Grizzly Creek
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| | Raps:12-14, max ↨200ft
Red Tape:No permit required Shuttle:Optional 2 min Vehicle:Passenger Rock type:Granite | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Condition Reports: | 17 Sep 2022
"We took the short approach, dropping in at 4650. There wasnt a slide, so maybe going all the way to 4700 is necessary. Most raps had webbing ready. |
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| Best season: | July-Oct
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36.8061, -118.7447
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WaterflowIntroduction[edit]
Grizzly Creek, from the Deer Cove trail, proves to be a long and strenuous canyon, with a lot of largely non-technical obstacles. The upper gorge is quite scenic, though simple enough to descend. The middle section gets less interesting, going from trees to short gorges with a lot of small slides or obstacles to provide some entertainment. Both of these upper sections would be a good bit more fun if the pools at the bottom of drops were deeper, to allow from some big jumps and slides, but unfortunately, they are mostly cobble filled. I'm not sure if this is a result of the Rough Fire, and / or if it will ever change.
The lower gorge of Grizzly Creek is by far the best part. It has quite a few exciting rappels, and probably the best slide I know of in the Sierra. It is possible to climb up social trails to the right side of the fall, and through some sketchy, loose, exposed class III climbing, reach the top of the final gorge at ~4700 feet of elevation.
Approach[edit]
From Deer Cove Trailhead, climb 2200 feet of elevation to Deer Cove Saddle. Deer Cove Creek halfway up is available for you to filter a refill on water.
From the saddle, drop down the West side, and follow the East Fork of Grizzly Creek to the confluence with the West Fork. Waterfalls start soon after.
Descent[edit]
You'll find the first couple drops easy enough to bypass. Take advantage of this, because you have a long way to go. Keep an eye out for fun slides and features, though be careful and check depth, because most pools are unfortunately shallow. We ended up doing ~5 rappels in this upper section.
The middle section begins around half a mile into your two mile descent of the creek. Short gorges are interspersed with sections of creek walking through forested sections. Some of the gorges have fun jumps, slides or obstacles, others are just walked around.
The lower gorge begins with a short sliding drop into a gorge where a good bit of vegetation in front of the next drop. Someone should probably make the sacrifice and rappel this drop in order to check the depth, but for us, this was a really really fun slide. There's probably some small potential for injury, as it is fast, and makes a sharp turn before shooting you off in the pool. Enjoy!
More fun drops continue downstream, and the canyon opens up at Grizzly Falls. The best anchor for a rappel down Grizzly Falls would be a tree on a ledge just above where it pours over, and would make for an awesome rappel. Getting to that tree would be challenging though, and you almost certainly want to set another rappel to get across to it safely. Also watch out for a crack to the right of the main waterfall that can stick ropes.
Exit[edit]
You'll see your car from the top of the falls! If you don't feel like rappelling, some (kind of sketchy) social trails exist down canyon left for a bypass.
