Conditions:Pasadena Glen-20231203162743

Latest:	1 Dec 2023 (1 yr, 1 month ago)

Reported by:	Willie92708 (973 reports)
Quality:	Good
Waterflow:	Very Low
Wetsuit:	None
Water temperature:
Difficulty:	Special challenges
Time:	8 hours

Team: 2 people

Trip report URL:

Comments: We used the Bailey trail to the Jones Peak saddle, then on toward Mount Yale dropping into the Glen from the saddle before reaching the Wilson Toll Road. The path cut a few years back needs some help but is still easy to follow with minimal brush issues. Once in the canyon proper, it was smooth sailing, except for new large dead fall, tons of fall leaves and excessive canyon kelp, all which made travel much slower than normal (special challenges). There were heavy bear tracks throughout much of canyon floor, and a few frogs in the lower canyon. Solid water flow started near the top and continued all the way to the bottom (see pics), except in some stretches in the lower canyon where the water water underground. Temperature was perfect for the day and many waterfalls were lit nicely by the low Sun angle at this time of year. We ghosted 16 rappels from top to bottom, and there are no signs that anyone else has run this canyon and left any anchors.

All condition reports

Date	Quality	Waterflow	Wetsuit	Difficulty	Time	Team	Reported by
1 Dec 2023	Good	Very Low	None	Special challenges	8 hours	2 people	Willie92708 (973 reports)
Comment: We used the Bailey trail to the Jones Peak saddle, then on toward Mount Yale dropping into the Glen from the saddle before reaching the Wilson Toll Road. The path cut a few years back needs some help but is still easy to follow with minimal brush issues. Once in the canyon proper, it was smooth sailing, except for new large dead fall, tons of fall leaves and excessive canyon kelp, all which made travel much slower than normal (special challenges). There were heavy bear tracks throughout much of canyon floor, and a few frogs in the lower canyon. Solid water flow started near the top and continued all the way to the bottom (see pics), except in some stretches in the lower canyon where the water water underground. Temperature was perfect for the day and many waterfalls were lit nicely by the low Sun angle at this time of year. We ghosted 16 rappels from top to bottom, and there are no signs that anyone else has run this canyon and left any anchors.
18 Dec 2022	Good	Very Low	None	Normal	8 hours	4 people	Rapbear (73 reports),Willie92708 (973 reports)
Comment: With @Willie92708 and 2 others. We parked a shuttle at Vosburg and Sierra Madre Villa for the exit and started at Bailey Canyon. Took the East Side drop in approach. With the recent rains, the canyon has a nice sandy trail for a majority of the descent. However, the rains also brought some unstable terrain with a collection of debris and rocks. Just take your time and you'll be fine. Willie: the trimmed drop-in from the East side is holding up very well; it only takes a few minutes to drop down to the canyon floor off the ridge top. The recent rains have cleaned out the canyon floor and all the drops. Ghosted all the rappels. There are no preset anchors so be prepared. There are often many natural anchor to choose from. Ones that were memorable are a massive log that got wedged along the canyon walls and a debris pile. Pasadena Glen is a fun, albeit slightly longer canyon.
19 Dec 2021	Great	Very Low	None	Normal	4 hours	1 people	Jcsjcs (109 reports)
Comment: Locked my bike near the exit and drove over to the Midwick trailhead. Moderate bushwhacking along the washed-out road past Henninger. Approach took 2:15. The canyon itself was very beautiful and easy to move through with soft sand providing a good landing spot for jumps and slides. I downclimbed the beginning drop sequence and most later drops, logging a total of three rappels. There was some flow in the upper canyon that petered out only to resume close to the exit. I had a rain jacket but didn't need it. Bike shuttle took 25 minutes.
18 Dec 2021	Good	Very Low	Rain jacket	Normal	7 hours	3 people Intermediate to Expert	Aquamoo (91 reports),Willie92708 (973 reports)
Comment: There was more water than last time in the upper canyon but it was about the same amount in the lower section. We found a grappling hook near the very end of the canyon. Ghosted every drop again, canyon hasn't changed much from last time. Willie: we used the Bailey trail approach for the East side drop-in; took 2.3 hours to hike up the 3000 feet. We only recovered a dozen Mylar balloons this time, but 4 pieces of old webbing and the grappling hook.
8 May 2021	Good	Very Low	None	Normal	10 hours	3 people Intermediate to Expert	Aquamoo (91 reports),Willie92708 (973 reports)
Comment: Recovered 26 Mylar balloons, a world record that will never be surpassed. :) Pasadena Glen is actually a very pretty canyon, parts of it are very similar to Bailey and LSA, which is probably to be expected as they are right next to the Glen. We dropped in at the Hastings saddle to a wall of brush, it took us at least an hour to get down into the canyon. Once we were in the canyon the brush wasn't that bad, there was a decent amount of canyon kelp and Poison Oak. We ghosted all the drops we didn't downclimb. Most of the canyon had no water flow but it picked up at the very end for the last rappel.
25 May 2019	Great	Low	Rain jacket	Special challenges	10 hours	2 people	Willie92708 (973 reports)
Comment: Since this canyon rarely gets done, we spent an extra hour at least pruning our way through thick brush on the last 1/4 mile of the approach. The old road bed is mostly easy to travel, until that point. In the canyon proper, there is very little brush in the way, as it has been cleaned out by the massive winter storms this year. All the old rappel anchor material was shot, and we removed it all. Since there are tree, bushes and other materials widely available for every drop, we ghosted the whole canyon with my Fiddlestick. We did a total of 20 rappels, most are slaby troughs, some wider and more vertical in nature. All the drops were clean granite, most wet, but in the lower middle the canyon ran dry. The last few drops the water flow picked back up. Overall, Pasadena Glen is an amazingly good canyon (or at least for this trip) with nice canyon features, nice water flow, clean pools (except a few muddy ones in the lower middle) and nearly zero brush (in the canyon). It certainly could be run in class C flow for some serious fun, but as Brennen noted, it does go through some narrow chutes, so picking the right amount of flow will require some research. On the other hand, running it in the heat of the summer when it's all dried up and all the pools are stagnant, likely is what gave it bad reviews by some. I feel like it's a lost gem hidden right in plain sight in the San Gab's front range.
4 Mar 2015	Good	Shallow wading	None	Normal	8 hours	1 people	A. Anderson (33 reports)
Comment: LOTS of ticks once you turn off the maintained fire road at Henniger Flats. From the turn off to drop in I removed 20-30 ticks! Canyon was straight forward. Signs of a decent water flow (from last rains). Cleared out a lot of brush in canyon.