Conditions:Palisade Canyon-20241230051008

Latest:	27 Dec 2024 (17 days ago)

Reported by:	Rocktherapy (4 reports)
Quality:	Amazing
Waterflow:	Deep pools
Wetsuit:	Drysuit
Water temperature:	42 degrees
Difficulty:	Special challenges
Time:	14 hours

Team: 4 people with experience level Beginner to Expert

Trip report URL:

Comments: Started at 6:30 am at palisade trailhead. Entered the canyon at 9:30. Deep swimmers on almost every rappel. 2 people in the group had 7 mil wetsuits and 2 had dry suits. Water definitely woke you up. Good anchors and webbing at all rappels. Got out of the canyon and onto the trail at 5:00 pm. Back to the car at Gordon Hirabayashi Campground by 8:30 pm. Great day and highly recommend if your willing to pay the price the canyon requires.

All condition reports

Date	Quality	Waterflow	Wetsuit	Difficulty	Time	Team	Reported by
27 Dec 2024	Amazing	Deep pools	Drysuit	Special challenges	14 hours	4 people Beginner to Expert	Rocktherapy (4 reports)
Comment: Started at 6:30 am at palisade trailhead. Entered the canyon at 9:30. Deep swimmers on almost every rappel. 2 people in the group had 7 mil wetsuits and 2 had dry suits. Water definitely woke you up. Good anchors and webbing at all rappels. Got out of the canyon and onto the trail at 5:00 pm. Back to the car at Gordon Hirabayashi Campground by 8:30 pm. Great day and highly recommend if your willing to pay the price the canyon requires.
12 Feb 2023	Amazing	Moderate	Thin wetsuit		11 hours	4 people Expert to Beginner	RFontaine (235 reports)
Comment: Absolute Class C Excellence!! Hard pack snow on alot of the upper approach trail. Flow was lovely! Wore 4/3, wool base, and rain jacket. Hands were the only thing cold despite having 2mm gloves! We decided to change into dry clothes after the last rap and try to avoid water on the exit. This proved to be an annoying time suck. Would recommend leaving booties, wet pants or wetsuit on until arriving at the actual exit trail much further down the creek. We missed the tram and hiked the road back to parking lot (which takes 1.5hrs from TH, FYI) Approach and exit are much longer then you’d think! Plan for a long day!!
27 Aug 2022	Amazing	High	Thin wetsuit		13 hours	3 people Advanced	RFontaine (235 reports)
Comment: An incredibly fun descent down multiple pristine waterfalls one after another and lovely swims after each one! We left our vehicle at Sabino TH and our friend graciously offered to drive us up to the top! The hike in is long but fairly pleasant. About 5.5 miles, all on an obvious trail before turning off and a short bushwack down gully, KML is on point! The flow was perfect! We stopped to chill in one of the pools half way down for about an hour. Most pools are deep swimmers. I wore a 4/3 wetsuit and was plenty comfortable. This canyon flashes frequently this time of year and the webbing takes a beating, we could see evidence of this; extra webbing is worth carrying. The hike out is a long one but no terrible elevation gains. We got to the paved portion of Sabino Canyon Trail a little after 7pm. The Sabino Canyon shuttle had already stopped running at this point so we hiked the paved trail all the way back. Roughly 6 miles total for exit. Not sure when this shuttle stops running (I believe it varies by time of year) but one could save the last 3 miles of pavement hiking if you can snag it! We absolutely loved this trip. A wonderful canyon with perfect conditions! My SOG folding knife was left at either the gear up spot at start of descent or on the exit where we geared down. If it is found, please contact me, I would love to get it back!
30 Jul 2022	Great	Moderate	Thin wetsuit	Normal	8 hours	3 people	Natureboytimflair (62 reports)
11 Jul 2022	Great	Low	None	Normal	8 hours	3 people Advanced to Expert	Natureboytimflair (62 reports)
Comment: Great productive trip! Several new anchors were added to enhance this amazing canyons potential the new anchors will help prevent hard pulls, help with rescue maneuvers if needed, and to prevent rope abrasion. Rappel number one is no longer 25 feet back and provides a great rappel line. Rappel 7 is another favorite update, located beside the large Boulder instead of the pinch point. This new 2 bolt station provides an amazing new line and buttery smoothy rope retrieval. Rappel 8 is from 1 bolt high DCR. My hopes were to make the angle highe in hopes of making the rub point over the boulder less severe and to prevent the swing into the cactus below (its almost dead) i will be returning to make rappel 8 even better in the following months. All anchors has been replaced with tan webbing and will hopefully be good until next July, with the exception of black webbing on rap 4 which was replaced last month. The dead tree was also removed to prevent rope entanglements. I hope people enjoy the new anchors. Stay safe out there! TJR
12 Jun 2022	Good	Deep pools	None	Normal	8 hours	2 people Expert	Natureboytimflair (62 reports)
Comment: Scouting mission to update anchor stations for better rappel lines during swift water descents. Also planning on adding a few more to make the canyon more enjoyable and less destructive (example would be the last rappel 2 stage, when parties rappel over the boulder they swing into this cool cactus, which is almost dead now. The updated anchors will provide better rope pulls and better rappel lines for beginners and to more advanced swift water canyoneers alike. The now dead tree will also be removed which has caused rope entanglement issues in the past
24 Apr 2022	Good	Very Low	Full wetsuit	Normal	9 hours	3 people Intermediate to Expert	Coalemus (159 reports)
Comment: A bit of mild splashing on some rappels. Pools were never very cold and got downright comfy by the end, especially with all the sun. Replaced webbing on the first drop and cut out some redundant stuff on a couple of the others. Erek will probs write up some beta for the wiki. Big exit with the road walk at the end.
26 Feb 2022	Great	Low	Full wetsuit	Normal		5 people Intermediate to Expert	Natureboytimflair (62 reports)
1 Nov 2015 Trip report							HikeArizona.com (271 reports)
Comment: Most recent conditions reported at HikeArizona.com, see Trip Report for full details.