Grapevine Creek
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| | Difficulty:4A II (v4a1 II) Raps:2-4, max ↨120ft
Red Tape:No permit required Shuttle:Required 10 min Vehicle:Passenger | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Condition Reports: | 21 Feb 2016
"First documented descent trip but found out it wasnt the first descent ever as old webbing found on R1 with no link. A lot of down climbing. A lot o |
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| Best season: | Winter or Fall
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33.6531, -116.4230
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WaterflowIntroduction[edit]
A short canyon with a substantial amount of down climbing. No easy anchors and recommended for a cool day as there is no shade throughout.
Approach[edit]
The trip requires a shuttle, park the exit vehicle in a parking lot right off Highway 74 at the Art Smith trail head. From there, drive up the mountain 4 miles to a large turnout and park there. You will see a drainage immediately to the west, this is Carrizo Creek. Drop in to Carrizo and head upstream for about .2 miles looking for a small drainage on your right. Follow this initially steep drainage in a north west direction until it meets with Black Hills Road after about 500' of elevation gain. There will be 3 dry falls you will have to scramble up or around on. Follow the road for about .5 miles until you come across another drainage on your left and follow this down until it meets Grapevine Creek.
Descent[edit]
This canyon has a lot of down climbing and rock hopping and some may consider setting up quick hand lines or even rappels in some areas. Down climb your way to the one significant obstacle about .9 miles from the drop in. Here are the 2 only rappels we did.
- R1: 20' from two pinched boulders. Consider your pull as the angle is a bit odd.
Immediately after that rappel you will come to another rappel. Here the canyon opens up and drops probably 200' in front of you. The drop is tiered and composed of broken boulders and large chunks of earth so a 200' rope is not necessary.
- R2: 120' It's easier to make an anchor directly on the water course and into a narrow slot that drops about 60' and may be able to down climb the rest. We however opted to rappel down the "side" of the fall DCR as there was a beehive in the slot. Anchored off a crack/column of rock with the webbing somewhat extended.
After this rappel there will be no substantial drops. The down climbing that follows will be a bit more difficult than previously.
Exit[edit]
After the large fall, hike roughly another .5 miles until Grapevine meets Dead Indian Canyon. Once at Dead Indian look for a trail and follow it for a little under a mile to return to your exit vehicle.
Red tape[edit]
Consider that the BLM closes Dead Indian Canyon from January 1 to September 30 to protect the Bighorn Sheep. Something we weren't aware of coming from Grapevine.
Beta sites[edit]
Trip reports and media[edit]
Background[edit]
First document descent by Christian, Jose and Alejandro Lupercio. It has definitely been descended before as we came across old webbing on R1 but no beta has been documented that we could find.
