be mindful of: at the top of R2, we heard a substantial rockfall occur close by. Shortly after, while on rappel, I was struck (but uninjured) by a rock that was dislodged by someone in our group. During the exit, more ominous rockfall was heard from above. Potholes in the lower section were holding water but all avoidable. One pool along the exit in Secret is fairly challenging to stem over. 2/3 of our group simply opted to get their feet wet.

All condition reports

Date	Quality	Waterflow	Wetsuit	Difficulty	Time	Team	Reported by
20 Oct 2025	Good		None	Normal	8 hours	2 people Intermediate	Sportsben (1 reports)
Comment: Ended up being a nice bail option since our day was unexpectedly extended by 4.5 miles due to fallen trees across the road on the way in (take a chainsaw or an axe and a lot of energy if you want to drive all the way to the TH). Time reported reflects TH to TH, we took it easy and tried to clean up some of the dead brush for future parties on the approach, but both the approach and upper exit once you leave Secret Canyon (which is lovely and generally open and easy cobble/boulder hopping) have plenty of deadfall and thorny locust/brambles to bash through. Next time I'll likely stay on the Secret East Trail longer and try to head down the nose around (34.97001, -111.88372) to avoid some of the tedious schwacking in the relatively un-interesting upper drainage where the KML track leads. We replaced a very rusty quicklink at R1 with a fully rated aluminum rigging ring to hopefully better resist corrosion since, it hangs low in the watercourse, the rappel is best rigged with a toggle, and it seems like this canyon is infrequently descended. Also replaced the anchor webbing at R1 with brown, but left the previous rust-colored webbing trapped in the pinch to make it easier for future parties to rotate and inspect the brown webbing. The remaining two anchors were in great shape, toggled the big drop with ~230' of rope down to the big pool at the base and were glad to have more than a 200' rope with how wet and slippery all the slime at the ledge (where you could conceivably re-rig with a 200) was, no issues with rockfall. Last rap was down a neat sculpted watercourse with a hanging pothole in the middle that a 6' person was able to successfully stem across on rappel, though a 5'6" person struggled to reach and got wet. Very light flow on all the raps, full pools (all avoidable with some scrambling ability) and nice fall colors in Secret Canyon made for an aesthetic, if brushy, day. Charisma seems a nice way to get acquainted with this area and get an idea of your group's speed in the brushy drainages, though the pay-to-play ratio prevents it from being a must-do.
15 Oct 2023	Ok	Very Low	None	Normal	5 hours	3 people	Nclegg (446 reports)
Comment: Intense bushwacking on the approach and exit. Lots of loose material to be mindful of: at the top of R2, we heard a substantial rockfall occur close by. Shortly after, while on rappel, I was struck (but uninjured) by a rock that was dislodged by someone in our group. During the exit, more ominous rockfall was heard from above. Potholes in the lower section were holding water but all avoidable. One pool along the exit in Secret is fairly challenging to stem over. 2/3 of our group simply opted to get their feet wet.
9 Oct 2023	Good			Normal	5 hours	3 people Advanced	EMoorcroft (451 reports)
Comment: 5.5 hours car to car. Anchors looked good. Fun little romp in secret.
4 Dec 2022	Great	Very Low		Normal	8 hours	5 people Intermediate to Advanced	EMoorcroft (451 reports)
Comment: A foggy and rainy day made for pleasant conditions. Anchors looked good. We took our time as we had one member recovering from a broken ankle and surgery. Average times have been updated as well as rappel lengths.
4 Dec 2022	Good				7 hours	5 people Intermediate to Advanced	RFontaine (316 reports)
Comment: A pretty decent route (made extra pretty with fall colors) and featuring one really fantastic large rappel! Super foggy day, the air was dense with moisture, gave a very gloomy, spooky, but at the same time fun and intriguing vibe! Intermittent light showers made it interesting! The approach and exit are pretty straightforward and easy to follow. The first rappel is a decent warm up before the huge free hang! The big rap is reminiscent of Insomnia or Sundance. Very nice huge free hang with awesome views! There was a pool at the next rappel that I was able to stem over and set up a guided rap for others. The last rappel is optional, has no anchor installed, as we climbed around it. It featured 2 pools that wouldn't be avoidable. We took our time on this route having a team member that was recovering from an injury. We eventually went ahead of them on the exit so we could break down camp. Could easily complete in 6hrs or less.
21 Nov 2022	Great		None	Normal	6 hours	5 people Advanced to Expert	EMoorcroft (451 reports)
Comment: A pleasant surprise with the shortest approach and exit in the Secret Mountain circuit. BIG drop could possibly be done with a 200' to first ledge then re anchor or downclimb, but running it out to 250' as one big rappel reccomended. R3 was done with a retrievable anchor. Able to stay dry and avoid shallow pools.