Conditions:Covell Creek (West Fork)-20240707191835

Latest:	24 Jun 2024 (11 mos ago)

Reported by:	Wes (3 reports)
Quality:	Ok
Waterflow:	Moderate Low
Wetsuit:	Full wetsuit
Water temperature:
Difficulty:	Special challenges
Time:	5 hours

Team: 3 people with experience level Intermediate

Trip report URL:

Comments: Canyon terrain seems drastically different from the last reported trip. Landslide/blowdowns have clogged the canyon with debris. Handful of anchors needed to be rebuilt. Specifically, the R2 Option B (rootball) anchor has been washed away and the surrounding terrain didn’t provide for an alternative anchor placement, so we opted for Option A DCL. The fallen log anchor for BC-R3 has snapped and is no longer a viable anchor point, so we opted to bypass the final two rappels and exited the canyon directly after Covell Creek Falls. We were able to walk the rim of the canyon on the exit trail and peer into the remainder of the canyon (from BC-R3 through the creek walk exit) and the creek was filled with debris and log jams that would have easily added another hour to our exit if we had not exited at the bottom of Covell Creek Falls. Overall, a fun and interesting day of on-site problem solving but definitely exhausting having to navigate a canyon that felt log jammed start to finish.

All condition reports

Date	Quality	Waterflow	Wetsuit	Difficulty	Time	Team	Reported by
24 Jun 2024	Ok	Moderate Low	Full wetsuit	Special challenges	5 hours	3 people Intermediate	Wes (3 reports)
Comment: Canyon terrain seems drastically different from the last reported trip. Landslide/blowdowns have clogged the canyon with debris. Handful of anchors needed to be rebuilt. Specifically, the R2 Option B (rootball) anchor has been washed away and the surrounding terrain didn’t provide for an alternative anchor placement, so we opted for Option A DCL. The fallen log anchor for BC-R3 has snapped and is no longer a viable anchor point, so we opted to bypass the final two rappels and exited the canyon directly after Covell Creek Falls. We were able to walk the rim of the canyon on the exit trail and peer into the remainder of the canyon (from BC-R3 through the creek walk exit) and the creek was filled with debris and log jams that would have easily added another hour to our exit if we had not exited at the bottom of Covell Creek Falls. Overall, a fun and interesting day of on-site problem solving but definitely exhausting having to navigate a canyon that felt log jammed start to finish.
27 May 2023	Ok	Low				4 people	Coops (121 reports)
Comment: Running at low now. Note there's a rigging for an R0 access rap DCR just after the suit up area. Don't confuse that for R1. We also dislodged a very large rock in the middle of Angel Falls. Luckily people and ropes were out of the way. BC-R2 (our final rap) was the highlight.
25 Feb 2023	Good	Moderate	Drysuit	Special challenges	4 hours	3 people Advanced to Expert	Rernst86 (87 reports)
Comment: Big falls was completely frozen over. All anchors good. Lots of ice. Was plan C for the day. Old flagging on exit is now a full trail back to the parking area.
15 May 2021	Good	Moderate Low	Thin wetsuit	Normal		7 people	Norhex (24 reports)
Comment: Dropped in high, has potential for slide rappels. Also has high potential for very public moss scraping on scenic touristy waterfalls. One and done.
3 Apr 2021	Great	Moderate Low	Thin wetsuit	Normal	5 hours	5 people Intermediate to Advanced	K arc (373 reports)
Comment: Flow was great today, but very cold per coming right out of the snowpack. Anchor for the multi-pitch at R2 is in a somewhat awkward location. Next time need to look at breaking up R1 into two shorter rappels. This would get you down to a nice platform right at the top of the big falls which would probably be a better place to stage a group without tearing up the slope. The big falls was a joy to rappel. The lower narrows and exit rappel also were great. Found a sign just adjacent to Covell Falls requesting hikers to please stay on the trail, so next time we need to stay in the watercourse and continue down-canyon instead (will add +2 short rappels that looked fun). Lots of hikers about. We were informed that we would be going on someone's facebook page for sure.  :-) A great little canyon!
6 Mar 2021	Great	Moderate	Drysuit		4 hours	7 people Advanced to Expert	Rernst86 (87 reports)
Comment: Ran the creek. Dropped in higher than last time and it wasn’t worth it. Built new anchor DCL for R2 which makes it just shy of 200”
30 Dec 2017 Trip report	Great	Moderate High	Thick wetsuit	Normal	5 hours	4 people Intermediate to Advanced	Tiffanie (139 reports)
Comment: The rappels in this canyon are incredibly fun! Keep in mind that the flow will double once you get to R3. R3 is pushy in high flow. After R4, we hiked out on the trail. The overall time of 5 hours includes route finding, finding and building anchors. I wore about 8 mm in the core and was decently warm. However, other members in our group wore 5 mm and no gloves(!) and were fine.