Gnat Creek
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| | Raps:5-6, max ↨100ft
Red Tape:No permit required Shuttle:None Vehicle:Passenger | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Condition Reports: | 6 Jun 2020
"First known descent of Gnat Creek. Super thick bushwhacking in. Some nice falls, but areas of the creek are filled with woody-debris. This creek ne |
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| Best season: | April-June
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46.1189, -123.4813
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Introduction[edit]
Gnat Creek drains a plateau area in the northern coast range and goes through a number of drops in short succession. The creek has some very nice waterfalls, but getting in and out is a total bear, requiring serious strenuous bushwhacking. Without a map and GPS you are liable to be lost forever in the thick coastal rainforest. Gnat has a very high pay-to-play. You've been warned! There's also a lot of blowdown and woody debris in the creek. Gnat will come into its prime after the next 100-year flood event. If the creek ever blows out and a decent way in and out is established, this would be a fine 3-star creek.
Approach[edit]
Descent[edit]
- R1: 30ft. Anchored on a large log that's conveniently fallen across the top of the falls.
Hike downstream through the jungle for 0.1mi to the next falls. Few short downclimbs or slides along the way.
- R2: 70ft. It appears that a decent trail leads to the top of this falls, but it's not clear where this branches off the old track above. Certainly skipping R1 and starting your descent from here would be easier. There is a lack of good anchors near the top of the falls, so we rappelled from a tree DCR on a line well out of the water. Dropped about 50ft to a waterfall photographer's trail. You can downclimb through a thicket of vegetation to a good viewpoint of the falls - and downclimb further from here past two smaller drops all the way to the bottom. Duck under a log and climb over a couple of others to get back in the creek.
Head downstream a short distance to the Corkscrew. The creek winds around a sharp corner here passing over two short drops that are filled with total mess of debris. Either find a way to carefully downclimb through, or bypass DCL with a short dirt glissade.
- R3: Middle Gnat Falls. 70ft (but you'll run a 200ft rope all the way out given the horizontal distance). Spectacular waterfall and worth the price of admission. This one's up there with Little Niagara Falls up near Indian Heaven. If there was a trail here, it'd be overrun with tourists. Anchored off a tree DCR. Lovely bedrock downstream of the falls.
- R4: 30ft
- R5: 10ft to a logjam and downclimb from there. Might be possible to rappel down the groove DCL.
Exit[edit]
Time to pay the price and get your thrash on. Exit the creek DCR and thrash your way up wherever is easiest. Your best bet is to head up, staying on the nose of the ridge until you reach the plateau.
Red tape[edit]
None.
Beta sites[edit]
Background[edit]
Gnat Creek was first descended in June 2020 by Karl Helser, Keith Campbell, Wade Hewitt, Deb Hill, and Kevin Clark.
