Conditions:Soap Creek Canyon-20260103225743

Latest:	2 Jan 2026 (5 days ago)

Reported by:	Juliamcd19 (3 reports)
Quality:	Great
Waterflow:	Very Low
Wetsuit:	None
Water temperature:
Difficulty:	Special challenges
Time:	6 hours

Team: 2 people with experience level Intermediate to Advanced

Trip report URL:

Comments: Started at 1030hrs and out at 1630. Webbing looked great at all rappels. Shoes got quite muddy (sunny day after 2 days of sprinkling rain) but not bad. On R2, we used an anchor LDC with long webbing that extended under a boulder, slow transition to keep from swinging left. We continued on R2 down past the first ledge and had a fine rope pull. After going down the watercourse slightly (and being unable to avoid stepping in a calf-deep pool), found what I believe is the actual R2 above us, that descends through a hole in the boulders above. IE there seems to be two options for R2, the first being LDC that might get you a bit wet and a second option further downcanyon that completely avoids the water. For R4, we did not find webbing LDC, so we rappeled off webbing we found attached to two chockstones beneath a boulder RCD. Seemed to be different than the official anchor description that urges avoidance of RDC route. Muddy down Soap Creek North fork to confluence. Exit up Soap Creek South Fork had some exciting bits.

All condition reports

Date	Quality	Waterflow	Wetsuit	Difficulty	Time	Team	Reported by
6 Jan 2026	Good	Very Low	None	Normal	7 hours	8 people Brand new to Intermediate	669AllWhales (4 reports)
Comment: Ran this as an alternative to ice climbing during an extremely warm winter season. Canyon had potholes with water (some with a thin layer of ice) and tiny trickle at times which added a fun challenge to keep feet dry. I would not recommend running this canyon if the daily high is much below 40 degrees (unless you move fast) as the canyon had very little sun in the afternoon/technical section and some team members got pretty cold. A footstep into any icy pothole would have been a very sad day. On R1, our first person down accidentally rapped 20ft pas the R2 anchor ledge. Luckily, we had rigged to be able to lower a full 200ft of rope so we were able to lower that person to the bottom of R2. The rest of the canyon went smoothly, but we moved slow due to lack of ropes relative to people/rap length and having 4 first timers and 2 beginners in the group. I agree with the person who said the R4 bolt placement is poor. We rigged a hand line off of the boulder to access the bolts, but if I were to run it again I would likely rig off of the boulder and would use a toggle as the pull seemed like it had a very high probability of sticking. Overall a beautiful and unique canyon.
6 Jan 2026					7 hours	10 people	Cheveran (101 reports)
Comment: Super day. We enjoyed the canyon's many jumps and slides. The via ferrata exit was absolutely stunning. It is steep and exposed but extremely grippy rock. Some of the hardwear is not confidence inspiring. We did the full via ferrata and over the pass into the valley.
6 Jan 2026		Low					Ps02 (1 reports)
Comment: Exit track is open again, P1 sling is missing (no anchor left), P5 bolts closest to flow are corroded, P8a top bolt also corroded.
5 Jan 2026					4 hours	5 people Intermediate to Advanced	Cheveran (101 reports)
Comment: Dry conditions, even after some recent rain. Beautiful ocean views. Time includes a venture out to the prominent Punta de sa Foredada.
4 Jan 2026	Great	Dry	None	Special challenges	4 hours	5 people Beginner to Advanced	BryceM777 (25 reports)
Comment: We decided to do a shorter Sunday canyon to end our New Years trip before heading home. First off, the approach sucked for us, but we were also approached the canyon from the left of the ridge since I missed that comment in the beta. Big mistake (and hence our special challenges)! The approach was loose scree and very crumbly rock ranging from class 3 to even a little exposed class 4 scrambling. It is certainly tempting to start left but don’t be fooled and stick closely to the map tracks. There were 2 instances I had to give a top rope belay for less confident members. Once the approach was over, the canyon itself is quite a pleasant descent with 5 or 6 rapid fire rappels. You first see an excellent tunnel like slot for R1 and a 10ft down climb which can be rappelled for less confident members. The canyon then opens up to 4 more raps ranging from 40-60 ft. The canyon descent made all the approach toil worth it. The exit is one of the easiest you’ll ever see for DV. You pop out of R5 right at the road and make an easy stroll back to the car.
4 Jan 2026	Good	Dry	None	Normal	4 hours	4 people Intermediate to Brand new	Davidsnaz (25 reports)
Comment: The weather was relatively warm and made for a great day out. The approach is getting quite worn in and generally easily followed. We replaced the webbing on the first rap. The other webbing was quite new. There is still plenty of loose rock and the first rappel has some larger pieces that will likely break free sooner than later. There is not currently a fixed line for the 15 foot drop into the hole.
4 Jan 2026	Ok	Very Low	None	Normal	8 hours	3 people Beginner to Advanced	Nick wilkesmann (1 reports)
Comment: We completed relentless today, following the writeup in the Vic canyon book. We found the timings to be pretty far off and did 8 hours car to car when the guide suggests more like two. We had a team of three, not pros but not gumbies either and no extended stops. Very choked up by fallen trees and blackberries. We parked at the top of the track down to the falls, then hiked 2km up the road to then do the full section. Track to the falls is very well flagged, but the approach further up where we followed the map in the book was tough going through scrub. From where we hit the creek we found three extra abseils that we judged too sketchy to downclimb. Good anchor at falls Exit to the car via well flagged track after falls.
4 Jan 2026	Ok				6 hours	5 people Intermediate to Advanced	Abby Wines (63 reports)
Comment: The top half of the approach is unpleasant. Otherwise, this would be a 3-star canyon. The canyon is decent: it's in actual rock, the rock is pretty, the rappels are decent, and there are a fair amount of down-climbs. And it's a rare shorter-day canyon in Death Valley. It's just the approach that's unpleasant. The top part had ball bearings on rocks, and "rocks" that crumbled.
4 Jan 2026	Ok	Dry			7 hours	5 people Expert	Rickinlo (20 reports)
Comment: Y would you do this canyon with so many better ones nearby? Desperation.
4 Jan 2026	Amazing	Moderate	Thin wetsuit		4 hours	12 people	Reiternick (42 reports)
Comment: Great back to back raps. Fun flow after storm. We met locals at the last rap who werent aware of people getting fined at dam, so we swam to dam and exited by climbing a rock just left of the dam (10m left of dam).
3 Jan 2026	Good	Dry		Normal	7 hours	2 people Advanced	Triggerfish (79 reports)
Comment: Lower rap count made this a good choice on a day with afternoon rain forecast. Fresh anchors on all the necessary raps. We ghosted one approach rap/downclimb. Rain started when we were almost to car and well clear of the canyon. While it wasn’t hard enough to flash, it could have made the downclimbs spicy.
3 Jan 2026	Ok				3 hours		Abby Wines (63 reports)
Comment: First two rappels are not great. Then there's a natural tunnel that's cool. The third/final rappel is great - it's about 170' free hang.
3 Jan 2026	Great						Reiternick (42 reports)
Comment: Great canyon. Middle boulder hop section isnt too annoying. Definitely worth doing for first and last third which have great raps. Exit is rather atrocious, straight up muddy loose terrain and then shwacking through very dense vines and things for 20 meters, which took us a while without a machete. The thick vines section is just 20 meters long but slowed us 20 minutes.
2 Jan 2026	Great	Dry		Normal	8 hours	2 people Advanced	Triggerfish (79 reports)
Comment: Top-down. Fresh webbing all the way down, mostly on easily inspected anchors, let us move efficiently all day. Toggled most drops, which kept retrievals easy. Impressively grabby rock and approach shoes kept downclimbs fun. Recent rain made a mirror of Badwater, which was an amazing backdrop. This was our first and probably most stunning f four canyons that week.
2 Jan 2026	Good	Low	Full wetsuit	Easy	6 hours	12 people Beginner to Advanced	Anthbmarra (1 reports)
Comment: Recent rain caused the canyon water to be rather brown. There was a disgusting amount of trash throughout the canyon as well… canyon was mostly a slippery creek walk with a rappel and a few fun jumps. Out of 6 canyons on our DR trip, this was my least favorite and I felt it was highly overrated.

...additional reports

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