Conditions:Kirk Creek Canyon-20220514190445

Latest:	16 Apr 2022 (3 yrs, 2 mos ago)

Reported by:	Ihiromi (26 reports), Rbowru (54 reports), Ameister (43 reports), Feroz (34 reports), Epeairs (73 reports), Smacame (8 reports), Mokapot (3 reports)
Quality:	Great
Waterflow:	Low
Wetsuit:	Thin wetsuit
Water temperature:
Difficulty:	Normal
Time:	7 hours

Team: 7 people with experience level Beginner to Advanced

Trip report URL:

Comments: Low flow just a couple hours after ~1/4" of rain. It was a very foggy day, so thin wetsuits were a good idea. We didn't get the pretty ocean views, but the heavy fog gave the canyon a really cool ambience.

All condition reports

Date	Quality	Waterflow	Wetsuit	Difficulty	Time	Team	Reported by
7 Jun 2025	Great	Low	Thin wetsuit	Normal	12 hours	2 people Beginner to Intermediate	Jhoffer (2 reports)
Comment: The canyon itself was amazing. Great rappels with minimal flow but decently deep pools (maybe waist-chest high), anchors were in great shape although a couple used rope instead of proper webbing. We did the normal exit back to the bridge/road and the down-climbing during the exit was a lot of fun; there's probably a couple dozen little waterfalls to navigate down or around. Lots of fallen redwoods to climb over and under. The downsides are that the approach (without shuttle) and exit are very overgrown. The approach (after the road) was a dry grass field without a proper trail so lots of prickly seeds and branches clogged up our shoes & socks. I'd recommend on wearing thicker pants (we had regular climbing pants) and 2 pairs of socks to prevent this. Waterproof or neoprene socks would also probably work. The approach from the ridge down to the stream follows a little crevice that is so overgrown we had to roll over and under branches constantly. The approach is also quite steep and lots of loose soil so trying to find a passable, less-overgrown path is also difficult. Once you finally reach the stream, it is much better. The actual rappel section of the canyon is not overgrown at all, extremely pretty, and a lot of fun. I think with a bit higher flow, the canyon would be even more fun. The exit was even worse. The exit is completely overgrown, including parts of the stream itself. Knowing when to down climb the stream or go LDC/RDC was challenging; if we went too far LDC/RDC we would find that we were now unsafely high above the stream or on a ~45deg slope with tons of loose rock. The dense foliage made estimating the slope difficult and could easily hide sharp drop offs. After nightfall, this became even more perilous. Eventually we came to non-downclimable ledge in the stream; below a fallen ladder and old webbing are present. LDC at this point there are some trees; there is actually a fixed rope left on these trees. Unfortunately we didn't see the rope before adding our own webbing & quicklink (so can't comment on it's condition). A bit after the fallen ladder, we did finally see the bridge even in the dark using headlamps. We kept LDC along the supposed "trail" back to the road. Even the final "trail" from the stream to the gated trail exit was completely overgrown and some parts were completely eroded away to just >45deg slope. All in, the 1 mile exit took 3-4 hours. Despite the dense foliage we did not become victims of poison oak. (Or maybe we are immune? We certainly were hit in the face by lots of foliage). If someone could post the quicker ascent and quick exit, this canyon would be a lot easier. Looking at a slope-angle shaded map, I can make out some possible shorter approaches and exits but hard to say for sure.
5 Apr 2025	Great	Low	Thin wetsuit	Normal	9 hours	10 people Brand new to Advanced	Sanazestan (11 reports)
Comment: We did this trip as part of our annual canyoneering training day for the SAR team, with a few new members joining us. The canyon itself was great. We found a new approach that cuts out some distance and elevation gain compared to the original route. It was a slowish day since we had folks who were new to rappelling, and we also spent some time working through a hypothetical rescue scenario in the canyon. This is probably the best time to do this canyon— the road is open (that may not last long with all the landslides in this area), and there's a sneak approach and exit with a short shuttle. That said, there is LOTS and LOTS of poison oak. It’s unavoidable, so take precautions. We all used IvyX and it seemed to work well—reactions only showed up in areas where it wasn’t applied. That stuff works!
2 Mar 2025	Great	Low	Full wetsuit	Normal	8 hours	6 people Brand new to Advanced	BWylie (24 reports)
Comment: We camped at the nearby Kirk Creek Campground through several spurts of rain the previous night. Several members of the party were awoken by a minimum of two raccoon campsite raids. As it turns out, raccoons are dextrous enough to unzip the tents and open the tupperware of unsuspecting tourists. The morning carnage did not deter us, and we set off to the canyon at 9:30. The wind, drizzle, and mist on the hike up made it feel like walking into a fairy tale. There were several nice plants. At the drop-in, the mist began to clear and we were treated to views of the steep walls and sweeping coastline There is no longer a rock on the first rappel, perhaps another group remove it or it tumbled before our arrival. The flow was low, but the cold temperatures and clouds meant that some group members were cold in a 4/3 and others were alright in a full 3mm. We replaced webbing in some places and removed it in others. It seems groups have been single-stranding and leaving webbing behind for the whole canyon. We broke R4 into two stages, no single rap was longer than 120’ and the 300’ rope was not needed. The first part of R4 is very scree-y and there is quite the rockfall hazard, our group members gathered at the next anchor. At the bottom of R4, the pile of logs and debris was sturdy enough to walk over. We traversed around R6. Besides the beautiful coastal views in the first half, there were abundant mud and flowstone formations throughout the canyon as well as many banana slugs and flowers. We took the sneak exit out and got back to the cars around sunset. Steep, but worth it. Beautiful views, quick shuttle, great day for many of the group’s first watery canyon.
18 Jan 2025	Great	Low	Thin wetsuit	Normal	6 hours	5 people Beginner to Advanced	Sanazestan (11 reports)
Comment: Had a great day at Kirk! For the approach, we stayed on the ridge as I did in June. This route has less side-hilling compared to the original tracks and drops into the canyon very close to the first rappel, bypassing areas on the original approach that are now heavily overgrown. On the first rappel, there’s a rock lodged between the canyon walls (see the photo) which makes it easy for ropes to get stuck here during retrieval. If possible, the next group should dislodge the rock by pushing it upward (pushing downward will likely wedge it further). Our rope did get stuck here, but thankfully, we had a climber in the group who was able to ascend safely and free it. We took the sneak exit I found in June. While it requires some steep side-hilling, it’s much shorter and avoids the original exit, which is beautiful but now heavily overgrown with poison oak and thorny plants like blackberries. The water wasn't very cold, one pool was about waist high, the rest at most knee high. For convenience, we left a car on Nacimiento Road at the point where the sneak exit comes out.
6 Jul 2024	Great	Low	None	Normal	8 hours	10 people Brand new to Advanced	Sanazestan (11 reports)
Comment: I tackled this canyon twice in a week, first on June 29th and then on July 6th. The initial trip was to scout the route before leading a large group of my SAR team members for training. On the second trip, our team comprised 10 SAR members with varying levels of experience—some seasoned, others new to SAR and rappelling. Most had never completed a full canyon using canyoneering techniques, but everyone did great and we had a fantastic time. We faced a heatwave during the 2nd trip, and aside from one person, no one wore wetsuits or shells—they managed fine. The person in the wetsuit found it too hot most of the time. Typically, I would rate this canyon 4 stars or higher for its beauty, with redwoods and ocean views. I was inclined to give it a 3 this time as recent storms have caused some damage but decided it's still a good canyon. There are many fallen trees and branches, and the exit is extremely overgrown, requiring bushwhacking through poison oak, blackberries, and other thorny vegetation. On my first trip, I took the original exit. On the second, we opted for a sneak exit that was much shorter but steep, leading out to Nacimiento Road. We had bikes and cars parked there, thanks to our law enforcement access. Though still bushwhacky and steep, it was much more manageable and for a shorter duration. The bolts on the one rappel are in good shape, and the original rope anchors were still adequate. I removed some bright colored (red and neon yellow-green webbing and fiddled those raps. If you don’t use a fiddle stick or CEM, bring extra webbing with you. Expect to encounter poison oak. While it’s avoidable on the approach, exposure is likely during the descent and inevitable at the exit unless you get picked up by a helicopter.
26 May 2024	Great	Very Low	Full wetsuit	Normal	10 hours	2 people Beginner to Intermediate	Collinlomax (1 reports)
Comment: We had a great time in Kirk Creek! The hike in is world-class as you get to look at the ocean in Big Sur the entire time. I brought a newbie and it was a great canyon for him. It's serious for the first 4 (roughly) consecutive rappels or so and then becomes a mellow slightly technical hike. The bushwhacking is almost constant as soon as you leave the road. We saw 3 snakes in the gorged-out part of the canyon. I'm on the verge of giving this canyon a 3 because of the bushwhacking, but its location right on the ocean keeps it at a solid 4. Check out the local area for a sweet backpacking trail and a world-class campground. https://youtu.be/76hiB2gvr6E
3 Dec 2022	Good	Low	Full wetsuit	Normal	8 hours	3 people Intermediate to Advanced	Brdn.gonzales (44 reports),Sanazestan (11 reports),Crabbey (1 reports)
Comment: It was raining cats and dogs that day but we decided to go for it anyway. The road part of the approach was fine, just lots of rain and some wind. Once we got off the road, it was a bit more difficult but nothing too crazy. It was more windy as we got higher up. The challenge on the uphill parts were muddy and slippery ground. Also the dirt was super loose and soft making the ground a bit unstable and our feet sometimes sunk in a bit. But it wasn't unmanageable. We got to the drop in point and assessed the water levels, which seemed to pose no challenge. It was low despite couple of days of rain. We wore full wetsuits with shells. It was cold and pouring rain so we were happy we had our full wetsuits. While changing and for a few minutes after we started moving, we were quite cold. Mine was a 4/3 and I wore a full body rash guard under it (I get cold easily) and after 10-15 minutes I was warm and cozy. Another one of us had a 2mm plus rain jacket and was warm the whole time. The water levels posed no challenge the entire canyon. The anchors that were in place, were all in good shape, same with the two bolts on rap two. We didn't add any anchors and used smooth operator or double roped all other rappels. The raps are pretty obvious and easy to manage. About 15-20 minutes after getting to the exit, it got dark. We used headlamps and at one point we used a rope to go down a steep, slippery slope but that probably was just because it was dark and we veered slightly off the "best" route but again it wasn't anything dangerous. We made it back to the HWY and there my friend informed me (via InReach) that there were rock slides both north and south of us. We thought we were stuck. We decided to drive north anyway. Luckily, the slide on the north was small and cleared by the time we got there and were able to get out of the area. Keep in mind that Highway 1 in bad weather typically experiences land/mudd/rock slides and that could be dangerous. There were many areas on the road were rocks, large and small, had fallen down and we had to be careful to avoid them. One of us got a flat tire because of that but had a spare. Another thing to watch for in such conditions are falling rocks in the canyon so just keep an eye. I rated the quality at a 3 because of the heavy rain. Otherwise, this canyon is very beautiful and I look forward to doing it again.
25 Sep 2022	Great	Very Low	None	Normal	8 hours	3 people Brand new to Expert	Reiternick (36 reports)
Comment: Road closed for approach so we did 1 ebike and 3 people taking turns tandem until the trail. Reinforced/made anchors besides some ghosting. After technical section I scrambled east to the road, 300ft vert gain with horrible bushwack, but worth it for ebike retrieve rather than descending rest of canyon, if you are pressed for time in similar situation.
15 May 2022		Low	Thin wetsuit				Sri (30 reports)
Comment: Lovely canyon. Water levels pretty low, a thin neoprene vest or wetsuit would make the canyon more comfortable. We ghosted most of the canyon, put new webbing in a couple of spots. Our smooth operator and a few feet of pull cord got stuck on the first rap, be mindful of the pull there.
16 Apr 2022	Great	Low	Thin wetsuit	Normal	7 hours	7 people Beginner to Advanced	Ihiromi (26 reports),Rbowru (54 reports),Ameister (43 reports),Feroz (34 reports),Epeairs (73 reports),Smacame (8 reports),Mokapot (3 reports)
Comment: Low flow just a couple hours after ~1/4" of rain. It was a very foggy day, so thin wetsuits were a good idea. We didn't get the pretty ocean views, but the heavy fog gave the canyon a really cool ambience.
12 Mar 2022	Amazing	Low	Rain jacket	Normal	7 hours	4 people Beginner to Advanced	Rodtel314 (36 reports),Rbowru (54 reports),Epeairs (73 reports),Smacame (8 reports)
Comment: The water temperature was pleasant for a warm spring day, and could be run comfortably without wetsuits until two hours before sunset