Conditions:Lunada Canyon-20250922171334

Latest:	20 Sep 2025 (8 days ago)

Reported by:	669AllWhales (2 reports)
Quality:	Great
Waterflow:	Dry
Wetsuit:	None
Water temperature:
Difficulty:	Normal
Time:	4 hours

Team: 5 people with experience level Beginner to Intermediate

Trip report URL:

Comments: Took the “extended approach” by setting a car shuttle at the exit and starting the approach at the top of Agua Amarga Reserve. This adds about a ~1mile downhill hike through the upper section of non-technical canyon. It’s a nice walk if you’re looking to make a day out of the canyon.

Somebody had run the canyon in the last few weeks ahead of us and left webbing on all but the last rap. There were pools at the bottom of every rappel. All pools were avoidable except for R1, which was roughly knee-thigh deep. Anchors aren’t really as described, but there are many possibilities with concrete slabs, rebar, and natural features. Note R3 as rigged from some concrete blocks DCR was too long for a 100ft rope with a CEM.

Our group ran it on California Coastal Cleanup Day and helped pick up trash throughout the canyon and beach area. We chose to hike along the beach to the SS dominator shipwreck afterwards and would say it’s worth it if you’ve never seen it before. Time includes the extended approach, gearing up/down, and hiking to the shipwreck and back.

Regarding the law enforcement incident in 2018 mentioned in the red tape, I researched the PV Estates Municipal code thoroughly and was not able to find anything that explicitly banned climbing, rappelling, or off trail hiking on the bluffs. You are required to obey all posted signage, but there is currently none. Much of the canyon is directly below a walking trail so it’s pretty difficult to “hide”. If you leave webbing in this canyon, please try to use a discreet color like sage, rust, or black so that it is not visible from the walking trail. All of the webbing we found was bright purple or red :(

R0 is the only section that seems a bit questionable to enter. Canyon access in the dam area is fenced and the only entry is through the backside of the underground drainage tunnel. If you choose this approach, I recommend meat anchoring a hand line for R0 and helping the last person down the ~8ft dam. I would specifically not rig a rappel off the fence line to avoid creating future legal/access problems. R0 can be skipped entirely. It is possible to drop in right at the start of R1 from the North rim side near a large acacia tree in the drainage ditch.

All condition reports

Date	Quality	Waterflow	Wetsuit	Difficulty	Time	Team	Reported by
20 Sep 2025	Great	Dry	None	Normal	4 hours	5 people Beginner to Intermediate	669AllWhales (2 reports)
Comment: Took the “extended approach” by setting a car shuttle at the exit and starting the approach at the top of Agua Amarga Reserve. This adds about a ~1mile downhill hike through the upper section of non-technical canyon. It’s a nice walk if you’re looking to make a day out of the canyon. Somebody had run the canyon in the last few weeks ahead of us and left webbing on all but the last rap. There were pools at the bottom of every rappel. All pools were avoidable except for R1, which was roughly knee-thigh deep. Anchors aren’t really as described, but there are many possibilities with concrete slabs, rebar, and natural features. Note R3 as rigged from some concrete blocks DCR was too long for a 100ft rope with a CEM. Our group ran it on California Coastal Cleanup Day and helped pick up trash throughout the canyon and beach area. We chose to hike along the beach to the SS dominator shipwreck afterwards and would say it’s worth it if you’ve never seen it before. Time includes the extended approach, gearing up/down, and hiking to the shipwreck and back. Regarding the law enforcement incident in 2018 mentioned in the red tape, I researched the PV Estates Municipal code thoroughly and was not able to find anything that explicitly banned climbing, rappelling, or off trail hiking on the bluffs. You are required to obey all posted signage, but there is currently none. Much of the canyon is directly below a walking trail so it’s pretty difficult to “hide”. If you leave webbing in this canyon, please try to use a discreet color like sage, rust, or black so that it is not visible from the walking trail. All of the webbing we found was bright purple or red :( R0 is the only section that seems a bit questionable to enter. Canyon access in the dam area is fenced and the only entry is through the backside of the underground drainage tunnel. If you choose this approach, I recommend meat anchoring a hand line for R0 and helping the last person down the ~8ft dam. I would specifically not rig a rappel off the fence line to avoid creating future legal/access problems. R0 can be skipped entirely. It is possible to drop in right at the start of R1 from the North rim side near a large acacia tree in the drainage ditch.
20 Dec 2024	Ok	Very Low	None	Normal	3 hours	2 people Intermediate to Brand new	Sugi212 (4 reports)
Comment: Canyon was very muddy. There was no evidence of any previous anchors remaining in the canyon. Made very temporary anchors off of old rebar, slabs of concrete, and rock formations jutting out of the wall. Make sure to test everything before you rappel off of it since some of the rock is brittle and loose. The approach to the canyon is nonexistent and the hike back from the bottom is steep but very easy. Prior to the entrance, there is a cool long drainage tunnel to check out and if you hike half a mile up the beach the canyon dumps you out on you can see the SS Dominator shipwreck. Its an awesome canyon if you need to scratch an itch but don't want to drive all the way out to the mountains. Bring webbing and quicklinks if you go.
27 Apr 2023	Ok	Very Low	None	Special challenges	2 hours	2 people Intermediate to Advanced	Austin3623 (16 reports)
Comment: Slimy. Very slimy. I smelled like a koi pond after I got out of there. Rebuilt most of the natural anchors in the canyon, as this year’s rain storms had washed out my previous anchors. R1 replaced the previous cairn anchor with a webbing anchor wrapped around two pieces of rebar DCL. Felt very solid. R2 & 3 have great cairn anchors now. R3 is bomber. Being the tallest rappel, I left a little extra tail on the webbing so it can be extended over to tie into the rusty bolts DCL as an extra backup for everyone but LAMAR. If you decide to use this feature, have the last person untie the backup before leaving so it doesn’t catch any debris during a future rain storm. R4 Warning: even with a thorough safety check and a soft start, the knot chock anchor on R4 blew out with me on rappel. SCARY feeling. Fuck knot chocks. Luckily was only 4 ft from the bottom….still caught a mouthful of pond water. Whoever runs this route next will need to rebuild that anchor. Would not recommend replacing it with another knot chalk, as the original was difficult to both access and inspect, and NONE of that rock feels solid (it’s basically all just hard, wet sand). Do not run this route without extra webbing and quicklinks. Be careful of loose falling rock!
13 Mar 2023	Good	Very Low	None	Special challenges	2 hours	2 people Intermediate to Advanced	Austin3623 (16 reports)
Comment: Fun little local route with a short approach and exit. Probably wouldn’t be worth it if it was bolted, but actually ended up being a great practice sesh for building natural cairn anchors. Not a good canyon for beginners for that reason. At least one person in the group should know how to build & inspect cairns, sequence group members, perform soft starts, etc. Due to recent rains, the bad smell in previous reports wasn’t noticeable. Pools were over waist high. Be very careful of falling rocks. Built new cairn anchors on R1-3. R2 ghosted a very marginal cairn anchor with a fiddlestick for the hell of it—don’t expect to find any webbing or hardware on that one. R3 had a set of rusty bolts on the ground LDC near the ledge that did not feel solid. I set up a new webbing anchor around a large boulder RDC instead. The knot chock on R4 was bomber. R5 is bolted with fresh hangers (chains were rusty but still in good shape).
26 Dec 2020	Good	Very Low	None	Normal	2 hours	5 people Beginner to Advanced	Mikeatran (85 reports)
Comment: Started around 10:30, easy to follow the route to the drop in point. Was pretty discreet in packing all the gear and helmets in bags for the drop in and didn’t have much grief with access pre and post route. Webbing is pretty good; cairn anchors were rebuilt to support my 200lb self. Depending on comfort, the first and second raps might want to be replaced with a steel link or rap ring; the current rap ring is ~2-3mm 1.75” diameter welded steel ring. Smelly and unavoidably muddy so be prepared for some decent wear to your gear; bring your cheap stuff!
19 Dec 2020	Ok	Very Low	None	Special challenges	2 hours	1 people Intermediate	Aquamoo (91 reports)
Comment: The mud between R1 and R2 is insane. Pool beneath R1 was surprisingly deep, it was up to my waist (I'm 6'2"). Beware of rockfall! There were 2 very large rockfalls while I was in the canyon, one a little too close for comfort. It would have been a pretty enjoyable canyon if there wasn't so much mud, or maybe if there was a little more flow. Saw an owl and some frogs. I did a total of 6 rappels, and will update the beta.
17 Sep 2019	Poor	Very Low	None	Special challenges	2 hours	2 people Intermediate to Expert	Dangel (160 reports)
Comment: I was expecting to see evidence from my last trip where we created many excellent rock cairn anchors. However they were all blown out. There was evidence that someone had rebuilt one of the anchors, some rappels we had to build new ones. My rock chock was still there and it was the only evidence of my previous passing. We saw two owls, crabs, and a mouse. The water was full of algae and smelled gross. But reaching the ocean at the end of the canyon is really nice.
3 May 2018	Good	Very Low	Rain jacket	Special challenges	2 hours	4 people Beginner to Expert	Dangel (160 reports),Brieaseltine (7 reports),Morgan (103 reports)
Comment: Nice night in the canyon. Frogs were croaking their heads off and the water wasn't too hot or stinky. All rock cairns were completely rebuilt to be easily inspectable/replaceable. Provided there isn't too much rock fall you should be able to enjoy our work.
25 May 2017	Good	Very Low	None	Special challenges	2 hours	4 people Beginner to Expert	Dangel (160 reports)
Comment: Pools at the bottom of every rappel. You can avoid them if you try too hard. Stinky. Lots of rock cairn anchors were poorly constructed, but we didn't do much to fix them. Great canyon at sunset.
1 Feb 2015	Good	Shallow wading	None	Special challenges	3 hours	2 people Advanced	CharlesL (6 reports)