Garlic Falls
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| | Raps:5, max ↨230ft
Red Tape:No permit required Shuttle:None Vehicle:Passenger | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Condition Reports: | 5 Oct 2024
"Despite waiting til October for the flows to hit their minimum for the first descent, we still had to contend with 100F temps. Despite this, the hikin |
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| Best season: | Jun - Nov
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36.8634, -118.9518
36.8596, -119.0828
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Waterflow
Introduction[edit]
Garlic falls is a lovely, scenic descent couched in the middle of a long, unrelenting approach and exit. If this canyon were near a road it would be one of the highlights of the area, but as it stands its poor pay to play ratio may dissuade most comers.
Approach[edit]
Park as far down forest road 12S01 as you can get, the map was updated in Fall 2024 but it’s likely that new washouts will have occurred since then. Hike upstream along the road and the Kings River trail. There’s a nice campsite about three miles past the trailhead, under some large pines at a calm spot in the river just before the trail starts to climb up more steeply. Most groups will want to set up camp here to break the trip into multiple days. After the campsite the trail grows less maintained but is usually easy to follow. Continue up until it drops into the Garlic Falls drainage.
Descent[edit]
R1: Nuisance off of slung rock DCL
R2: 230’ Double bolts DCL.
R3a: 200’ Double bolts DCR. First stage of large drop, keep an eye out for R3b
R3b: 180’ Double bolts in a hollow about 10’ above a notable overhang. There’s only room for one person at this station. The bottom of the drop puts you directly in the flow, so exercise caution in high flows.
R4: 140’ fiddlestick off of large tree
R5: 200’ double bolts DCR
In very low flows, you can sling a tree about 30’ back from the water chute with a 250’ rope and rappel directly in the flow. However, this is not recommended except in late season low flow situations.
In high flows, it’s possible that the Kings river is high enough to cover the landing zone. In case it isn’t obvious, swimming in the Kings at high flow is not an option. If need be, you can fiddlestick some boulders about 240’ DCL to land in a dry landing zone. This probably isn’t usually necessary, but it’ll take a high flow scouting trip to say for sure.
Exit[edit]
Clamber up the hillside upcanyon right, tending to hug the base of the cliff band. Once you reach the prominent ridgeline, follow the ridge up until you reach the trail. The bushwhacking is mostly grasses with occasional poison oak, and none of the climbs should require 5th class moves. Once crest the ridge you can follow bear trails back to Garlic Falls.
Red tape[edit]
Before leaving, consult https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/sierra/home/?cid=stelprdb5399344 and look for a map of closures under alerts and warnings.
