Conditions:Vivian Creek-20250417202930

Latest:	13 Apr 2025 (1 month ago)

Reported by:	StephanieM (1 reports)
Quality:	Great
Waterflow:	Very Low
Wetsuit:	Thin wetsuit
Water temperature:
Difficulty:	Normal
Time:	5 hours

Team: 5 people with experience level Brand new to Intermediate

Trip report URL:

Comments: We had a beautiful time! Gorgeous weather, good conditions, very comfortable wearing 3mm full or half wetsuits. We started down climbing DCL on R4 before we saw the bolts DCR, then climbed back up, and rappelled down R4 using the bolts. Canyon was partially sunny the whole way, which helped us stay warmer! We had one brand new participant, two beginners and two intermediate cannoneers and were letting people practice setting and managing anchors, so it was a little on the long side at 5.5 hours.

All condition reports

Date	Quality	Waterflow	Wetsuit	Difficulty	Time	Team	Reported by
11 May 2025	Good	Very Low	Rain jacket	Normal	2 hours	3 people	Mikeatran (84 reports)
Comment: Another double canyon trip for conditioning for upcoming bigger trips. Canyon was in lower flow form; definitely completable without wetsuit; a rainjacket was more than enough. Chose to ghost off of tree dcl on R3; otherwise all other stations were in good condition. A couple of items of note for folks planning on parking in the campsite though: 1. Police apparently have been given jurisdiction for issuing out parking tickets, more than the standard 5$ fine for not displaying your pass. A volunteer ranger mentioned it was closer to 80$ now and you'd have to contest in person in SB. 2. You cannot park in the day use "campsites" unless you actually have your gear or something out on the tables as it is defined as illegal/non use parking. 3. If you are using the standard parking areas noted on the beta, or using the open parking spots near the trailhead, displaying your adventure pass or yearly card is sufficient.
19 Apr 2025	Good	Very Low	Thin wetsuit	Normal	2 hours	2 people	Mikeatran (84 reports)
Comment: Part of a double canyon run with Monkeyface being second. Parking lot to the actual trailhead was open, which allowed us to park closer than the standard lot left of the entrance. R1 was missing webbing so we ghosted off of the big tree in the watercourse. All rappels looked solid otherwise, with the mention that it was surprisingly cold air temp wise and sloppy due to some remnant ice that likely will melt in the next couple of weeks.
13 Apr 2025	Great	Very Low	Thin wetsuit	Normal	5 hours	5 people Brand new to Intermediate	StephanieM (1 reports)
Comment: We had a beautiful time! Gorgeous weather, good conditions, very comfortable wearing 3mm full or half wetsuits. We started down climbing DCL on R4 before we saw the bolts DCR, then climbed back up, and rappelled down R4 using the bolts. Canyon was partially sunny the whole way, which helped us stay warmer! We had one brand new participant, two beginners and two intermediate cannoneers and were letting people practice setting and managing anchors, so it was a little on the long side at 5.5 hours.
6 Apr 2025	Great	Low	None	Normal	4 hours	1 people Intermediate	Canyondozer (8 reports)
Comment: Afternoon solo run after doing Monkeyface in the morning. Flow was strong enough to be pretty but still easily avoided. Of note were the downclimbs required in the longer sections between raps. There seemed to be ample places to put anchors around trees DCL with relatively clear paths for a guided walk down. The downclimbs were doable, with extreme care but seemed unnecessarily risky, and often were only possible due to large diameter tree debris.
29 Mar 2025	Amazing	Very Low	Thin wetsuit	Easy	3 hours	1 people Beginner	Adamlee.mt (2 reports)
23 Mar 2025	Great	Low	Rain jacket	Special challenges	3 hours	2 people	Willie92708 (997 reports)
Comment: With some wet snow on the ground we had issues getting down the otherwise easy to descent terrain between rappels (special challenges). We did extra rappels to avoid falling down on the steep snow fields. Also, we used rigging to stay out of the waterfalls, since we did not want to bring wetsuits for a cold day. The waterfalls are awesome as always (see pic).
20 Feb 2025	Great	Low	Full wetsuit	Special challenges	3 hours	1 people	Willie92708 (997 reports)
Comment: Vivian's flow is sweet (see pics), but cold! Snow that has packed to ice made the approach hike, the drop-in and moving between some drops a "special challenge". Micro spikes would help on the approach hike, but not enough for the steep slopes, so I did extra rappels down some snow fields to be safe.
2 Sep 2024	Good	Low	None	Normal		1 people	Willie92708 (997 reports)
Comment: I took the DCL "dry side" anchors and ghosted off various trees, thus no need for a rain shell. Flow is still quite respectable (see pic).
24 Aug 2024	Great	Low	Rain jacket	Normal	1 hour	4 people	Willie92708 (997 reports)
Comment: We hiked up from the bottom to see the last waterfall (see pic).
6 Jul 2024	Great	Moderate Low	Rain jacket	Normal	5 hours	6 people Beginner to Advanced	BryceM777 (14 reports)
Comment: We were able to sling the tree closest to the waterfall edge on R1 to avoid rope pull issues from anchoring the further tree. With the lower flow the closer tree on R1 is very accessible. For the whole canyon, I was in a rain jacket and neoprene socks and felt great. Overall great day!
30 Jun 2024	Great	Low	Rain jacket	Special challenges	2 hours	1 people	Willie92708 (997 reports)
Comment: My special challenges was using the DCL side to go right near each waterfall, but not into each waterfall, since it was still chilly in the morning and I was going to get plenty wet in Monkeyface afterwards. All the webbing anchors off the flow line had been removed, but no issue, since I was ghosting off big trees anyway. Flow is still amazingly high for summer and the water temp is definitely cold!
22 Jun 2024	Good	Low	Rain jacket	Easy	5 hours	2 people Beginner to Intermediate	Dimenero (3 reports)
Comment: Ants Ants Ants. The canyon was great but there seemed to be Ants just about everywhere we stopped.
9 Jun 2024	Great	Low	Rain jacket	Normal	6 hours	4 people Beginner to Advanced	Desertnights (37 reports)
Comment: Another beautiful day in Vivian Creek. We had the pleasure of having a newer person with us, so we took our time a bit with this trip. The air and the water temps were perfect, and we wore light weight neoprene and rain gear. No one was cold. We stuck a rope but recovered it safely. The flow has held nicely this year so get it while it's good.
9 Jun 2024	Great	Low	Rain jacket	Special challenges	3 hours	2 people	Willie92708 (997 reports)
Comment: Since it was a chilly morning, we did the rappels on the dry side (special challenges). Flow is still respectable (see pic) and make for amazing photography, but we were too early to have sun on the falls.
28 Apr 2024	Amazing	Moderate Low	Thin wetsuit	Special challenges	2 hours	1 people	Willie92708 (997 reports)
Comment: Since the air temp was below freezing for my early morning run (before Monkeyface at 10AM), I decided to rappel staying out of the water the whole way down on the DCL side (my "special challenges"). There are so many trees and big bushes, it's easy to ghost off of them, thus picking rappel lines near the wate rfalls, but not "in" the waterfalls. The waterflow is impressive (see pics) and the water temp is numbingly cold! If you run it soon using the normal anchors, I'd recommend a full-body wetsuit, neoprene socks, neo gloves and a rain jacket.

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