Esme Canyon
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| | Difficulty:3B II (v3a2 II) Raps:10+, max ↨75ft
Red Tape:No permit required Shuttle:None Vehicle:Passenger Rock type:Granite | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Condition Reports: | 10 Aug 2024
"I could see how Esme could be a nice canyon when it was wetter and flowing. Its pretty dry now. The rappels are in quick succession and often have |
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| Best season: | Nov-May
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34.1979, -118.0890
34.1905, -118.1072
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Introduction[edit]
Esme Canyon (AKA Telephone Creek) is a awesome little canyon that had been sadly overlooked (and thus not previously published). Since it's just a small tributary to Eaton and descending it would normally mean missing the best part of Eaton (front end 1/4 mile waterpark). Brennen does mention Esme in his old Eaton Canyon beta, but says nothing about exploring the technical section, even though it had clearly been run at least a couple times before I first explored it in 2019. Much to my surprise my first time down it, Esme sports 10 high quality rappels all rapid fire with no brush issues between them, seasonally nice waterflow, frog puddles, and a frog pond to boot!
Approach[edit]
Approach the same way to Eaton (lower), stopping at the first rocky gully (34.19785, -118.08900) crossing Telephone trail before you reach the main creek. Down-climb and or handline down this gully to Esme Canyon floor where there is a large steel culvert collector (washed down from the road above a long time ago). Alternately, you can continue on the Eaton approach another 300 feet until you cross the creek and proceed directly down the creek, but this has not been trimmed in many years, so it's badly overgrown. Follow the creek (Esme Canyon / Telephone Creek) downstream for about 2000 feet using the bear runs on either side or in the creek floor. In some spots the bear runs go through poison oak; stick with the creek bed when in doubt. There is one low angle waterfall down-climb along the way and a couple of rocky drop-offs. Eventually you reach a 6 foot slab to to 6 foot overhanging pour-over, which I dubbed "The Spout". This pour-over (R0) can be downclimbed by using the wedged chock-stone to safely get pass the wet and or slimy part, around the rock bulge to the right. About 100 feet pass this pour-over is first roped rappel R1.
Descent[edit]
R0 6+6 feet: downclimb seasonally wet/slimy slope 6 feet with a chockstone for help, go right, jump / downclimb to dirt 6 feet
R1 20 feet: Pinch Point right side in watercourse
R2 25 feet: Rock Cairn DCL (backup old deadman buried under watercourse)
R3 30 feet: 3 logs submerged on one end into the seasonal frog pond
R4 30 feet: small dead tree DCL (backup smaller live tree)
R5 45 feet: medium size rock wedged into the dirt DCL
R6 65 feet: Rock Chock in watercourse slot well back from drop (backup bush high DCR)
R7 30 feet: rappel / handline / downclimb about 15 feet down a short rounded slot, rigged from a bush 15 feet back
R8 65 feet: the BIG steel pipe rappel DCR (banner photo)
R9 75 feet: wedged log and large rock
There is a short downclimb that follows that is easily done by stemming DCL.
R10 60 feet: tandem rock cairns (NOTE: Winter & Spring 2023 rockfall buried the back cairn)
R11 30 feet: Downclimb the rock base DCL to the creek bed or rock / dirt DCR.
Exit[edit]
STANDARD EXIT: Once in the creek bed follow the drainage bottom (careful of poison oak on left) a few hundred feet to the main Eaton Creek.
Follow Eaton downstream past a few slides, short jumps, and the last 2 or 3 rappels. Exit per Eaton
Optional Exit: WARNING: this way back up is has tons of loose rocks that you can easily send down onto your partners; BE CAREFUL using it! Climb up 450 feet vertically (700 feet total horizontally) using the nasty DS Gully: at the bottom of the R11 downclimb, head right climbing steeply up over a boulder and through the brush going steeply up slope. The path soon traverses across talus fields, across a small ravine to yucca stocks laying down marking where to turn up again. Head straight up the scree field from about 200 feet to 34.20195, -118.09249, then head into the gully left of scree ridge above one yucca directly toward two other yuccas in the gully itself. There is a 10 foot drop-off on the side of scree ridge much of the way until you reach this point. Climb up this gully soon reaching white handlines, follow these up to a short dark-red handline to get to a bush anchor off on the right side (facing up). If you continue straight up past this short handline you would have to climb through two nasty yucca plants. At the bush proceed back into the gully where the angle is lower thus it's easier to climb up. Surmount the last wall of dirt on the right (facing up) and to you are standing on Telephone Trail (Eaton approach).
Red tape[edit]
Beta sites[edit]
Trip reports and media[edit]
Background[edit]
Esme has been done by various local canyoneers over decades, but none of them bothered to document it. Since 2 different old anchors were removed from one of the drops, and many old anchors were removed during the 2019 exploration it seems that the canyon has been descended at least twice in the past, and many years prior given the extreme Sun bleaching of the webbing and cords used.
