Latest:	23 Feb 2025 (26 days ago)

Reported by:	BryceM777 (13 reports)
Quality:	Great
Waterflow:	Moderate Low
Wetsuit:	Thin wetsuit
Water temperature:
Difficulty:	Special challenges
Time:	9 hours

Team: 7 people with experience level Beginner to Expert

Trip report URL:

Comments: A fun trip I got to go on as an assistant leader on a recreational trip with Austin DeKoning. Even though we had many new folks in the group, these beginners did fantastic for their first time in a canyon. The majority of the team had 3/2 wetsuits however I found that the 3/2 was a little on the skimpy side. The water should be warming up in the near future but if you want to run this soon, I recommend at least a 4/3 to be comfortable. The water level is probably just barely touching C1 so I'll give Lytle flow conditions a "moderate low" for this trip although other canyoners may say this is in B+ mode. The most technically challenging part of this canyon is moving from R3 to R4 as there is still a slight risk that the water moves someone enough that any slip would make someone go over that edge so make sure to stay on rope until anchored into the R4 anchor. Due to some newer students, we spent a little longer in the canyon than other faster moving groups. We started at 930 am and ended around 6 pm. Additionally, the ladybugs must have been in breeding season as there were tons of them on logs and trees when doing the creek walk between R2 and R3 (see pictures).

All condition reports

Date	Quality	Waterflow	Wetsuit	Difficulty	Time	Team	Reported by
23 Feb 2025	Great	Moderate Low	Thin wetsuit	Special challenges	9 hours	7 people Beginner to Expert	BryceM777 (13 reports)
Comment: A fun trip I got to go on as an assistant leader on a recreational trip with Austin DeKoning. Even though we had many new folks in the group, these beginners did fantastic for their first time in a canyon. The majority of the team had 3/2 wetsuits however I found that the 3/2 was a little on the skimpy side. The water should be warming up in the near future but if you want to run this soon, I recommend at least a 4/3 to be comfortable. The water level is probably just barely touching C1 so I'll give Lytle flow conditions a "moderate low" for this trip although other canyoners may say this is in B+ mode. The most technically challenging part of this canyon is moving from R3 to R4 as there is still a slight risk that the water moves someone enough that any slip would make someone go over that edge so make sure to stay on rope until anchored into the R4 anchor. Due to some newer students, we spent a little longer in the canyon than other faster moving groups. We started at 930 am and ended around 6 pm. Additionally, the ladybugs must have been in breeding season as there were tons of them on logs and trees when doing the creek walk between R2 and R3 (see pictures).
1 Nov 2024	Great	Low	Full wetsuit	Normal	6 hours	3 people	Willie92708 (991 reports)
Comment: The water flow was amazingly high for so late in the season (see pic). Water temp was cold, but not frigid. The Fall colors were amazing! The road to the trailhead is in good shape.
30 Jun 2024	Great	Moderate	Rain jacket	Normal	9 hours	15 people Brand new to Advanced	Desertnights (37 reports)
Comment: A big group trip through Lytle Creek--easily my longest day in this canyon. The water levels have held and some algae is growing and making the raps slick. Some of our beginners were having a good time and did well but the water was a little overwhelming for others. Overall, a good time. Would still recommend lightweight neoprene for most people; wetsuit leggings + rain suit were very warm for me. Bring bug spray--the flies are vicious.
4 May 2024	Amazing	Moderate High	Full wetsuit	Special challenges	6 hours	8 people Intermediate to Advanced	Desertnights (37 reports)
Comment: Lytle creek is always beautiful but it's very good in this much flow. The tree for R3 is gone and there are now bolts RDC. We rappeled LDC from a tree to avoid what had been a water hazard but the bowl filled in so it might not form a hydraulic like it used to... it's not a swim even in higher water. The bottom of R4 is a mess of rock and tree debris and it would be hazardous to extend R4 to the R5 bolts. Instead use the high water anchor RDC (tree) or clip in (spare bolt) and climb down to R5 which was reachable even in this flow. R5 is great fun.
21 Jan 2024	Good	Moderate Low	Thin wetsuit	Normal	5 hours	4 people Beginner to Advanced	Toddk (15 reports)
Comment: Anchors in good shape throughout the canyon. Water was only a little over knee deep in a few places. No hazardous flow. 3mm wetsuit was fine. The sun above and the mist below made for a beautiful day.
24 Dec 2023	Amazing	Moderate Low	Full wetsuit	Normal	6 hours	2 people Intermediate	Stinky buds (7 reports)
Comment: As soon as we dropped in we put our wetsuits on, water was cold and the canyon was very shady. Water flow is sporty but nothing crazy at all, I would say a very low C. Some rappels made it easy for us to stay out of the direct flow which was nice. I’d say each the water was no more than waist high in a couple of the pothole pools. Canyon had lots of debris and leaves on the floor which made it taskful to navigate through. All anchors were great. Flow is nice and fun.. start early because the sun goes down early right now… no snow on the approach or through the canyon which was good because it just snowed up there but snow was at a higher elevation instead of on the approach n through the canyon.
5 Nov 2023	Great	Moderate Low	Full wetsuit	Normal	7 hours	12 people Advanced to Beginner	David (15 reports)
Comment: Great day out in Lytle Creek with group of 12. The road is in good shape, a prius was able to easily make it to the trailhead. Good flow for this time of year, the water was very cold though. Beta is accurate, we only used the watercourse anchors. The entire canyon is shaded between R3 and the exit. We were all quite cold in that section. The pool between R3 and R4 is no deeper than waist deep, but mostly about knee deep. All the rappels were slick with algae. Everyone stayed on rappel when accessing the R4 anchor at the spillover. Overall a beautiful day in perfect conditions.
30 Jul 2023	Amazing	Moderate High	Thin wetsuit	Normal		6 people Intermediate to Advanced	Austin3623 (16 reports)
Comment: Late post, but had a great day in Lytle last week with a group of 6. Conditions were excellent. Flow appeared heavy initially, but ended up being very manageable. As expected, none the alternate anchors off the side of the main route (discussed in the previous condition report) are necessary at this point. Replaced bleached out webbing on R2 & R4, and backed up the single loop on the alternate R1 chock stone anchor with a redundant piece. R1 - Flow looked heavy initially, so we rappelled off the chock stone anchor DCR just to be safe; looked up at the falls from the bottom and realized it would have been completely fine. R2 - Used the tree root anchor DCL, no issues rappelling straight through the water course. Pool is only knee deep right at the base of the rappel (not quite a water belay); deceptively much deeper (swimmable) in the middle/far side of the pool. Mini slide - there’s a shallow little 10ft slide between 3 & 4 that totally rides. A little bumpy, but a safe landing area and we loved it. R3 - Everyone in the group stayed on rappel until the R4 anchor. Flow is still swift through that channel, but no one had any issues battling the current or accessing the anchor. R4 - Some of us descended directly through the flow and others DCR of the flow. Through the flow was heavy and slick with algae but fun and likely manageable for intermediate canyoneers. R5 - Fun rap, rode it right down the middle. Note: the dirt road up to Lytle has changed significantly from last year. Definitely not passable in a low clearance vehicle anymore (last year it was fine). Any high clearance should make it, but it’s a rough ride.
24 Jun 2023 Trip report	Amazing	High	Full wetsuit	Advanced	8 hours	2 people Intermediate to Advanced	Brdn.gonzales (44 reports)
Comment: Beautiful day in Lytle Creek and I believe we're the first one's down for the season! The road is in pretty rough shape, really glad we had a 4WD truck. R1: We opted for the dry rappel (DCR) as the normal watercourse rappel (DCL) appeared to be in heavy flow. R2a/b: Due to the flow, the normal bolted anchors are not easily accessible. Situated DCL, wrapped around a tree root in the ground, is the anchor to R2a. Rappel 20', over the lip, to access the anchors for R2b. This is a hanging rebelay, so make sure all the individuals in your group have tethers and are comfortable with multipitch rope management. R3-R4: Only an experienced leader should lead this section. The water is high and flowing quick, which makes getting to R4 very difficult. Do not get off-rope when making the transition or you WILL be swept over the edge. The beta is otherwise the same, it's super slippery, please be careful. We equalized another piece of webbing for R4 to rappel far DCR and avoid the heavy flow. R5: From above, this rappel looks very intimidating because of the huge rooster tail. We opted to climb the embankment and rappel off a tree high DCR to avoid the flow. From below, the flow doesn't look too bad and actually looks like a fun rappel if you're up for it. Be sure to replace the webbing for R5 as we did not. Other notes: Tons of Horse Flies. Super Slippery. Very Cold. Couple Mistakes. Wonderful Day.
11 May 2022	Great	Low	Thin wetsuit	Normal	7 hours	9 people Beginner to Expert	Hillbelfi (31 reports)
Comment: Georgia Tech canyoneers out for a SoCal canyon tour! Thank you Todd Kolberg for the expert guiding. Length of time is due to a 1 hour stop for canyon technique review. Air temp was about 60 degrees F so by the last rap and hike we were definitely working to keep warm. Last 3 rappels were just a stunning sequence. Water was low, but flowing. The pool after R3 was a waist deep wade to cross. Pool after R2 was knee deep.
3 Apr 2022	Great	Moderate Low	Full wetsuit	Normal	6 hours	9 people	Willie92708 (991 reports)
Comment: This was a SoCal Roundup trip and thus big with 9 people. Water temp was quite chilly, but there was plenty of Sun in the canyon to stay warm midday (see pic) Flow is more "low" than "moderate low", but I'll give it the bottom of the class C for chute on R3. Anchor webbing is all recent.
2 Apr 2022	Great	Moderate	Thin wetsuit	Normal	6 hours	9 people Beginner to Expert	Eljefe62 (55 reports)
Comment: Water was cold, the rock was slippery. Extended rappel to 4th anchor to avoid any issues. Webbing was all good, the Roundup saw many trips here.
1 Apr 2022	Great	Moderate Low	Thin wetsuit	Normal	5 hours	10 people Intermediate to Advanced	Nclegg (392 reports)
Comment: Ants. So many damn ants.
22 Jan 2022	Good	Low	Full wetsuit	Normal	5 hours	7 people Intermediate to Expert	Aquamoo (91 reports),Willie92708 (991 reports)
Comment: The water and air temp are both pretty cold, lots of ice. Pools are both pretty shallow, all anchors are fine. The road has already taken a beating, probably isn't doable in anything that doesn't have good clearance. Willie: water temp was 44F, and the air 35F! Don't skimp on the thermal protection if you run Lytle soon. Also, there was a bit of icy snow on the approach trail, but nothing that needed crampons.
4 Dec 2021	Good	Low	Full wetsuit	Special challenges	6 hours	5 people	Willie92708 (991 reports),Brdn.gonzales (44 reports)
Comment: Since not everyone brought full wetsuits, we played a few tricks (guided rappel and alternate anchor points) on R1 and R2 to keep those without full-suits out of the water. For R3 everyone was at least waist deep and some chest deep. With a light cold breeze and water temp below 50F, it was prudent to stay dry as long as possible. Waterflow is low (see pic), but considering how dry it has been, it's significant flow. Anchors are fine, although the webbing on the R3 bolts is getting a little bleached (showing its age). Also, there are various other anchors that other parties had built that are not on the normal rappel lines.