Conditions:Strawberry Creek-20220701010425

Latest:	26 Jun 2022 (3 yrs ago)

Reported by:	DelS (2 reports)
Quality:	Poor
Waterflow:	Dry
Wetsuit:	None
Water temperature:
Difficulty:
Time:	13 hours

Team: 3 people with experience level Beginner

Trip report URL:

Comments: I think this would have been a better canyon run if there was any water to rappel along with. Even the interesting rabbit hole and 150ft are all lackluster. The 150 ft there is a fallen tree right at landing.

Most webbing needs to be replaced. We replaced 3 but the rest were too hard to dig out with the bare minimal tools.

The exit out may be better if the team had a better navigator (I was nav). If you follow the caltopo suggestion of water exit you're going to have a bad time. It's overgrown with poison oak, stinging nettle, fallen trees, and branches from growth. People exiting out ridge line is suggested by the rest of the reviews so i can see the reason behind it now.

Things you will need if you run this canyon in the summer and follow creek exit: Loads of water. Prep for a 3BIV not III.

Long sleeves due to all the poison oak and stinging nettle. As well as gators if you drop from inspiration point.

We generally had a hard time due to our own faults of lack of good gear,etc.

Overall it seems like people hardly do this canyon and our group will probably not go back.

All condition reports

Date	Quality	Waterflow	Wetsuit	Difficulty	Time	Team	Reported by
12 Oct 2024	Good	Dry	None	Special challenges	11 hours	4 people Intermediate to Advanced	Desertnights (37 reports)
Comment: This is a pleasant fall canyon with a lot of foliage. The canyon itself isn't overgrown and presents some fun challenges with anchors. If you have a team that's proficient with anchor evaluation, building, and ghosting, this is a good canyon for you. In the fall, the algae should have died off, and downclimbing/scrambling is easier to do. The exit is a 'special challenge' on its own; you will need good navigational skills to do the ridge exit as there's no track for it here. The creek had a little water, and we brought garden clippers and a machete with us. We needed them to clear away the poodle dog bush and the blow-downs that fill this creek 'walk'. There's an obvious gully when you are around ~3600 feet on the topo map. There are some signs people have scrambled up in this spot. It's not very exposed, and you should leave the creek bed at this spot. There are faint trails that will take you up to a ridge (~3850 is the top out). The trails leading to the ridge are clear. Once on the ridge, though, we lost that trail and navigated our way down the ~400 feet to where the land flattens; this spot should be obvious from the topo. From here, we picked up a trail through a dry streambed that had clearly seen human traffic. When you're ~100 feet from the road the trail becomes overgrown. Here, trend AWAY from the main creek and exit to the left of the bridge.
24 Feb 2024	Great	Very High	Full wetsuit	Advanced	8 hours	3 people Intermediate to Advanced	Austin3623 (16 reports)
Comment: This canyon has received some mixed reviews from the limited number of people who have descended & reported on it. Would love to attempt to clear the air and hopefully breathe some much-deserved life into this beautiful route. Strawberry Creek runs extremely well with healthy water flow. Underwhelming reports below were clearly in dry/summer conditions. In moderate flow or higher, Strawberry creek is an awesome day, and yes, even worth the hike out. Obstacles feel similar to LSA with low-angle granite walls & large chalkstone boulders (think fewer deep pools i.e. no pothole, but taller & more challenging rappels, and the scenery is more beautiful). Several rope pulls looked bad but had no issues there. Riverbanks and canyon walls are still quite overgrown, especially as you descend deeper into the canyon. We’re going to run it again in a few weeks to test out the approach and express exit from the Arts Academy (North) side, which is CLEARLY shorter, easier and less overgrowth. FLOW: Even though we had an amazing day in C3 conditions, I actually think this route would be best in Moderate - Moderate High range (C1-2). Many of the big rappels looked excellent, but were simply too narrow & dangerous to run down the middle of the watercourse in current conditions (i.e. R3, R8, R9). DROP-IN: The previously mentioned Inspiration Point drop-in is doable, but steep and overgrown with thorn bushes, even in February. We will not be using this route again unless absolutely necessary. DIFFICULTY/COMMITMENT: This is not a canyon for beginners, due to its requirement for inspecting and building natural anchors. However, for intermediate and advanced canyoneers looking to try new challenges (i.e. high water flow, ghosting natural anchors, etc.), this could be an excellent practice route, due to the low commitment required. The entire DCR (northwest) side of the route is escapable in all but just a few areas. Additionally, with a wide creek bed and abundance of trees and boulders, each rappel has multiple options for descent. WATER TEMP: We thought the water was going to be much colder than it really was. Turned out to be pretty similar to Eaton. A 4/3 should be perfect right now. LENGTH: If you run the full route and exit at the bridge, this route should be a 3BIV. ANCHORS: Red webbing DCL on R3 is sketchy at best. The chalkstone felt strong, but should be inspected closely each time and managed to make sure it doesn’t slip over the top of the rock that it’s tied to. When flow dies down, feel free to cut this out and replace it with one that’s positioned elsewhere. PHOTOS: https://photos.app.goo.gl/gRGuqMezpHvoGCdZ8
24 Feb 2024	Great	Very High	Full wetsuit	Advanced	8 hours	3 people Intermediate to Expert	Abcalvo (3 reports)
Comment: Very High-Flow bordering Extreme. Past reports cite starting at inspiration point then walking down the grade to the start of the canyon, however trails seem to exist DCR near the Arts Academy. If possible, talk to the security guard and ask permission to park there. We skipped the rappel into the Rabbit Hole due to the high flow. All of the existing anchors had to be replaced. Red webbing was used to construct an anchor high up DCL wall around a rock lodged in a crack for Rap 3. A cairn anchor was constructed to help equalize the natural anchor used for Rap 7 DCL--the hanging sycamore tree was bypassed due to the high flow creating unnecessary risk traversing to the tree. Rap 8 was bypassed by downclimbing DCL and rappelling out of a large sycamore tree. A tree DCL was used for the anchor for Rap 9. Rap 9 has two possible descents--either through the water course or DCL of a large boulder, leading to a small free hang then easy downclimb. In extreme or dangerous conditions, the descent DCL is much safer. After Rap 9, we hiked through the water course before ascending halfway up the ridgeline DCL for an easier exit. Once we rounded the natural bend of the ridge, we made our way down the ridge, and through a large flat space ~3400'. The illegal weed farmers were not present due to this being too early for the season, however irrigation pipes and electrical wires can be seen throughout this area, so please proceed with caution throughout summer and fall. The toughest part was the exit, and if you do a shuttle system using a car at the exit near the bridge, do not forget your keys at the top of the mountain.
26 Jun 2022	Poor	Dry	None		13 hours	3 people Beginner	DelS (2 reports)
Comment: I think this would have been a better canyon run if there was any water to rappel along with. Even the interesting rabbit hole and 150ft are all lackluster. The 150 ft there is a fallen tree right at landing. Most webbing needs to be replaced. We replaced 3 but the rest were too hard to dig out with the bare minimal tools. The exit out may be better if the team had a better navigator (I was nav). If you follow the caltopo suggestion of water exit you're going to have a bad time. It's overgrown with poison oak, stinging nettle, fallen trees, and branches from growth. People exiting out ridge line is suggested by the rest of the reviews so i can see the reason behind it now. Things you will need if you run this canyon in the summer and follow creek exit: Loads of water. Prep for a 3BIV not III. Long sleeves due to all the poison oak and stinging nettle. As well as gators if you drop from inspiration point. We generally had a hard time due to our own faults of lack of good gear,etc. Overall it seems like people hardly do this canyon and our group will probably not go back.
5 Jul 2021	Ok	Very Low	None	Special challenges	6 hours	4 people Brand new to Advanced	Greatshaitan (45 reports)
Comment: We started the trip from Inspiration point and dropped in to avoid dealing with the guard at the Arts academy. I highly suggest that further trips drop in from here to not cross into private lands. The drop in too about 10 minutes and was quite simple. Canyon was barely flowing with all anchors in good condition. We exited quickly to the ridge line to avoid the growth in the canyon and ran into a large illegal marijuana grow DCL starting about 3400ft of elevation. Someone was tending the grow but we were able to avoid them. Be carful out there.
19 Jun 2021	Poor	Low	None	Advanced	12 hours	5 people Beginner to Advanced	KodakMoments (1 reports)
Comment: READ: Route has good anchors and is beautiful, but potentially dangerous if started too late. There is lots of stinging nettle and poison oak. Our party of 5 started at 11 and finished at 12. This was mainly due to the super high vegetation at the basin causing super slow movement. This should ONLY reflect going in high vegetation months(June-August)... Please keep your party safe, hydrated, and prepared if you are going to start this later in the day.
31 Mar 2021	Amazing	Moderate Low	Thin wetsuit	Special challenges	9 hours	2 people	Willie92708 (1003 reports)
Comment: We did the shuttle run, but with our late start hiking (about 10AM) we had to sneak around the guard at Idyllwild Arts through the forest of sticker vines (special challenges). Once past that it was smooth sailing through the canyon features. The water temp was colder at the top (9.4C was measured at the bottom of R9) and made my feet a bit cold in only thin neoprene socks. We rebuilt a few of the anchors since their locations have move and the pulls were not so great. I trimmed sticker vines on the last rappel, because my rope got seriously tangled in the vines. The long exit was OK; some poison oak here and there; but got old after 1 plus. So we hike up onto the ridge DCL which was easier travel and made it back to the road after 30 minutes doing that.
14 Jul 2019	Amazing	Low	Rain jacket	Special challenges	8 hours	2 people	Willie92708 (1003 reports)
Comment: This canyon is AWESOME! Seriously, it's a instant SoCal gem with beautifully sculpted granite waterfalls, amazing views, a "strong" class "B" water flow, easy access (from the top), and basically zero brush in the way. It's very much like a Sierra's canyon. The water temp was quite pleasant given the altitude. I wore neoprene shorts and a full sleeve top which was overkill; I splashed water all over myself often to stay comfortable. I took the top off for the hike out. The only real issue is the exit. So we punted on that one. We hauled in enough rope to rig the canyon fixed line down and ascend back up. I found some of David's anchors, but for the most part we rigged our own, since we left ascent lines in places where it was easier to climb back up. We rappelled in the brunt of some waterfall and the big rabbit hole, but pulled those lines, leaving other fixed lines in place for exit. With only 2 people I wound up with a 55 LBS pack with all the wet rope at exit. Still, it was worth the effort as the canyon really is THAT amazing!
6 Jul 2019	Great	Low	Rain jacket	Normal	7 hours	6 people Intermediate to Expert	Dangel (157 reports),Randy88fj62 (13 reports),Morgan (103 reports)
Comment: Wildflowers and lizards everywhere. Flow was perfect, My 1mm shortie was a little too much in places, but one person in our group was shivering a bit, so maybe my solution was good. It was pretty hot outside and we went through lots of water. The construction issues are annoying, but we figured out how to game turning off to the backup parking area during the car escort. It would have been nice to just park next to the canyon exit.