Conditions:Palisade Canyon-20260201235014

Latest:	30 Jan 2026 (3 days ago)

Reported by:	Dyln cole (93 reports)
Quality:
Waterflow:	Moderate Low
Wetsuit:	Full wetsuit
Water temperature:
Difficulty:
Time:	9 hours

Team: 2 people with experience level Advanced to Expert

Trip report URL:

Comments: Skipped R5, wasn't even aware of a rappel point. R7 turned out to be much larger for us, probably 185'. I'm guessing, looking back at photos, the rappel could be shorter stopping at a higher ledge and downclimbing, though not feasible in higher flows. Either way, I'd bring the potential for a 200' rap.

R8 is a traverse line single bolt to double bolt station.

Long day, very fun but the exit was exhausting. Passed the AZT and hiked uphill from the drainage to reach the trail. Overall fun day, great canyon for the area, exit and approach typical of a catalina canyon.

All condition reports

Date	Quality	Waterflow	Wetsuit	Difficulty	Time	Team	Reported by
1 Feb 2026	Good	Very Low	Rain jacket	Normal	8 hours	3 people Intermediate	Celes (38 reports),1LordPheonix1 (11 reports)
Comment: Trail up South Loop was easy, microspikes not necessary there. Once we hit the drop-in spot, we ended up adding a few rappels to feel safer to get to the optional rappels. There were lots of ice formations, and the optional rappels were great. The first actual rappel has a new set of chain anchors 30-40 feet below the tree setup, and from there, probably close to 220' rappel to the 2nd anchor. Ice was melting a bit, so we did have some falling ice while setting up the second rappel.
1 Feb 2026	Great	Moderate Low	Full wetsuit	Normal	8 hours	6 people	A. Anderson (34 reports),Canyoncowboy (37 reports)
Comment: Great day in Great Foxy! Flow was solid but lower than expected. Got pounded at R2 but otherwise no encounters with heavy flow. Anchor outside of flow was used for the big one. First one into the crack stayed on rope until he was clipped into the next anchor, further participants were given the option of clipping into anchor extension before getting on the next rappel. Participants in less than 5mm of neoprene found themselves getting cold.
1 Feb 2026	Ok	High	Full wetsuit	Normal	3 hours	6 people	Treyshoe (76 reports)
Comment: Interesting day in Chemica. The flow was high and the 3rd rappel was pretty punishing. We set a guide line on this one and skipped the lower section.
31 Jan 2026	Great	Very Low	None	Normal	3 hours	2 people	Jcsjcs (143 reports)
Comment: Since we had just run Ghost Frog Canyon we climbed up the ridge between Quarry and Trailer Canyons to regain the fire road close to the drop-in location. Quarry Canyon had a lot to offer in the way of interesting rock formations and downclimbing, plus better rappels than we were expecting including the 70' main event which was partially free hanging. After intersecting Santa Ynez Creek we hiked upcanyon and rappelled Santa Ynez Falls.
31 Jan 2026	Good	Very Low	None	Normal	3 hours	2 people	Jcsjcs (143 reports)
Comment: Great views from the fire road on the approach. After some brush at the drop-in the canyon was a treat to hike down with interesting conglomerate sections higher up giving way to sandstone and limestone formations lower down. Plenty of fun downclimbs and some stemming. We did one short rappel.
30 Jan 2026		Moderate Low	Full wetsuit		9 hours	2 people Advanced to Expert	Dyln cole (93 reports)
Comment: Skipped R5, wasn't even aware of a rappel point. R7 turned out to be much larger for us, probably 185'. I'm guessing, looking back at photos, the rappel could be shorter stopping at a higher ledge and downclimbing, though not feasible in higher flows. Either way, I'd bring the potential for a 200' rap. R8 is a traverse line single bolt to double bolt station. Long day, very fun but the exit was exhausting. Passed the AZT and hiked uphill from the drainage to reach the trail. Overall fun day, great canyon for the area, exit and approach typical of a catalina canyon.
30 Jan 2026	Great				9 hours	6 people Beginner to Advanced	RFontaine (341 reports)
Comment: Dragons’s back approach is fun and engaging especially up top. Although there is lots of loose rock and sand on the way up to the ridge. Approach took us 2hr 45min to R1. We skirted around the drainage and rappelled off a tree on the left side. This is a nice clean shear drop, much better than the drop in the slot. I added a double knot chock to protect the sandy slide area. The narrow crack is fun, stem high if you are bigger. We were able to avoid all water with stemming. We found many anchors have been removed throughout. Many of these spots can be downclimbed by the experienced canyoneer but we had some beginners that didnt always feel the same way. Many anchors that were removed we ghosted and did not replace the webbing lots of the webbing that was there had missing quicklinks which we just ghosted off the webbing loop. Next people to go through should either be comfortable with advanced downclimbs, and ghosting techniques or bring lots of webbing… we exited down the wash this time and I liked that more than staying high on the trail.
30 Jan 2026	Great	Moderate	Full wetsuit	Normal		6 people	Treyshoe (76 reports)
Comment: Fun day training in Gata Media after heavy rain overnight made most other canyons poor options. We just ran the upper three falls. All anchors are in good shape but make sure to work with a local guide for access and beta on how to run the canyon.
28 Jan 2026	Good	Low	Thin wetsuit	Normal	5 hours	5 people Advanced	Flynny (4 reports)
Comment: Great trip R1 was kinda pointless. In future would just go down. Tourist track and scramble in above R2 R5 and R9 anchor required the nuts to be tightened. Otherwise all anchors were good.
26 Jan 2026	Great	Moderate	Rain jacket	Normal	6 hours	7 people Advanced	Flynny (4 reports)
Comment: R4 bolts missing nuts and hangers. Went off sling around boulder all the way to bottom of R5 (approx 45m) group before is had done same but got rope stuck on pull down. Careful rope placement and climbing up on knob creek right made pull down.Ok.
26 Jan 2026	Great	Moderate Low	Thin wetsuit	Normal	5 hours	2 people Beginner to Intermediate	Aquamoo (93 reports)
Comment: Fun day in LSA. Water flow is way down from last time. Used a new interesting cairn anchor for the 2 stage rap dcr. That middle of that big boulder would be a cool spot for some bolts. Unfortunately we missed lake LSA, but there were still some large pools left as remnants. Damn has a lot of work going on still, there's a culvert that you can crawl through (tight squeeze and ridiculously sandy).
26 Jan 2026	Great	Very Low	Rain jacket	Normal	3 hours	3 people Beginner to Advanced	Ephacker (4 reports)
Comment: The flows on the Kern were very low so there was not current at the pool used to cross. We shuttled people and gear with a inflatable paddle board. There was a small trickle of flow in canyon. We stayed mostly dry because of cool air temps. The surrounding hills were really green and the nearby mountains had snow which made for a nice backdrop.
26 Jan 2026	Amazing						Iwasmenttobedanglingfromoneleg (1 reports)
Comment: Tree/both upright branches that slings are wrapped around are dead and rotten but hidden by leaves on the middle 20m abseil. Slings were recently placed higher up in the dead section when i arrived and after further inspection of the dead uprights ive moved the slings lower down into the live base of the tree. Keep an eye on the tree. Might be time to bolt this abseil to prevent an accident.
25 Jan 2026	Amazing	Dry	None	Normal	11 hours	3 people Beginner to Intermediate	Claire (2 reports)
Comment: So pretty! Due to road closures we had to alter originally planned canyons (Note to self: check road closures) and ended up here at the recommendation of a ranger, very glad we did. Beta was mostly clear, got a little confused on what R1 was vs some downclimbs before it.
25 Jan 2026	Great	Low	Thick wetsuit	Normal	7 hours	4 people Intermediate to Advanced	Teamsnuggle (14 reports)
Comment: Low flow, beautiful water, very cold. Ice on the rocks and logs. A handful of short swimmers. Replaced anchors on R1 and R5.

...additional reports

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