Conditions:Marble Fork Kaweah River (Chrysalis)-20240812044513
Latest: |
10 Aug 2024 (9 mos ago) |
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| Reported by: | Willie92708 (997 reports), Aquamoo (91 reports), Brdn.gonzales (44 reports) | |
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| Quality: | Great |
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| Waterflow: | Extreme |
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| Wetsuit: | Thin wetsuit |
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| Water temperature: | ||
| Difficulty: | Advanced |
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| Time: |  13 hours
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Team: 7 people
Trip report URL:
Comments:
All condition reports
| Date | Quality | Waterflow | Wetsuit | Difficulty | Time | Team | Reported by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great | Extreme
| Thin wetsuit
| Advanced | 13 hours
| 7 people | Willie92708 (997 reports),Aquamoo (91 reports),Brdn.gonzales (44 reports) | |
| Great | Moderate Low
| Thin wetsuit
| Normal | 10 hours
| 4 people Intermediate to Expert | Sqshemet (77 reports),Epeairs (72 reports) | |
Comment: The old sneak approach tree got damaged in the storms, so we anchored to the large oak 20' upstream, but this meant our 200' rope came up 20' short. We were able to pass a knot on a ledge and pull with a fiddlestick, but if you're using a 200' rope you'll want to find other anchor options.
R3 is no longer anchored DCR, the chockstone has no webbing and the second stage is missing one nut+hanger. We used the DCL bolts and broke it into two stages, but this wasn't as fun since it stayed mostly out of the flow, and people had trouble with the traverse to the second stage. The canyon is all silty from fire debris. Water visibility is nil, so scouting jumps from above isn't possible.
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| Amazing | Moderate High
| Thin wetsuit
| Normal |  8 hours
| 6 people | Willie92708 (997 reports) | |
Comment: Water flow is down somewhat from last weekend, but nothing like the drop from 0.9 to 0.5 CFS that the Lodgepole gage would imply. We took our time through the technical part, taking lots of pics. Also, we spent extra time at the jump pool (after the last rappel) playing in the water (see pic), and the final pool (where the hiking trail ends) rappelling & climbing up the marble falls. The air temp for the hike out was only in the 90's, so less hot!
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| Amazing | Moderate High
| Thin wetsuit
| Normal | 7 hours
| 5 people Intermediate to Expert | Aquamoo (91 reports) | |
Comment: Water was pumping today! Got to explore one of the caves near the end of the canyon which was a lot of fun. The water was flowing all the way through the canyon, the last jump was good but we did hit the sandy bottom. The canyon didn't seem to have any debris from the fires although parts of the sneak approach and parts of the exit did get burnt. There is a sizeable amount of poison oak on the exit (and a little on the sneak) but it should be avoidable if you keep an eye out for it.
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| Amazing | High
| Thin wetsuit
| Special challenges | 10 hours
| 3 people | Willie92708 (997 reports) | |
Comment: The brush burnt out of the sneak drop-in in the wildfire last year, which is good. However, the dirt is extremely loose so it's easy to slide down on your butt when it gives way. We took extra time on the drop-in because of this. The webbing was all melted for the first rappel (50 feet) in the sneak gully, but the water flow has cleared out the gully bottom to bare rock so the rest is easier to downclimb. Except of course the final sneak 200 foot rappel down the marble slab into the canyon itself, still anchored from the dead tree which is marginal. Approach was 2 hours including suiting up. Then came the real "special challenges", to establish new anchor LDC to avoid the brunt of the flow on the money drop R3, which became a 2.5 hour project. This was time well spent as we avoided getting hammered by the high flow, and this allows the canyon to be run in much higher flow safely. We spent another 3 hours running the rest of the technical canyon at a relaxed pace. The only "excitement" was getting hammered at the split falls rappel (see picture). The final jump looked OK, but we bypassed it with a rap RDC. We took a break at the pool above the Marble Falls before the HOT hike out in over 100F air temp and mostly full Sun.
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| Great | Moderate Low
| Thin wetsuit
| | 8 hours
| 5 people Brand new to Expert | Ihiromi (26 reports),Rbowru (54 reports),Ameister (43 reports) | |
Comment: We entered via the sneak approach which was seeing some soil erosion but less poison oak. For rap 3, we used an upper anchor near rap 3 (which I think was the old anchor) to rig a handline to get to the main anchor for the 50ft rappel, and I would highly recommend rigging this traverse line. The final jump pool was too shallow to do the jump safely, so most of the group climbed around. The hike out was an amazing hike and a worthwhile destination on its own.
When we finished the canyon, sections of the park were closing due to the wildfires including the campground at the exit. A few days later, this area of the park was hit by the fires. Definitely expect that conditions may have changed if you are the next group to descend. | |||||||
| Great | Moderate Low
| Thin wetsuit
| Normal | 6 hours
| 2 people | Willie92708 (997 reports) | |
Comment: Water flow was up slightly from last weekend; thunderstorms must have stoked the flow a bit. Water temp was 63F. We recovered my blue bag and the FRS Radio, lost last weekend. Since we start much later, the Sun was on the money drop (see pic). The hike out was brutally hot, but we stayed cool taking plenty of water to pour on ourselves.
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| Amazing | Moderate Low
| Thin wetsuit
| Normal | 7 hours
| 2 people Intermediate to Expert | Aquamoo (91 reports) | |
| Amazing | Low 
| Thin wetsuit
| Normal | 9 hours
| 6 people Intermediate to Expert | Willie92708 (997 reports),Aquamoo (91 reports),Brdn.gonzales (44 reports) | |
Comment: This canyon is awesome! The technical section is very fun and the scenery is absolutely gorgeous. There are a lot of jumping opportunities and some members of our group did a fair bit of jumping. The water flow was probably high B as there wasn't really any water force on any of the raps. We lost a radio as well as a dry bag with some important stuff in it. Willie: Water temp was 60F at the sneak drop-in and 63F by the last rappel. Waterflow at the Lodgepole gage was 0.15 CFS. The split falls rappel (R8 and R9) is barely a split falls as the water has opened up almost all the flow under the giant boulder, and deep pool behind it has drain down. The Jumping pool at the end of the technical section is stagnate, and 3 feet down from the high water mark, and it's silted up so much of the pool (jump target area) is only 5 to 7 feet deep. | |||||||
| Great | Moderate Low
| Thin wetsuit
| Normal | 6 hours
| 3 people | Willie92708 (997 reports),Morgan (103 reports) | |
Comment: Morgan: Rope recovery mission on behalf of some friends.
Flow has decreased dramatically from a few weeks ago. Willie: the flow is still good fun (see pic #1), but it's low enough that the jump pool at the end is stagnant (see pic #2). All the water flows through the marble karst features and re-surges (see pic #3) at the "swimmer's pool" where the trail starts/ends a few hundred feet down the creek bed. Water temp was 15.5C (60F) at sneak drop-in point. We used the sneak approach, which took 1.0 hour to get down and get suited up. We spent 3.0 hours running the technical section, 30 min at the swimmer's pool (take off wetsuits, dry stuff out, get water, etc.) and the hike out was 1.5 hours. | |||||||
| Amazing | Moderate
| Thin wetsuit
| Special challenges | 10 hours
| 6 people Intermediate to Expert | Freddy (51 reports) | |
Comment: We used the better short cut route - it drops you off at the same location as the old parking. The water temps in the upper canyon were warm until rap 1 then water temps gets cold. Due to the Like Hughes fire air quality was very bad. All anchors were in good condition. The anchor at rap 8 was removed this is the pour over do we used three tree DCR. The anchor at the big waterfall in the cave was solid - we opted not to use the bolts.
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| Great | Moderate
| Thin wetsuit
| Normal | 8 hours
| 4 people | Danielson (93 reports),Morgan (103 reports) | |
Comment: Beautiful day! We used the sneak approach. Car-to-car time includes a stop on the exit to explore Marble Falls Cave.
Edit: Leftmost bolt hanger above the big drop spins (the bolt itself is good). Consider bringing a wrench to tighten it. Suggest not missing the rabbit hole at the base of the last mandatory rappel before the final jump. The hole is very scenic inside and can be downclimbed without a rope, although LMAR should either pull and bag rope on the small landing just above it or skip the hole and continue on rope to the base of the rappel. It is also possible to rappel past the hole and climb a few feet back up to explore it.
Also, Morgan didn't think the poison oak was bad on the sneak approach. One can only assume that her mental condition is "worsening". Or she has it out for me. Both seem equally likely.
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| Amazing | Moderate
| Thin wetsuit
| Special challenges | 8 hours
| 6 people | Willie92708 (997 reports),Cesar (21 reports) | |
Comment: The flow seemed identical to last weekend, yet the Lodgepole gauge was at 0.16, thus adding evidence using that gauge does not tell you much. We got ropes stuck twice (special challenges): On the money drop (R3) DCR there is a fin which snagged the rope but we were able to pull hard up higher and further back and free it, and on R5 over the jammed logs. We spent extra time doing repeat short jumps in the canyon and 3 members did many repeats on the final jump. We also swam around with goggles looking for the camera lost the previous weekend, but no luck finding it.
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| Amazing | Moderate
| Thin wetsuit
| Special challenges | 8 hours
| 7 people | AmandaC (40 reports),Xenonrocket (102 reports),Willie92708 (997 reports),Morgan (103 reports) | |
Comment: Willie: We approached down the sneak route with 2 short rappels, and the 200 off the dead tree; the rest of the sneak approach was easy enough to down-climb. We replaced any webbing and links missing or damaged in the main canyon, since it seems as if no one ran it all last year, and some of the webbing was sheared off the bolts, other pieces in taters. Lodgepole gauge read 0.21, yet the flow was basically the same as 2 years ago with the gauge at 0.45. The Sneak approach took 1 hour to get everyone into the main canyon at R2, and about 20 minutes to get ready for the water. We spent 5 hours in the technical section at a leisurely pace, spent 15 minutes swimming around looking for Paul's camera that fell into the final pool (the 30' jump) as well as drying gear on the marble slabs at the edge of the pool. We hiked out in a bit over an hour.
It's f'ing AWESOME! So what are you waiting for? Go do it tomorrow! :) (more later)
Morgan: Beautiful canyon, perfect conditions. The big waterfall looks very intimidating from above, but had no hydraulic at the base at current flow levels. Willie: The only spot in the canyon with any significant pool hydraulic is at the bottom of R9 pool (just below "the spout" R8 shallow hanging pool). There are buried rocks at the pool exit that creates a backflow, yet at moderate flow it's easy to overcome. However at high flow this could be the crux pool hydraulic. | |||||||
| Amazing | High
| Thick wetsuit
| Special challenges |  3 hours
| 1 people | Willie92708 (997 reports) | |
Comment: This was a recon trip down a sneak approach from the overlook parking gully. The gully is quite easy to descend, until it merges with another gully quite close to the Marble Fork creek itself. From that point, there are a few short rappels, followed by a 200 +/- foot awesome rappel overlooking much of the technical part of the Marble Fork, and rappelling on a solid white marble face. Since I was not prepared to run the wet canyon, or have any desired to run it solo, I rigged fixed lines (special challenges) and ascended back up after reaching a large pool just right near R2. I washed off myself and tools in the frigid water, because I had trimmed back poison oak on the way down. Overall, I feel this is a great sneak route for Marble Fork, and will definitely go this way next time.
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