Rachor Creek
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| | Raps:7-13, max ↨300ft
Red Tape:Permit required Shuttle: Vehicle:High Clearance | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Condition Reports: | 17 Jul 2022
"We ran upper and lower. Lower is a much different beast - very deep canyon walls with much higher flow. The flow seemed to be about double what it wa |
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| Best season: | Jul-Sep (avg for this region)
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47.5428, -121.7085
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Introduction
A wonderful canyon with a big 250'+ foot waterfall about an hour drive from Seattle (there are a few miles of dirt road driving. The upper creek makes for a wonderful 3/4 day adventure with a mountain biking / hiking approach and logging road walk back to the bicycles for a 2.5 mile ride back to the car.
A new exit out of Lower has been established and is pretty straightforward, taking about 45 minutes from the point where you exit the creek to the cars at the parking for the exit from Upper.
Approach
For the lowest pay-to-play ratio paying for a parking permit from Campbell Global logging company is the best way to go. If doing so, the exit hike becomes a 60 second walk and the approach hike is about 20 minutes. For the approach the drop in is JUST BELOW THE CANDY CANE shaped tube on the logging road. A pretty visible use trail has emerged to zig zag down to the watercourse right at rappel 1.
If parking behind the gate, it will add several hours to your day. Total hiking approach is between 3.5 and 4 miles each way. The approach is on good logging roads, but cannot be driven without a motorized access pass and gate key. Mountain bikes make a great option for the approach, but retrieval can be complicated if exiting via option #1 or option #3.
To get there take I-90 to exit 31 North Bend. Go 3.6 miles on North Bend Way and turn left on to Ballarat Ave. North. In 0.7 mile the main road turns right and becomes NE 12th Street. Go another half mile and the main road turns left and becomes 428th Ave SE. Follow the road for 2.9 miles. The name of the road changes to SE North Fork Road. After 2.9 miles you come to an intersection of North Fork Rd. SE and SE Ernie’s Grove Road. Bear left and drive up hill 0.4 mile to where the pavement ends. Continue about four more miles and you come to a major intersection with a gated road on the right. This is gate 11.
From the gate, walk or bike about a mile and a half and cross the North Fork Snoqualmie River on a bridge. Turn right and go about a mile to an intersection. This is a good place to stash bikes if you are planning to complete the upper canyon or have figured out exit #2.
Descent
Upper Rachor
- R1: 50' DCL off a tree. This has been named Guardian Falls by Brian Swan.
- R2: 45' DCL down a chute off bolts. This chute can be done as a protected downclimb at lower flow.
- R3: 40' DCL off bolts into a photogenic slot. There is webbing off a DCL tree to rig a traverse line to access the rappel anchor, which is exposed. Use caution approaching the top in the flow as there is a siphon at the edge, which can also stick your rope if you aren't careful about the pull.
- Travel around the bend down a down-climbable slope
- R4: 60' DCL webbing threaded through the roots of a huge log into a deep pool. There is now a giant log strainer in the middle of the pool that needs to be navigated with care. It is possible to downclimb the logs DCL. This is not a slide
- R5: 20' DCR webbing around a pinch into a fun chute in the flow. It is possible to downclimb the entire drop DCL (dry)
- R6: Old Spur Falls. 95' DCR chain anchor. This anchor is exposed on slippery rock, and a retrievable traverse line is recommended to access. Bolts for a 20' traverse line are available DCR.
- R7: 60' DCL off a tree. This rappel becomes free-hanging as the rock is undercut towards the bottom, requiring a swimming release in the waterfall.
- This is the end of Upper Rachor. Exit DCR immediately after R7, and follow the logging road.
Lower Rachor
This section of the canyon has been descended three known times as of July 2022.
- R8: 25' DCL off a boulder wrap.
- R9: 40' DCL tree.
- R10: 50' DCL bolts hidden from the top, wrap a tree to go 8ft down to a ledge to see the bolts for a very wet rappel. Or Rap off of the tree itself for a dry rappel.
The 300ft falls rappel sequence has three pitches.
- R11: 300' DCL from tree all the way to the bottom of Rachor Falls, or 40' to a set of bolts.
- R12: 30' DCL bolts, go down and left around a knob and out of sight on a fin with good footing to a single bolt rebelay with narrow footing.
- R13: 225' DCL SINGLE BOLT USE AT YOUR OWN RISK, 180' to a shallow pool then continue 40' down the next drop to a shallow pool. For the pull be sure to bring the pull side DCR of the vertical log at the bottom if it remains. IT IS NOT RECOMMENDED TO USE A SINGLE BOLT.
Exit
Upper Section
If only doing the upper canyon proceed DCR from below Old Spur Falls and follow the overgrown logging road back to the log pile near SMC falls.
Lower Section
After the big falls, bag up your rope and get ready for some of the best downclimbing around. Downclimb about 1,000 feet or so until the first place the walls relent and there is a steep bear trail visible on DCR. 47.5445, -121.7115. Scramble and side step up a steep and very soft slope until you reach the edge of the clear cut. Stay on the faint bear trail most of the way. Stay out of the clear cut for easy hiking under the canopy near the top of the canyon ridge until you reach the cars. Resist the tendency to go left.
Red tape
In 2015 Campbell Global bought the land surrounding Rachor Creek. To quote their website[1], "All access requires a permit including entry by bicycle, horseback and walk-in. [...] Annual individual and family permits are $60. Day use permits cost $10 for an individual and $15 for a family. For the purpose of this permit, family is defined as married spouses and their children less than 19 years of age.". The extensive list of regulations include a ban on electric-bikes, drones, and alcohol.
- 2020 Access Map: https://sqrecreation.com/sites/default/files/Snoqualmie_Forest_Recreation_Access_Map_2020.pdf
In dry years all access to land will be closed due to forest fire danger - usually coincident with prime canyon season.
Beta sites
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CanyoneeringNorthwest.com (archive.org) : Rachor Creek
Trip reports and media
Background
Beta originally provided by Steve Abercrombie / Ken Liebert. 1st Descent of Upper Creek in 2011. 1st Descent of Rachor Falls and lower creek in 2014.
