Conditions:Salmon Creek (Lower)-20200707203149
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...additional reports
Latest: |
28 Jun 2020 (5 yrs, 2 mos ago) |
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| Reported by: | KelMo (12 reports) | |
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| Quality: | Great |
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| Waterflow: | Moderate Low |
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| Wetsuit: | Thin wetsuit |
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| Water temperature: | ||
| Difficulty: | Normal |
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| Time: |  5 hours
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Team: 3 people with experience level Beginner to Advanced
Trip report URL:
Comments: Water was moderate-low, making the rabbit hole fun but not particularly challenging (minus the annoying "got-water-in-my-ear" factor). We did rig another rappel (3.5) off of a tree that hangs over the stream. I'm going to guess the crazies that came before us downclimbed through the stream, but it seemed awfully slippery to do that when we couldn't tell what was at the bottom of the drop (the stream curved out of view and none of us had done the canyon before so didn't know what was beyond. Spoiler: it was a small drop that was easily down-climbed!). This rappel might have been unnecessary, but now it's there, so you're welcome.
It should be noted that there is an exit path almost immediately DCL after the last rap (much before the indicated GPS point in the beta), so almost no creek-walking required (unless you're into that kind of thing).
All condition reports
| Date | Quality | Waterflow | Wetsuit | Difficulty | Time | Team | Reported by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great | Low 
| Thin wetsuit
| Normal | 8 hours
| 3 people Beginner to Intermediate | 669AllWhales (1 reports) | |
Comment: An awesome day in a beautiful canyon! Time reflects no car shuttle (extra hiking on the road) and late start in hot (95deg) weather, lunch break, some extra skills practice, confusion around R4, and lots of dilly dallying in the creek. We never spotted R1, but chose to sling an anchor for one the downclimbs between R2 and R3. Nobody in our group had ever run this canyon before and we had some difficulty locating/accessing R4. We were on the DCL side near the large bench that the beta suggested could be used to bypass R4/R5 and THOUGHT we were looking at the rabbit hole just below us (we were not). The downclimb to the large boulders on the DCL side looked sketchy and the DCR side looked full of vegetation/not the way so we chose to rig off of a tree just outside of the flow DCR and lower one person to investigate the R4 anchor situation. Upon lowering, the individual was standing on a log that gave way putting him briefly into a pool of unknown depth (possibly a different tighter that human sized rabbit hole feature?). At this point we aborted on that plan and after the lowered individual ascended back up we pivoted to rapping off of an obvious single dead tree with old rigging on the high DCL bench. Note that the beta suggests there are several trees on the DCL bench that could be used to skip both R4+R5. This is not the case. There is only one dead tree on the bench as of Aug 2025 and it dropped us about 95ft into the pool between R4 + R5. If you do choose to use this dead tree to bypass R4, I would suggest not utilizing the webbing we left behind. We rigged high on the tree over a branch because that was where the old webbing was. The dead tree appeared to be flexing/wiggling quite a bit due to the torque of the high anchor point. I would recommend rigging closer to the base of the tree in the future. Overall a great day despite being too dumb to find the real R4.
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| Great | Moderate
| Thin wetsuit
| Normal |  4 hours
| 6 people Brand new to Advanced | Julienlecorps (5 reports) | |
| Good | Low
| Rain jacket
| Normal | 5 hours
| 5 people Beginner to Advanced | Ryan.k (8 reports) | |
Comment: Not a very hot day high of 78 and we started around 10am because we had to pivot due to the incident at teacups. Very fun canyon a couple mini swims and the rock is quite slippery.
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| Good | Low
| None 
| Normal | 3 hours
| 2 people Advanced | David (16 reports) | |
Comment: We got off to a pretty late start, so the approach hike was very hot! While the water flow was on the low side, the temperature was perfect! While there is some poison oak, it is avoidable by staying in the water course.
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| Good | Moderate Low
| Rain jacket
| Normal | 4 hours
| 5 people Intermediate to Advanced | Desertnights (37 reports) | |
Comment: There are 4 established anchors in the canyon that were newly changed and smartly set with black webbing. If you stay in the main creek, you will have to do less bush whacking through poison oak. Most of the creek is down climbable, and a tree can be slung or a meat belay offered to protect those areas (slick) as needed. The rabbit hole is in great condition, but it's recommended to drop the pack down first just in case. Final rappel is great as always. The men went without wetsuits and wore jackets and the women wore wetsuits. It's very warm right now and the water is moderate but fun.
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| Great | Moderate
| None
| Normal | 6 hours
| 3 people Beginner to Advanced | Toddk (17 reports) | |
Comment: We took our time the entire day as air temp was around 105. Lots of murky water and slippery rock as well as downed trees and debris also slowed us down a bit. Replaced webbing at all the anchors. Webbing might be a bit short at the last anchor, creating a possible rope pull issue. Either extend webbing a bit more or just get back further for the pull and it should come down. Rabbit hole was moderate and fun. A very enjoyable day!
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| Good | Moderate Low
| Thin wetsuit
| Special challenges | 3 hours
| 4 people Intermediate to Advanced | Desertnights (37 reports) | |
Comment: The amount of poison oak in this canyon was the most I've ever seen. Maybe the water at the end washed some of it off, but do this canyon with a decontamination plan in mind for afterward. We did more route-finding around the poison oak than anything else in this canyon. By the pictures shown on this page, the water is high, but I would call this moderate/low overall (the only exception is the rabbit hole where the flow is concentrated). The final rappel is a stunner and the flow at the end was fun & pleasant. The webbing on the final anchor was changed and repaired; the group rappeled 2, 4 & 5 and down-climbed the other raps in this beta.
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| Great | Moderate High
| Thin wetsuit
| Normal | 6 hours
| 9 people Brand new to Advanced | Reiternick (39 reports) | |
Comment: Just had to reinforce webbing on rabbit hole rappel. Great canyon. It was 7 people of team’s first time rapelling, they did great.
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| Great | Moderate High
| Thin wetsuit
| Normal |  2 hours
| 3 people Intermediate to Expert | Aquamoo (91 reports) | |
Comment: Quick run before the drive home. We took the express approach and were car to car in less than 3 hours at a leisurely pace. Did a little bit of trail work on the approach (watch out for poison oak). We did not go in the rabbit hole, the flow was a little spicy but it was probably doable. The last rap was beautiful as always, there was a couple fishing in the last pool.
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| Great | Moderate High
| Thin wetsuit
| Normal | 2 hours
| 1 people | Jcsjcs (123 reports) | |
Comment: Biked up early in the morning from Kern Valley Airport where I had flown in and camped the previous evening. Locked the bike at the intersection of the exit trail and the dirt road. Approach took 0:50. The canyon was charming with many easy downclimbs and a good bit of boulder hopping. Rappelled R2 and must have skipped R1 and R3. The rabbit hole had too high flow for comfort so I went over the top. R5 was the highlight of the day with an incredible view under the chockstone from the free hang (picture attached). There were no water challenges in the pool. 1:30 descent time.
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| Great | Low
| Full wetsuit
| Normal | 4 hours
| 9 people Beginner to Advanced | Speeddreamz (7 reports) | |
| Good | Low
| Thin wetsuit
| Special challenges | 6 hours
| 8 people Beginner to Intermediate | Hillbelfi (33 reports) | |
Comment: Georgia Tech canyoneers on our SoCal adventure!
Lower Salmon was a bit bushwhacky at first, but the early rappels were pretty and we loved how much water there was! We were able to bypass a couple of the rappels with careful downclimbing. Special challenges at the rabbit hole where the last rappeler forgot to unclip their safety and got stuck weighted on the safety, under the chockstone and unable to climb back up to unclip it. Water was low enough that they could maneuver themselves out of the flow and get a knife sent up to cut the safety and descend. 1 carabiner as canyon booty at that anchor for whichever group comes next. Last rappel was just spectacular and a great day overall.
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| Great | Moderate Low
| Full wetsuit
| Special challenges | 5 hours
| 5 people Intermediate to Expert | Willie92708 (1004 reports),Aquamoo (91 reports) | |
Comment: We tried out a (maybe new?) sneak approach which drops you in at the big slabby area immediately above the rabbit hole rappel. We experienced some issues at the rabbit hole rappel and chewed up a lot of time. The final rappel (the second one we did) was awesome, it reminds me of Monkeyface in SoCal. Willie: water temp was 41F at the rabbit hole. Anchors are OK.
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| Great | Moderate
| Thin wetsuit
| Normal | 3 hours
| 8 people Brand new to Advanced | Greatshaitan (45 reports) | |
Comment: Great run in Salmon Creek. Ran into a few snakes. Water levels are flowing but pose no issues. Rabbit hole was nice. 100 degrees out made for a 3/2 suit a perfect option.
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| Great | Moderate Low
| Thin wetsuit
| Normal | 5 hours
| 3 people Beginner to Advanced | KelMo (12 reports) | |
Comment: Water was moderate-low, making the rabbit hole fun but not particularly challenging (minus the annoying "got-water-in-my-ear" factor). We did rig another rappel (3.5) off of a tree that hangs over the stream. I'm going to guess the crazies that came before us downclimbed through the stream, but it seemed awfully slippery to do that when we couldn't tell what was at the bottom of the drop (the stream curved out of view and none of us had done the canyon before so didn't know what was beyond. Spoiler: it was a small drop that was easily down-climbed!). This rappel might have been unnecessary, but now it's there, so you're welcome.
It should be noted that there is an exit path almost immediately DCL after the last rap (much before the indicated GPS point in the beta), so almost no creek-walking required (unless you're into that kind of thing).
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