Conditions:Turtle Tears Canyon-20250223173837

Latest:	22 Feb 2025 (28 days ago)

Reported by:	Mastyle2000 (5 reports)
Quality:	Good
Waterflow:
Wetsuit:
Water temperature:
Difficulty:	Normal
Time:	6 hours

Team: 12 people with experience level Beginner to Advanced

Trip report URL:

Comments: Condition of drive to Trailhead Group of 12 from Las Vegas. We did not take the exit at Jean. We continued south on I-15 and left the freeway at 35.68179, -115.37709 and went through the gate. Then after 0.1 miles, got on the dirt road. MUST have a 4x4 with high clearance if you want to make it all the way to the trailhead parking.

Going past the turnoff for Desperado Canyon, the dirt road is washed out in many places. Makes for a bumpy but fun ride on the last 1.25 miles to the TH.

Canyon Conditions: Weather was great. All anchors and webbing are in good condition. Rebuilt/rearranged one cairn anchor. Replaced a rusting quick-link with a new one, even though it would have been fine to rappel on it. By our count, we did 8 rappels. 2 of those were 2-stage. Those may have previously been separate raps but we decided to use a longer rope and make it one.

For a couple of anchors, the webbing is through a small hole in the rocks. It looks uneasy but those are sturdy. We meat-anchored and soft-started at these to keep stress on the rock to a minimum.

Some downclimbs do look tricky. Rope-assist will be helpful for those who feel uncomfortable. But there are hand- and foot-holds, small cracks that are accessible to carefully and safely downclimb.

In the main write-up, last rap is listed at around 70-75 feet. That is not correct. We dropped a 120-foot rope and there was only about 15 feet length at the bottom. I will edit the length in the main write up.

All condition reports

Date	Quality	Waterflow	Wetsuit	Difficulty	Time	Team	Reported by
22 Feb 2025	Good			Normal	6 hours	12 people Beginner to Advanced	Mastyle2000 (5 reports)
Comment: Condition of drive to Trailhead Group of 12 from Las Vegas. We did not take the exit at Jean. We continued south on I-15 and left the freeway at 35.68179, -115.37709 and went through the gate. Then after 0.1 miles, got on the dirt road. MUST have a 4x4 with high clearance if you want to make it all the way to the trailhead parking. Going past the turnoff for Desperado Canyon, the dirt road is washed out in many places. Makes for a bumpy but fun ride on the last 1.25 miles to the TH. Canyon Conditions: Weather was great. All anchors and webbing are in good condition. Rebuilt/rearranged one cairn anchor. Replaced a rusting quick-link with a new one, even though it would have been fine to rappel on it. By our count, we did 8 rappels. 2 of those were 2-stage. Those may have previously been separate raps but we decided to use a longer rope and make it one. For a couple of anchors, the webbing is through a small hole in the rocks. It looks uneasy but those are sturdy. We meat-anchored and soft-started at these to keep stress on the rock to a minimum. Some downclimbs do look tricky. Rope-assist will be helpful for those who feel uncomfortable. But there are hand- and foot-holds, small cracks that are accessible to carefully and safely downclimb. In the main write-up, last rap is listed at around 70-75 feet. That is not correct. We dropped a 120-foot rope and there was only about 15 feet length at the bottom. I will edit the length in the main write up.
2 Jan 2025	Good				6 hours		123456789 (1 reports)
Comment: Road bad condition, on final road to base better to go offroad on side and everything washed out atleast mile from "parking". Class 3/4 scramble through rock cliffs with cactuses, some challenging down climbs before first rappel. Anchors were in mixed condition some washed out, some in bad condition, replaced webbing. The "bush" at R3 is gone so 2-stage Rappel 2 & 3. Rappel 5 "bush" is holding but sideways. 8-9 rappels with natural anchors, cairns, deadmans, a few cool limestone rock pockets, lines going through stingbush that gets on your hands. The last rappel is big 90/100ft and nice. Small downclimbs to exit the canyon then walk down the wash back to as far as your car could make it up the road and be glad you had fun and made it out, 6hrs.
24 Jan 2023	Good	Dry		Normal	3 hours	2 people Advanced	Coalemus (160 reports)
Comment: All webbing was in great condition. Love the fun jug-handle anchors. The current kml sends you straight up (and, later, over the edge of) some big cliffs so I'll upload a better one. Fun canyon with some great downclimbs. Zero turtles encountered.
24 Nov 2022	Good	Dry	None	Normal	3 hours	7 people Brand new to Expert	Rbowru (53 reports),Xenonrocket (102 reports),Screutz (13 reports)
Comment: DO NOT USE GOOGLE MAPS BLIND! We ended up doing ~40 min extra of rough road driving than we needed because we ignored the very helpful driving track that's listed on ropewiki. We also discovered a new-ish pull out from the I-15 side with the gate open which offers even easier access. Be careful using the GPS track. Until replaced, there's a section that suggests going over a cliff edge. A fairly down-climby canyon. Bring extra webbing for anchor rebuilding. Rap 3 was anchored off a small tree that's seen better days and should be re-evalated. Rap 4 (?) was anchored using red & blue accessory cord that shows sign of wear and should soon be replaced on a near future descent. Our group of 7 with mixed experience levels took about 3.5 hours total, about 1.5 hours for the approach hike. The canyon seems frequented, a group of 4 was descending in front of us. We found 0 dead turtles. Happy thanksgiving!
10 Feb 2019	Good	Dry	None	Normal	4 hours	2 people Advanced	Tarannosaurus (26 reports)
Comment: Road conditions to the trailhead have gotten worse over the past year or two and we had to park further down the wash and hike an additional ~0.5 miles to the trailhead (it's not that hard to reach the limits of our AWD Mazda CX5). Canyon and anchors were in good condition; the approach is surprisingly vertical (but hey, that means it's over with quickly!).
21 Oct 2018	Good	Dry	None	Easy	4 hours	6 people Beginner to Expert	DMonroy (188 reports)
21 Oct 2018	Good	Dry	None	Normal		7 people Intermediate to Expert	Jem jem (3 reports)