Napoleon Falls
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| | Difficulty:3A I (v3a1 I) Raps:3, max ↨200ft
Red Tape:No permit required Shuttle:None | |||||||||||
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| Condition Reports: | 4 May 2025
"Found plenty of bushes suitable for anchoring at the top of R1 which drops down a vertical wall and was a lot of fun, especially since I brought two s |
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34.2984, -118.1761
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Introduction
Napoleon is a very short drainage close to Josephine Creek with three nice rappels.
- As with all the Big T canyons your help is needed to keep access open. This entire area is still seeing a slow recovery from the old station fire which means lots of invasive plants and overgrowth in general can quickly close off access to these areas and/or make your time in them miserable. Consider adding a pair of hand shears and/or small bypass loppers to your gear list when descending these places.
Educate yourself on how and why [1] BIG TUJUNGA CANYON RESTORATION
![[1]](http://ep.yimg.com/ay/yhst-136001134851880/forester-8-1-4-by-pass-pro-forged-pruner-pr7240-3.jpg){kind=link}
Approach
Park at the Josephine Creek trail head and cross the guard rail at the top of Napoleon. Descend to the trail, cross it, and continue down the drainage. You should see a pine tree with a crooked top, head in this general direction.
Descent
Rappels
R1: 200 ft, anchored from a dead bush 140 ft down canyon from the trail. The rappel is NOT at the crooked pine tree, that is just an indicator that you are in the correct drainage. The anchor is at the lowest point in the drainage.
There is high potential for rockfall on this first rappel. The people at the bottom should get well out of the way.
R2: 145 ft, anchored from a tree down canyon left 30 ft from drop.
R3: 80 ft, anchored from a tree down canyon left 25 ft from drop.
Cautions
Watch for rock fall and be sure to stay out of the fall zones.
Exit
Turn right and hike up stream in Big Tujunga until Josephine Creek enters on the right (LDC). Follow the Big Tujunga exit at Josephine Creek back to the trail head. As you come around the ridge looking up toward Josephine you will see a steep use trail on your right that connects to the trail from Josephine.
Red tape
Beta sites
Trip reports and media
Descended and beta created on November 20, 2013, by Benjamin Pelletier and Alden Anderson. They were, however, not the first to explore this drainage.
First known descent in 2007 by Ken King, Suzanne Tinaka, et al.
Background
Named after the short but powerful French emperor due to it's proximity to Josephine Creek and the brevity of the descent.