Rubio Canyon (East Fork)
| Rating: | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| ||||||||
| | Difficulty:3A IV (v3a1 IV) Raps:21, max ↨110ft
Red Tape:No permit required Shuttle: Vehicle:Passenger | |||||||
| Location: | ||||||||
| Condition Reports: | 14 Sep 2024
"I worked over landslide anchors and lines which chewed up over an hour. They still need help. Once at R2, the rest of the canyon run was smooth. Th |
|||||||
| Best season: | ||||||||
| Regions: | ||||||||
_Banner.jpg)
34.2142, -118.1025
Search nearby locations
Weather forecast
Waterflow
Introduction[edit]
The East Fork of Rubio Canyon adds a number of rappels to the more-traveled Leontine Extension route, joining the Leontine Extension where it enters the water course. In the winter and spring, you will likely get calf deep in pools in the East Fork and the Leontine extension. In the summer, the entire route often has just a trickle of water in only a few places, and normally can be done without getting your feet wet, if you are careful with stemming over the small pools. The upper East Fork section is largely shaded, especially in the morning, but the lower section beginning at Leontine is generally fully-exposed to sun.
Approach[edit]
Shuttle[edit]
Park and hike from Mount Wilson Red Box Road (34.2393, -118.0933) West along to the Mount Lowe Motorway Road to Inspiration Point (34.2214, -118.1092). From Inspiration Point head South East to Mt Muir, then head South from the peak on a trail to a water tank. Or from Inspiration Point follow the road to its end at the water tank. The drop-in (34.2141, -118.1028) is a use trail on the West side from the flat section (road end) just South of the water tank. It's pretty easy to spot because you can't travel any further on the road. Just look beyond the bushes at the top for an obvious heavily used scree slide. Note: the use trail to the South along the ridge does NOT lead to the East Fork, but rather down the fire break to Lone Tree Trail (non-shuttle climb up).
Castle Trail Climb[edit]
Park at the exit, hike 0.1 miles into Rubio Canyon on the exit trail, climb steeply up 0.4 miles on the connector trail, 1.4 miles on the Sam Merrill trail, then climb up 1.8 miles on the Castle trail to Inspiration Point. Follow the shuttle approach from Inspiration Point to East Fork Rubio drop-in point. Total distance (4.4 miles) is approximately the same as the shuttle approach but the vertical gain is 2700 feet!
Lone Tree Trail Climb[edit]
Get to the base of the Lone Tree Trail by either hiking a short distance into the Rubio Canyon trail (Leontine or shortcut) and taking the first trail down into Rubio creek, then backtrack to the bottom of the Lone Tree Trail. You can also access the Lone Tree Trail from the paved Gooseberry connector trail at 1101 E Loma Alta Drive. Or you can access the Lone Tree Trail by hiking the normal way into Rubio (Leontine or shortcut) to the Pavilion gully, down climb the gully and rappel 30 feet from a bush; this puts you right at the bottom of the Pavilion trail which connects to the Lone Tree Trail. You can still hike up Camp Huntington Rd / Edison Rd around the large water storage facility but as of FEB2021 there are new owners for part of the driveway, they have posted new "no trespassing" signs, erected a new fence with gate. And as of APR2021 there is now 2 different fences and gates to climb around. Once on the Lone Tree trail, climb 2000 vertical feet in 2.0 miles on the Lone Tree Trail, and then 1000 vertical feet along the steep Fire Break directly to the East Fork Rubio drop-in point.
Descent[edit]
East Fork[edit]
The drop from the water tank is steep and consists of loose sand and scree at the angle of repose - Caution for rockfall. At one point the canyon will open up with views of the city beyond a tree up high left on a rock ridge. Following the trail up to the tree leads to more loose sand. It's much easier to simply drop into the gully here to good footing. Soon you will reach the first rappel, some 600 feet down vertically.
Rappel lengths listed are from the webbing anchor itself to the deck:
R1 90' - Bolts center canyon. The rappel from here is two stage. UPDATE SUMMER2021: The Tree anchor DCL was cut down by the water company and is lodged in the 2nd stage causing rope pull issues; this drop can be split by using the big tree up slightly DCL on the 2nd stage.
A few easy down climbs lead to R2. If you use the land slide drop-in, then you join the standard drop-in just after R1.
R2 65' - 2 Bolts low DCR => UPDATE 22DEC2021: these bolts were badly damaged in during the flash flood on 14DEC2021. There is a bush 8 feet above the bolts that has webbing and is a perfectly good substitute.
R3 90' - Eyelet bolts DCL after climbing down into the first pothole. The rappel from these bolts is two stage through a hanging pothole. There is also an anchor bush high up DCL with a yucca in the way (Yucca gone 22DEC2021). Caution: the rocks (needed to climb to the anchor) directly under the bush anchor are loose!
Beyond R3 there are two short drops that can be down-climbed. The first one can bypassed DCL on rock/dirt with descent footing, then down extremely steep dirt. This first one also has to eyelet bolts in the top of a huge boulder (center canyon) for rappel . The second drop is a much more sketchy traverse DCL over a steep slab rock face, then super steep dirt. This 2nd drop can be done with a meat anchor and then partner assisted downclimb as there are enough face holds. UPDATE 22DEC2021: this drop had a cairn anchor but it washed away.
The canyon soon enters a dense forest canopy and water in the creek bed even in the dry season.
R4 60' - Tree DCR, low angle trough, normally wet and slimy
R5 90' - Bolts DCR near the pour-over, 70' to a comfy pothole, then 20 feet more to the bottom. UPDATE 22DEC2021: The tree anchor that was 32' from the pour-over washed away. UPDATE NOV2020: webbing extending from the tree so it's under 100 feet to the bottom.
R6 30' - Tree UPDATE: dead 2018, still dead 2019 :), tree is gone summer 2020 ALTERNATIVE: 40' from huge live oak tree high DCL ALT2: somewhat tricky downclimb for a move or 2 DCR UPDATE FALL2021: a new bolt provides a short handline anchor to get down the 8 to 10 feet.
The Rubio Slice enters immediately after this rappel.
R7 50' - Tree DCR, vegetated low angle drop, normally wet, can continue down slimy slopes to 95 feet
R8 20' - Tree DCR, medium angle slimy V trough, can be down climbed / partner assist or bypassed climbing a bit up DCR.
You will come to a double drop over wet slabs in a wide and shaded area of the canyon that can be bypassed by staying high on dirt DCR past the lower slab, then back down to the creek bed on steep dirt. There is a massive boulder perched under the roots of a large tree DCL nearby.
A bit further down canyon you reach the first water intake and the piping. UPDATE 22DEC2021: this water company intake was destroyed in the flash flood. You can head left across the shallow ridge to avoid down-climbing next to the pipe. On the other side of the ridge is where Rubio East South Fork connects. Further still you reach the second water intake.
R9 20' - Tree DCL UPDATE: dead 2018 with most of the top broken off. UPDATE SUMMER2021: dead tree is gone. ALTERNATIVE: easy slot downclimb DCR thanks to filling up the drop-off with dirt, rocks and sticks. ALT2: The chimney DCL can be down-climbed if dry
Soon after you leave the creek bottom on dirt trail with a sketchy "blown out" few feet, to Freddy's favorite lunch spot, a nice flat grassy area with rocks to sit on. Beyond the grassy area, skirt well out the creek bed DCR for a 100+ feet to avoid massive deadfall. UPDATE 22DEC2021: the creek bottom is easy to hike in this area, where it used to be clogged with deadfall and debris.
Optional R10 22' - Questionable rock chock low DCR. You can down-climb around R10 DCL. UPDATE 22DEC2021: rock chock is gone.
After this you'll come upon the well bolted Leontine route
Mt Muir Landslide[edit]
Warning: There is nearly continuous loose rock in this gully If you choose to go this way, be advised that you will send many rocks sliding and tumbling down the gully, possibly hitting your partners if they don't stay out of the way. All the upper part of the gully is wide so people below can wait well off to one side or the other. Where the gully narrows, it is blocky so rocks do not tend to slide as far before stopping. When you pull your rope, it's easy to dislodge rocks too. Be aware that downclimbing will send down many more rocks than rappelling. If you rappel carefully, you can minimize the rocks sliding to very few. Thus, this descent is not appropriate for large groups; 4 would be a good max. The saving grace is the angle is low, so the rocks tend to slide and not pick up much speed, but they can bounce out and get going fast! The whole landslide, except the last rappel (R1h below) can be easily downclimbed, and even the last rappel could be but is not advised because of crumbly rock walls.
The Mt Muir summit trail connects to the road closer to Inspiration Point, and at the water tank (normal East Fork drop-in point). Depending on your approach direction, use the closer end of the Mt Muir summit trail to the saddle 500 feet North West of summit at 34.21621, -118.10326. From there follow the cut path through the buckthorn thicket (most likely Ceanothus Leucodermis) about 300 feet to questionably rooted tree at 34.21580, -118.10368. This tree is the first rappel anchor down landslide:
R1ab 230'tree hanging over the landside (FEB2021 red webbing)
R1c 100' bush DCR (FEB2021 red webbing)
R1d 130' around a boulder (FEB2021 black webbing)
R1e 100' bush DCL (FEB2021 black webbing)
R1f 130' bush high DCL (FEB2021 red webbing)
R1g 100' bush / small tree DCL (FEB2021 black webbing)
R1h 100' bush high DCR above a large "hanging" boulder (FEB2021 black webbing)
Note: It is highly recommended to rappel the last 100' (R1h) as the gully has 2 significant drop-off's that are sketchy climbing and crumble on touch!
Downclimb 200' at the end of R1h, the landslide gully becomes "blocky" with much more stable rock and is easy enough to downclimb to the main drainage just below R1 along the normal route.
Slice[edit]
The Rubio Slice is a side gully that at a distance, looks steep and deep, and it is both! Unfortunately the top 500 feet is a scree chute at the angle of repose. It steep enough that rappelling 2x 200 feet and 1x 100 feet is useful. After which the Slice becomes more canyon like with a couple descent rappels in the 100 foot range, and a few short down-climbs. The gully floor is nearly completely clear of brush and it only has 2 spots with a small amount of poison oak. The steep, tall walls on both sides of the slice make it feel like a nice canyon, only if the floor where more like a staircase, it would be much more canyoneering friendly.
East South Fork[edit]
Is a class 1/2 canyon, thus no rappels and not generally interesting.
East North Fork[edit]
Has a few short rappels, plenty of low angle down-climbs, quite dry with plenty of brush and yucca's => basically worthless as a canyon descent
Exit[edit]
Exit via Rubio
Red tape[edit]
For current trail status, check this website: https://arroyosfoothills.org/land/altadena/rubio-canyon/hike-rubio-canyon
Beta sites[edit]
Chris Brennen's Adventure Hikes (St Gabriels) : East Fork Rubio Canyon- Super Amazing Map : Rubio Canyon (East Fork)
Trip reports and media[edit]
The tree at the top of Leontine Falls has fallen, bolts have been added. New anchors in the pothole have been replaced earlier in the year. 12/3/15. We incountered quite a bit of bear scat and deep scratches in trees in the upper East Fork section. Lot's of purple webbing - no need to replace them as this section is not exposed. Water flow was very low in EF and Rubio was bone dry.
5/28/16 First rappel anchor was removed - we replaced it. Damaged anchor on rap 6 - replaced.
10/20/18 All anchors solid.Tons of fallen trees now clog the narrow section just before lower Rubio. This is a major pain in the ass. => Nov 2018: dead fall has been cut so travel is now quite reasonable.
Background[edit]
First canyoneering descent on Mar.17, 2007, by Matt Maxon, Bernd Haase, Nathan Schara and Chris Brennen.
