Conditions:Young Creek-20220130043748

Latest:	29 Jan 2022 (3 yrs, 4 mos ago)

Reported by:	Rernst86 (88 reports)
Quality:	Great
Waterflow:	Moderate High
Wetsuit:	Drysuit
Water temperature:
Difficulty:	Advanced
Time:	5 hours

Team: 4 people with experience level Advanced

Trip report URL:

Comments: Plan A died so we went back to Young’s to complete the set up. We added a bolt to R1. We added a bolt to R2 for a traverse line to a single bolt at the lip of the drop DCR. Rap and pull are great. On the way back we saw a state ranger who told us that the state parks don’t allow rappelling. He didn’t give us any definitive laws against it so we will inquire about it. At this point, it would be wise to avoid this run until we clear up the legality of it.

All condition reports

Date	Quality	Waterflow	Wetsuit	Difficulty	Time	Team	Reported by
23 Apr 2025	Great	Moderate	Drysuit	Normal	2 hours	2 people	Briwellman (77 reports)
Comment: The approach is pretty easy and only takes 15 mins, there is a trail all the way up. There are a few sticker vines and poison oak, but not bad. Wear long sleeves and gloves and you will be fine. The kml track needs to be redone because its lower than its supposed to be. Follow the trail to the top and go find the tree with the webbing to drop into the creek. R2 was so covered in moss that I'm not sure its been run this year. I didn't see an anchor for R3. The logs in the slot are unstable so be careful downclimbing. R4 was the normal challenging chute. I didn't see an anchor for R5. Downclimbed DCR. Ran out of time for R6 but the plan was to ascend back up rather than climb out the normal way through the stickers. I'll try it next time.
12 Jan 2025	Amazing	High	Drysuit	Normal	3 hours	2 people Advanced	Mads (61 reports)
Comment: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 I freaking love this canyon. I would give it 5 zillion stars if I could. Don’t sleep on it in winter and early spring — that’s prime Sheppy season! Fun flow, short approach and exit (& no poison oak in winter), fun rappels with technical movement (crux is quite spicy at this flow!), beautiful views. We updated some of the rope lengths to be more accurate to what we found we needed in-canyon. All anchors are in good condition.
7 Sep 2024	Good	Moderate Low	Thin wetsuit	Normal		3 people	K arc (378 reports)
Comment: Not a good time of year to run this one. Low water and overgrown approach/exit. Hauled out a bunch of trash from under the bridge.
25 Aug 2024	Great	Moderate Low	Full wetsuit	Special challenges	4 hours	4 people Beginner to Advanced	Fil (35 reports),Treyshoe (36 reports)
Comment: Lots of poison oak out right now but it was mostly avoidable. We cut out a rotten webbing handline immediately above the R3 traverse.
21 Jun 2024	Good	Moderate	Thin wetsuit	Special challenges	2 hours	1 people Intermediate	Kiwisimon (3 reports)
Comment: After work descent of Young. Approach is heinous or fun depending on what your tolerance for posion oak and briars is. Recommend wearing long sleeves and pants. Route finding can be a little tricky in spots with the vegetation currently. Rap 2 (first rap after rapping in from the approach) my 65M rope didnt quite reach the bottom. I suggest tying something to the end of the pull side to avoid having to climb up to be able to grab your rope. Could use another bolt at rap 3. Fun splashy flow. Rapped R5 and then ascended back up to avoid climbing up more poison oak infested forest after rap 6.
18 May 2024	Great	Moderate High	Full wetsuit			3 people	Tommy23 (15 reports)
Comment: Good flow good times in the Dell this morning. Tried the shuttle approach - might be easier than the scramble up but it adds time, not sure its worth it. Someone from somewhere put in a red webbing/QL anchor in the V-slot above R3. Not sure its necessary or even helps, but its not somewhere anyone will ever see it so we left it. The black webbing on the log at the end of the slot/jam is helpful - there was some new/unstable debris in the end of the slot. R3 fun as always. R4 anchor webbing had a clean cut 2/3 through the webbing. We cut out the bad section and left a short webbing loop in the pinch - there was a rotten animal carcass on the slung rock making it rather unpleasant to deal with the anchor today, and R4 can be downclimbed fairly easily. Enough flow to surf the rooster tail on R5. Looks like someone shifted the rocks at the R6 anchor since last year. Still moves a little but more stable than last July.
1 Jul 2023	Great	Moderate	Thin wetsuit	Normal	4 hours	3 people Advanced to Beginner	Tommy23 (15 reports)
Comment: Fun half day run, still a decent amount of water made the 3 longer rappels super fun. Approach getting a little overgrown with briars and poison oak. Webbing on R4 anchor was torn up and no quick link; we cut out and replaced anchor though really easy to bypass by down-climbing DCR. R6 anchor marginal - rock was moving pretty good under light load - re-rig or bypass.
1 Jul 2023	Good	Moderate	Full wetsuit	Normal		3 people	Fil (35 reports)
Comment: Fantastic fun creek for a hot summer day. Had some spectators for R4 and R5. R3 could be greatly improved with the addition of a second bolt. Super fun rappels with a great team today! R6 anchor rock is unstable and should be considered marginal. If using, consider soft low starts.
29 Apr 2023	Great	Moderate High	Drysuit			3 people Advanced	Logan (60 reports)
Comment: Fantastic early season 1/2 day canyon. Very high payoff for very little effort. 3 noteworthy rappels, 2 with a mandatory soaking and 1 rappeler's choice. Easy approach, only 20 minutes and minimal bushwacking. Exit took 15 minutes. Back to back rappels with virtually no creek walking. There are two single bolt stations (R4?) in there that could be improved with a second bolt.
1 Apr 2023	Amazing	High	Drysuit	Normal	4 hours	2 people Advanced	Mads (61 reports)
Comment: The descent is absolutely incredible in high flow. Spectacular and intimidating aquatic features with multiple spicy spots including the crux at R3. My favorite canyon I've done in the Columbia River Gorge to date. 4 hours car-to-car includes 30-mins of waiting out a hailstorm before dropping into the creek.
11 Feb 2023	Great	Moderate High	Drysuit	Special challenges	4 hours	5 people	K arc (378 reports)
Comment: Fun to be back after all these years. The short approach has really deteriorated since the fire. This is not a good long term route for running the canyon per erosion; we should figure out a better way in. Crux at R3 looked daunting from above, but proved more friendly than it looked. Found a red carabiner on the anchor. Tip of the hat to the team who installed the bolts as the old tree has completely vanished. At this level flow R5 had a big rooster tail shooting off the middle, creating this "dome" of water over the latter half of the pitch; super fun to drop down underneath. We packed out some trash from below the bridge.
14 Jan 2023	Great	Moderate High	Drysuit	Advanced	3 hours	2 people Advanced	Rernst86 (88 reports)
Comment: Great day. Not much has changed since this time last year.
29 Jan 2022	Great	Moderate High	Drysuit	Advanced	5 hours	4 people Advanced	Rernst86 (88 reports)
Comment: Plan A died so we went back to Young’s to complete the set up. We added a bolt to R1. We added a bolt to R2 for a traverse line to a single bolt at the lip of the drop DCR. Rap and pull are great. On the way back we saw a state ranger who told us that the state parks don’t allow rappelling. He didn’t give us any definitive laws against it so we will inquire about it. At this point, it would be wise to avoid this run until we clear up the legality of it.
16 Jan 2022	Amazing	High	Drysuit	Advanced	5 hours	2 people Intermediate to Advanced	Rernst86 (88 reports)
Comment: Great day at Young’s Creek. Added a single a bolt at R1 as no better options existed and didn’t want to receive a random message about anchoring to a dead tree ;). V slot was filled with debris and utilized a nice ledge to avoid it. Used a tree to get back into slot and discovered the anchor station for R2 in a brushy mess. Replaced it with webbing despite not wanting to because the pull would probably be what it was… arduous. No opportunity for a bolt station with the flow, which was high. R2 is the crux. The channel is knee plus deep and punchy. Stemming is a good idea. As you get to the lip there is a nice ledge DCR. The next 10 feet are wild. Hold tight. Pull was terrible. Used a Boulder for R3. R4 off of the railing and removed it after we were done. R4 would a Boulder too. Downclimb we “R5” and climbed out up canyon right. Fun day. Experienced canyoneers at this water level.
17 Oct 2015	Good	Moderate Low	Thin wetsuit	Normal	4 hours	2 people Intermediate to Advanced	K arc (378 reports)
Comment: Exploratory descent. Pretty good payoff for a steep short bushwhack to get in. You may have an audience on the lower rappels.