Conditions:Muir Ravine (Middle)-20221216043732

Latest:	29 Oct 2022 (2 yrs, 1 month ago)

Reported by:	Willie92708 (972 reports)
Quality:	Great
Waterflow:	Dry
Wetsuit:	None
Water temperature:
Difficulty:	Normal
Time:	10 hours

Team: 4 people

Trip report URL:

Comments: Thanks to all the work cleaning up the approach, canyon floor itself, anchors and trimming yuccas, Middle Muir is in prime shape! Hike up the Lone Tree trail and ridge was 2.5 hours, Middle Muir itself 4.5 hours, and running Eaton back to our cars 3 hours. With the latest improvements Middle Muir is now by far the best of the 3 Muir Ravines.

All condition reports

Date	Quality	Waterflow	Wetsuit	Difficulty	Time	Team	Reported by
19 Oct 2024	Great	Dry	None	Normal	11 hours	3 people Intermediate	ADubs (11 reports)
Comment: Car to car time is because we decided to come in from Eaton Saddle to enjoy the sunrise/full moon hike over Mt. Lowe - and we also took time to replace webbing on 3 anchors. I say 'none' for wetsuits, but we did suit up for the Eaton section and were glad for it. Canyon was very, very clogged with brush after the nice summer we just had - mixed in with all the summer growth were many large & angry yucca, surprise!poison oak and - for extra fun - very thorny Gooseberry. All the webbing that had not been replaced in the year previous was very sun-faded (insect eaten in the case of R8). We replaced webbing at R3, R4 and R8 with black webbing. Note that we could not retrieve the old olive webbing at R3, because the water knot jammed high up between tree and rock. Maybe someone stronger than we are can get that knot loose and clean it up. We noted that the webbing at R10 (olive) is super faded, and we did not use it, instead we ghosted that tree to get to the bolted webbing just below. The left hanger on this bolted anchor is loose. We tightened, but it became loose again with each rappeler. The webbing on R11 is stiff and faded, but we used it. All in all, we felt like we spent most of the canyon bushwhacking (tho the path Willie cleared on the drop-in was fantastic and in great shape) through a metric ton of canyon kelp and very dried and scratchy brush, but that final sequence down into Eaton is hard to beat. A fun and tiring day!
25 Feb 2024	Amazing	Very Low	None	Normal	7 hours	1 people	Jcsjcs (104 reports)
Comment: 2:00 approach using the Rubio Canyon Preserve Trailhead. Bad bushwhacking right after the drop-in (might have missed the correct spot) but I soon joined up with the pruned path and there was no more bushwhacking for the rest of the day. Thanks to Willie and everyone who put work into cleaning up this canyon. Most of the ravine had enough water flow to wet my feet. The highlights were going under the huge boulder and the final multi-pitch sequence around the Eagle's Eyrie. Descent took 2:15. Then I put on the wetsuit for the descent of Eaton which was at high flow with fun hydraulics in some of the pools. Right after I jumped the rabbit hole I met a few people who had hiked up from below and somehow stayed completely dry. When I slid the penultimate I could feel a rocky bottom to the pool so this is probably the deepest it gets. The water flow in the final rappel was intense but short. The crowd loved it and I got a lot of questions about what I was doing after. Eaton descent took 1:40.
7 Jan 2024	Good	Dry	None	Normal	7 hours	5 people Intermediate to Expert	Rapbear (68 reports)
Comment: Condition of canyon and need for a wetsuit is reflective of traversing Middle Muir only. Once we hit Eaton canyon, we had to put on our wetsuits as we needed them. The water was freezing (~50F if not less). We did the shuttle route (option #3) and made it to the top of the drop in just under 2 hours. The beginning of the drop in (the 1000ft that Willie mentions) is a bit overgrown but the trail opens up and is easier to follow after 10 minutes of heading down. The overall canyon was navigable but there are a bunch of yuccas that will take every opportunity to jab you. I would recommend wearing some eye protection (e.g. sunglasses or your regular glasses) because some of the yuccas are at eye height and they are easy to miss if you are not paying attention. The constant swearing coming from my party was a reminder that we need to bring trimmers the next time. All the rappels are as described. We replaced two pieces of webbing and a quick link. The 55' drop is operational now. Middle Muir was a nice adventure on a windy Sunday and everyone in the party had a great time. Eaton is flowing nicely albeit really cold. Bring a thicker wetsuit if you have one. I used a 3mm and I was shivering when I was not moving. Penultimate was slideable but I was able to touch the bottom. Please check the depth before you commit. Thanks Willie for all the work you did on the trail. It was a fun run!
14 Dec 2023	Good	Dry	None	Special challenges	11 hours	1 people	Willie92708 (972 reports)
Comment: Since I was solo with no shuttle, I climbed up the Mt Lowe ridge from the Altadena Crest Trail (used to get to the Lowe Ravines), making the rock mass saddle (drop-in for West Muir Ravine) in 1:40 and the rock outcropping for Middle Muir within 2:10. Given how steep and loose (in places) and the thickness of the brush, the ridge climb seems slow and painful (special challenges #1), compared with hiking the 1.5 miles through the neighborhood and climbing up the Lone Tree trail. And it is barely any faster to climb up the 3000 vertical feet. On the Middle Muir drop-in I did some work as new dead fall and busted plant limbs blocked the path (special challenges #2), taking 1:30 to get to R1. Once in the technical canyon, I did not do much to fix plant issue as there were only a few annoying sticker bushes that need some help. The springs were flowing a bit which made the canyon kelp so thick in places that progress was slow (special challenges #3). Still the technical run to Eaton was only 3:00 hours, making Eaton exactly at noon (6:45 total elapsed time). Since all the webbing was still in OK shape, I did not replace any of it; except for the first set of bolts the webbing is trashed; I use the alternate 2 small bush anchor instead. I did not plan on exiting Eaton, but rather climbed the gully back to Telephone trail (34 minute climb up, special challenges #4) and hiked back to the top of the Henninger Flat fire break. I had planned to run Henninger or maybe full Left Fork Coyote, but since it was already nearly 2:00 PM, I decided to spent time cleaning up the Henninger Flat express trail, which was an hour of work (special challenges #5). After which I hiked down the trail and cleaned up a bit in the leaking water (much warmer like 70F compare with Eaton creek) near Mt Wilson Road bridge, and headed back to my truck right at 11 hours.
29 Oct 2022	Great	Dry	None	Normal	10 hours	4 people	Willie92708 (972 reports)
Comment: Thanks to all the work cleaning up the approach, canyon floor itself, anchors and trimming yuccas, Middle Muir is in prime shape! Hike up the Lone Tree trail and ridge was 2.5 hours, Middle Muir itself 4.5 hours, and running Eaton back to our cars 3 hours. With the latest improvements Middle Muir is now by far the best of the 3 Muir Ravines.
4 Jun 2022	Good	Dry	None	Normal	11 hours	3 people Intermediate to Advanced	RFontaine (227 reports),Willie92708 (972 reports)
Comment: We took the Rubio approach going up Lone Tree Trail to the ridge. The trail was well cut and easy to follow. A very foggy morning made for unique and interesting conditions! Once to the top the descent down was slick and loose in spots but well worn and easy to follow. The "woodchute" you travel through in sections is kinda fun and interesting! The rappels are okay quality. The bigger ones are nice enough with a decent backdrop. Some nice scenery to look at, a few neat rock features and somewhat interesting areas aswell. Also completely dry. Once down to Eaton the scenery changed dramatically to beautiful forested riparian. The river was flowing and environment quite pleasant; a real treat! We traveled up river to check out the alcove and the bottom of one of the Eaton rappels, which was very pretty and worth the short hike! Traveling down Eaton was enjoyable. Long hike, lots to look at, lots of shade. All the pools where jumps and slides would have been are filled in with sand so we rappelled a few a downclimbed most. Most are knee deep and a few waist deep. I didnt find the water to be very cold and was quite refreshing! The last 2 big raps in Eaton were very nice with a very mild bit of flow. To my dismay, there was a huge crowd of people at the bottom of the last rap but apparently that is normal... An enjoyable rappel regardless. Overall a fun, worthwhile day trip with lots of variety. We took our time and didnt rush. Middle Muir was decent and probably a pretty good route for the area. Lots to see in Eaton. A good day of adventure!
15 Mar 2022	Good	Dry	None	Special challenges	9 hours	2 people	Willie92708 (972 reports)
Comment: We spent more time improving the drop-in route, trimming yucca plants, and adding new anchor webbing instead of ghosting off the bushes and trees. Eaton is flowing nicely at easy class B level
29 Jan 2022	Good	Dry	None	Normal	11 hours	3 people Intermediate to Expert	Aquamoo (91 reports),Willie92708 (972 reports)
Comment: Time includes our exit through Eaton. Middle Muir has some pretty cool rappels, it would be interesting to run this when it has some water flowing. There are quite a few Yuccas but thankfully there wasn't much poison oak. Our bushwhack drop in was actually pretty easy, although pants would have been very helpful. After the first rappel the canyon is mostly brush free. Willie: We removed all the old anchors as the webbing was unsafe as were some of the plants there attached. Much of this webbing must have been Brennen's old stuff. We rebuilt all anchors with new webbing except the 5 we ghosted. For our approach, we dropped into a sub-gully (not the main one Brennen used) off the ridge where you access West Muir. We did this because we hiked up the Lone Tree trail to the drop-in point in 1.5 hours, thus only using a 1.2 mile shuttle, instead of the long car shuttle that eats up over 2 hours. We spent 7.0 hours from the ridge top (drop-in point) to the Eaton creek bed. This could easily be done in 4 to 5 hours now, even adding the 5 anchors that we ghosted. Also, I corrected the longest rappel (2nd to last), which is at least 140 feet. And watch out for Yucca! :)
20 Mar 2021	Great	Dry	Rain jacket	Normal	7 hours	1 people	Jcsjcs (104 reports)
Comment: Having now done all three Muir Ravines, I'd say this is my favorite one. The bushwhacking through the upper reaches of the canyon was manageable and better than I expected from the beta. Anchors were in decent condition although some of the upper ones likely should have webbing replaced soon. The pair of three-pitch rappels was spectacular and clean. Muir itself was completely dry and took 3 hours on the descent. Eaton was at a B/C level and took another 1:45.