Conditions:Salmon Creek (Upper)-20210531085758
Latest: |
30 May 2021 (4 yrs ago) |
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| Reported by: | Willie92708 (997 reports), Aquamoo (91 reports) | |
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| Quality: | Great |
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| Waterflow: | Low |
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| Wetsuit: | Thin wetsuit |
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| Water temperature: | ||
| Difficulty: | Normal |
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| Time: |  9 hours
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Team: 5 people with experience level Intermediate to Expert
Trip report URL:
Comments: We only did the headwall but it was awesome. Most of our team was already pretty beat up from the previous days so we went quite slow on the hike in an out of the canyon. The gully exit was actually really nice, it was mostly brush free and pretty easygoing except for a couple spots.
Willie: We waded through the Creek just before R1, did R1 off the chockstone and knot chock (100 feet), used 60 feet as a safety over to the bolts at the headwall pour-over. From those R2 bolts it's ~160 feet to the bolts at the hanging pothole. R3 is ~220 to the next bolts on a small ledge. R4 is ~250 to the bottom pothole and 10 feet more to easy walking terrain. Then we had to cross over the slimy slabs to get to the exit gully. We used the R4 bolts with 270 foot rope doubled over as and anchor, once we climbed up between the water flow splits, to rappel diagonally over the slimy slabs. The last person extended the 270 foot with another 100 foot rope to make the other side double strand. Once on the DCR side of any waterflow, it was easy to exit.
All condition reports
| Date | Quality | Waterflow | Wetsuit | Difficulty | Time | Team | Reported by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great | Low
| Thin wetsuit
| Normal | 9 hours
| 5 people Intermediate to Expert | Willie92708 (997 reports),Aquamoo (91 reports) | |
Comment: We only did the headwall but it was awesome. Most of our team was already pretty beat up from the previous days so we went quite slow on the hike in an out of the canyon. The gully exit was actually really nice, it was mostly brush free and pretty easygoing except for a couple spots.
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| Amazing | Moderate Low
| Thin wetsuit
| Special challenges  | 14 hours
| 3 people | Willie92708 (997 reports) | |
Comment: Definitely an epic trip! We established a new line DCL which stay in or directly next to the water course down the headwall. Each of the 3 bolted stations are positioned so people can see up to the previous anchor and down to the next anchors, which makes communication much easier. Also the top 2 are set well up on the wall to prevent debris damage in high flow. The bottom ones will take hits, so we shall see how they hold up. This whole new headwall line was only a 3 hour exercise from start to finish.
As we found out the lower part has a lot of brush and that make it hard to follow the water course down. R5 and R6 directly below the main headwall are easy to figure out, but beyond that it gets messy and we bypassed one awesome rappel, because the top is a deep narrow chute choked full of brush. I saw this rappel and waterfall, only because I climbed back up to see if I could get up to the level that we had snagged our FiddleStick on a fallen dead tree. We did several more short rappels that could have been bypassed, and one long one down a slab. The final rappel is obvious, as the cliff wall is canyon wide and clear of brush and trees. We did one more short rappel DCL against the left canyon wall, because we had already battled and cut our way through a bunch of brush to get to that point. Within another hour of traveling a short ways down the creek bed, we exited onto the ridge DCR, which proved to be much faster travel. However on a steep earthen slope, I slipped and poked my eye with yucca plant. About 1mm of the tip broke off in my cornea, causing a horrible scratchy eye feeling and blurred vision. It was sunset at this point, but we still had enough daylight to get out of our wetsuit, and hike along contouring over a couple ridge and gaining the Rincon Trail. We reached the bridge on the trail as it was totally dark, and another 1.5 hours to the upper parking area. Except we had planned to go out Lower Salmon, where I parked my truck. Thus I wound up jogging downhill, mostly blind in one eye to my truck and driving it back to pick up the other 2 people. It wasn't until I got to my truck, using a mirror and a pair of 3.0 diopter reading glasses that I realized I had the yucca point in my cornea. Fortunately it did not go through my cornea, my eye doc got the tip out in like 10 seconds the next day, and all the blurry vision has since gone away. Anyway, full Upper Salmon proved to be EPIC! Oh, and remind me to update the beta with this new line and more info about the lower rappels. | |||||||
| Amazing | Moderate
| Rain jacket
| Special challenges |  7 hours
| 4 people | Willie92708 (997 reports) | |
Comment: We rigged 60 feet fixed line from a short stubby pine tree near the wide chimney for R1 down to the large pine tree over the "hollow flake". From the large pine we fixed a 200 foot rope with plenty to spare to the ledge at R2. Then down the headwall with a fixed 428 and 300 foot from the second station down. I manned the second station down for everyone to pass by and dealing with twisted rope. I then rappelled on the rest of the 428 foot rope which made the ledge with the small pine tree DCR, which is directly inline with the exit gully. We packed up the 300 footer and hiked up the gully, and went back around to de-rig the other 3 ropes, rappelling down to top of R2, disconnecting from the station, then ascending, and we pulled up the 628 feet, and then the short piece after I was up top.
The water flow would be "sporty" if we had rigged in the water course (standard R1), but since we did an alternate we did not even need rain jackets in the full afternoon Sun. If we had gone further down canyon, then we would have needed wetsuits for sure in the water course. Even so, this headwall is amazing just to rappel and witness first hand (see photo) | |||||||
| Good | Low
| None 
| Special challenges | 11 hours
| 3 people | Willie92708 (997 reports) | |
Comment: Waterflow rated "low" per reference picture, but it was was "very low" per water hazard. First, we successfully scouted a class 2/3 gully exit from the bottom of R4 all to a earthen saddle just north of the main rock dome. We marked the route with plenty of rock cairns, so hopefully others will be able to repeat. Then we rigged fixed lines from a rock pro anchor with a small tree directly above R2 (up on the ridge North of the normal R1 anchor and totally out of the watercourse), and continued the fixed lines to the bottom of R4. We then ascended the fixed line back up, more as an exercise, since we could have just rappelled and hike up the newly scouted exit route.
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| Ok | | None
| Advanced | | 7 people | CC (93 reports) | |
Comment: 95F & kept the wetsuit in the packs, water felt fine & help keep us cool while bush-wacking the middle section exit, lots of poison oak/ivy,drive to the top has some bumpy spots, R1-R4 are the big headwall
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| Amazing | Moderate Low
| Rain jacket
| Special challenges | 11 hours
| 3 people Intermediate to Expert | Willie92708 (997 reports),Afeinland (1 reports) | |
Comment: Rappelled fixed ropes down the headwall (R1 - R4), hung out for a bit, and ascended back up. Some serious bushwhacking last hundred yards of the approach, nothing poisonous though.
R1 had new-ish webbing for knot-chock. R2 has webbing and cord, both pretty crispy from sun. We backed up R2 with an active cam and padded a couple pinch points. R3 webbing ok but could be replaced. Had to tighten one of the nuts, bolts looked good though. R4 we replaced the webbing. Willie wore full body then wetsuit and was too hot on the rope climb, so he swung over into the water often. | |||||||
| | | | | FreddyUnger@Facebook (12 reports) | |||
Comment: extracts from Facebook posts, click link for full details (privacy restrictions may apply)
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| | | | | FreddyUnger@Facebook (12 reports) | |||
Comment: extracts from Facebook posts, click link for full details (privacy restrictions may apply)
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| | | | | JasonMarvin@Facebook (3 reports) | |||
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