Ruby Canyon
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| | Difficulty:3B V R (v5a2 V) Raps:10, max ↨200ft
Red Tape:No permit required Shuttle:Required 50 min Vehicle:Passenger Rock type:Conglomerate | |||||||||||||||
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| Condition Reports: | 18 Jun 2023
"Perfect day with ideal air and water temperatures. Parked the shuttle vehicle at the Pothole Trailhead at 34.512°, -118.761°. Since the beta was wri |
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34.5796, -118.7679
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Introduction[edit]
A beautiful conglomerate canyon in the Los Padres National Forest. It starts with an interesting slot canyon, followed by some down-climbs and short rappels before it drops dramatically into Piru Creek. It's a pretty unique canyon with narrow portions, interesting ledges, small caves and potholes. Because of the long exit (10-11 miles) it is usually done as a 2 day canyon trip, with a bivy in Piru Creek. It could be done in one long day, perhaps if you skip the technical tributary canyon (Larp Canyon), dropping in one of the other non-technical tributaries, start pre-dawn and are prepared to hike out in the dark (it would be a good idea to be prepared to bivy in case it comes to that). The technical section itself isn't super long but drops significantly in a short distance. This canyon is among the best in Southern California.
After a lot of rain be wary that the canyon could be flowing and may change the rappels significantly. For example the 200' rappel in the lower section relies on having an anchor from a rock and small tree in a hanging bowl. One or both of these anchors may not be there after a lot of rain or may be hard to get to with water. If Ruby has water then Piru Creek is probably at high flow. The first descent was done on November 22nd, 2014 after a few years of drought. This is not a beginner canyon, you should be very familiar with natural anchors and be ready to rebuild everything.
Warning: This general area of Los Padres NF has historically had significant illegal grow-ops
Approach[edit]
This route requires a car shuttle. Spot your exit vehicle at Lake Piru. Take Piru Canyon Road until you reach a locked gate across the road at 34.479969, -118.770558, park in the paved lot on the right (east) side of the road. All vehicles entering Lake Piru are required to pay a fee of $10/day.
To get to the trailhead take Hwy 126 east to Interstate 5 north, exit on Templin Highway. Turn left and drive under the freeway and continue north approximately 3 miles to Oak Flat Campground/Oak Flat trailhead which is at 34.5990, -118.7226. Follow the trail from the parking area as it winds its way to the ridge where it intersects with the fire road at 34.5914, -118.7293. From here there are a number of drainages all leading to Lower Ruby Canyon. There is a use trail that more or less follows the main branch of Ruby Canyon. To get to this take a left at the fire road and continue on to around 34.5855, -118.7249 ("alt ruby drop in" on the kml). Somewhere between there and 34.5848, -118.7240 you should be able to spot the use trail (please update the exact coordinates when you find it). If not just descend anywhere that looks the easiest and will end up the main branch of Ruby as marked on the USGS and USFS maps.
(To drop-in via LARP canyon) Once you reach the fireroad at 34.5914, -118.7293, go right (NW) and follow the fire road as it curves around the mountain. When the fire road begins to make a wide turn, you'll see a prominent rock formation on your left, and a ridge trending west. That ridge will take you to the drop-in of LARP Canyon. Stay mid-way up and on the right side of the slope directly in front of you to gain access to the ridge, and follow the ridge to the West. There is somewhat of a use trail that follows the ridge. Take this to the drop in point of Larp Canyon at 34.5940, -118.7483.
There are other ways you can drop into Ruby but this is the route taken on the first descent. From the Oak Flat trail as soon as you reach the fire road at 34.5914, -118.7293 the Ruby Canyon drainage is directly in front of you. One can drop in through any of these drainages which may or may not contain rappels.
Descent[edit]
Drop-in via Ruby Canyon-Main
Once the trail reaches the fire road at 34.5914, -118.7293 turn left (S-SE) and continue about 1/2 mile to approx. 34.5857, -118.7247 and make your way down into Ruby Canyon. Once you are in the canyon follow use trails initially and then into the stream course. There are no rappels in this upper section of the canyon, and none until you reach "Lower Ruby."
Drop In Via Larp Canyon
From the saddle on the ridge descend the slop into the watercourse. After ten minutes or so you will come to the first significant obstacle, a narrow crack. We down-climbed high LDC. It's pretty loose so be careful. The only stable looking busy to anchor from appears to be over the small saddle LDC, and then about 8' down the scree slope on the left side (not the closer bush on the right side, which appeared unstable)
Rappel 1: 25' from a rock center canyon.
Rappel 2: 30' from a bush LDC. A few down-climbs put you at rappel 3.
Rappel 3: 30' from a bush RDC. A short downclimb is required to get to the bush.
Rappel 4: 160' Anchored from a bush high RDC. There is also a bush RDC after a precarious down climb which other parties have evidently anchored from, but the stability of that bush is deteriorating and the down climb is dangerous. There are various other options to anchor from. You can get off this rappel a little early (20' or so) and climb around RDC (poison oak) or a more difficult down-climb RDC with a partner capture.
After this rappel follows intense bushwhacking through abundant poison oak, which is virtually unavoidable.
Rappel 5: 25' from a knot chock center canyon, or a bush RDC, which is a better option. Followed by a short down-climb.
Rappel 6: 25' from a bush RDC. It may be possible to down climb this drop.
Continue down canyon avoiding the poison oak. There are some down-climbs and climb-arounds but no more mandatory rappels. Soon you will reach the junction of Ruby canyon and the going gets easier. It is mostly a sandy wash with pretty light bushwhacking. There seems to be a fairly worn use trail to avoid the bushwhack. After just under a mile you will arrive at the Ruby narrows followed by the lower technical section. The canyon begins as an interesting crevice through the conglomerate which deepens suddenly.
Lower Ruby:
This is where the canyon gets good. The canyon starts off with a short beautiful narrows section in the conglomerate rock, followed by a few down-climbs. Some of these down-climbs are difficult and some parties may choose to rappel in a few areas or meat anchor with your best climber going last.
Rappel 1: 70' from a pinch-point RDC between a very large and precariously balanced boulder and a smaller boulder.
Rappel 2: 100' from a pinch-point low LDC, dropping over a few stages.
Rappel 3: 30-40' off of a rock fin.
Rappels 2 & 3 may be combined with the appropriate rope, as the pull is clean through those two drops.
Warning: a pinch point in the flow a few meters downstream of the R2 anchor has been known to trap ropes. Utilize extreme care when setting the path for the rope and pull cord.
Rappel 4: 25' from a tree LDC. The tree is somewhat obscured by boulders. Awkward start. Get off rope on the flat sandy ledge and down-climb LDC, down a convenient rock ramp. There is a pretty interesting crack on the right that could be stemmed or rappelled if desired.
There are some down-climbs here and looking ahead the canyon drops suddenly with a view into Piru Creek far below.
Rappel 5: 55-60' rappel down into the small bowl at the top of the big rappel from a pinch point center canyon.
Rappel 6: 200' rappel from a rock fin and a tree, rigging an equalized anchor employing both objects. Amazing fluted rappel.
Rappel 7: 80' - 100 from a tree DCL. The first descent of this canyon involved a downclimb to the pothole below where a bush was the anchor for a 55' foot rap. This pothole was all blown out by the 2017 floods, so we created the longer anchor from higher up in 2018. We used a fiddlestick to avoid rope pull issues with the debris at the top of this rappel.
Rappel 8: 50' High from a good sized cottonwood tree about 20' high RDC, which requires a short but hazardous climb that should have an assist (2 person job) Note that whoever builds it can LAMR and rappel from that ledge. Alternately, combine Rappels 7 and 8 into one rappel, as the pull through those two drops is clean. You'll find yourself in a beautiful narrows section with some shallow pools at the bottom. To make things easier someone can man the rappel station with a carabiner on a sling to pull in the rope after each person rappels.
Rappel 9: 30' from a little rock arch high RDC. We also built a small back up of black webbing in another arch, just in case the primary one blew out.
Rappel 10: 160' anchored off a rock choke ldc. Nice multi-staged rappel through a bowl and pothole with some water in it that can probably be avoided. There is a large sandy area followed by the last vertical section of 80' or so. It's a little more interesting if you stay to the RDC side through the flute, which becomes free-hanging for a short section after navigating the lip.
Exit[edit]
At the bottom of the last rappel head downstream (RDC) until the junction with Piru Creek. There are some good sandy places here to camp on the RDC side. Or you can head a little further downstream where Piru Canyon opens up a little more and there are other options for camping.
Piru Creek should be flowing year round. It is fed by Pyramid Lake and it's required by law that they release water for the trout habitat. Therefore this is a good place to rely on for water and to camp.
To return to your exit vehicle we present two options. The first 3 miles or so will be bushwhacking down Piru Creek, staying mostly on the canyon right side, with frequent stream crossings and faint game trails to follow. You will eventually run into a now closed access road (gravel initially then turning to paved) on the canyon right side. This road crosses the creek so it will be essentially impossible to miss. Continue along this road, passing a private ranch on the west side of the road. Do not trespass onto their property. After the ranch there are two more creek crossings, so be prepared to de-shoe to navigate them. This road will eventually lead to your shuttle vehicle at Piru Lake, about 10 miles from where Ruby Canyon runs into Piru Creek. This is the route the first descent team used.
Despite the many "No Trepassing" signs, the residents which use this road are very friendly, and reportedly "haul a lot of guys out" from Piru Creek. It would be well worth attempting to hitch-hike to your car, as the paved road is very long, climbs some tedious hills, and will further fatigue your already beat-up feet.
The second option is to walk along the service road noted above until you reach a "Gaging Station", noted on maps, located at 34.5231, -118.7574, a little over half a mile passed the closed/abandoned USFS Blue Point Campground. Blue Point Campground is about 4 miles from the Ruby Canyon/Piru Creek intersection. At this point, find a "Road Closed" gate and use it to re-enter the now wide/flat/mostly vegetation-free Piru Creek wash, staying on the canyon right side. Follow the wash for approximately 4 miles, staying on the west side of Piru Lake (RDC). Piru Creek remains relatively clear until about 34.506628° -118.758457°, where the bush thickens up considerably and becomes an arduous bushwhacking experience which may continue until you reach the lake shore. Traverse the shore until 34.479007, -118.759937. At this point leave the shoreline and hike west approx. 1/3 mile to your shuttle vehicle. This option is several miles shorter without the elevation gain/loss (of about 1800 feet) you will encounter on the paved road, and will allow you to carry much less water as you will be in the vicinity of Piru Creek the entire hike, though these advantages may be nullified by the wearisome bushwhack in the lower reaches of the creek.
Red tape[edit]
There is a private ranch on the road used on the egress hike, take care not to trespass on this land. If you are leaving a shuttle vehicle(s) at Piru Lake there is an entrance/daily fee for each vehicle, which charged $26 to leave the car two nights at the time of this writing. You can leave a vehicle outside of the fee area, but it will add several miles onto an already long exit hike.
Be cautious of pot farmers in the grow season Mar-April to November. There was some tubing (not currently in use) in Larp Canyon and lots of footprints and a well defined use trail in Ruby canyon above the technical section. Hunters, hikers, "farmers"?
Beta sites[edit]
Trip reports and media[edit]
5/21-22/2016 - Decided to run this canyon as our first two-day experience. It really felt like an expedition. Left Oak Flats at around 9 am, and found ourselves at the drop in to LARP at around 11:30 am. Oak Flats trail is kinda brutal with backpacks full of carabiners, ropes, and bivy gear. The descent into LARP was ok. Lots of scree, and gaiters are advisable. We arrived at the first obstacle, "the narrow crack," and decided to take the down-climb option, although it was pretty sweaty, especially with all the gear we were lugging. One of our packs took a fall and rolled all the way to the base, launching a 1.5 liter nalgene into the bush. If anyone finds it, give it a good home. LARP is a scruffy California-style canyon with lots of bushwhacking and debris. The 160' rappel, Rappel 4, is the "crux." We could not locate the bush "high RDC", but found some blue webbing (which we continued to encounter the entire descent of both canyons) slung around a desperate looking bush about 12' below where we stood. A spicy down climb put us at that bush, which has definitely seen better days. We decided to rappel without our backpacks, and then sent those down separately, to minimize stress on the creaking shrub. I'd advise building a cairn, or finding a bush in better health at the top of the rappel.
After completing LARP, and arriving into the sandy wash that is Ruby Creek, we concluded that it was NOT worth it. The poison oak is brutal, and the drops, we didn't think, were worth the effort. What's more, it shaved off a lot of time which could've been spent enjoying Ruby in the daylight. If anyone finds an alternative drop-in to Ruby Canyon, we'd advise taking it.
5-29-16 Alternate approach added to the above beta with an updated KML
It's impossible to make a wrong turn navigating to Ruby Canyon proper from the intersection of LARP and Ruby, as the wash leads directly to the crevice. The use trail is surprisingly well-worn, which was mostly convenient but also slightly disconcerting, as we'd noted an abundance of defunct black tubing in LARP, which must've been used in some type of marijuana grow operation.
We arrived at the fascinating start of Ruby at about 4:30. There's a neat, tunnel-like formation which a perched boulder creates over a flute. Sliding down that drops you into a very southwest-style slot canyon, carved from "bubble-gum" conglomerate. The first real drop, which appears mandatory, you can navigate by climbing up RDC and along a fin, which you can down climb. Be careful though, as the conglomerate is very slippery. It's worth climbing back up to the base of that drop to check out the cave which you'll find there. A few other creative down climbs put you at the first mandatory rappel.
We began the gorgeous technical section. On a few of these, we opted to rappel without our bags first, and then lower them separately, as there are some tight squeezes and awkward starts. This, combined with a double-strand rap which didn't reach the bottom of the drop and required an ascent on Rappel 5 (I've lengthened the estimated height in the beta above), took a lot of time, and we found ourselves at the top of the big 200', Rappel 6, as night was settling in. After having lost a nalgene in LARP, and with water running low, we decided to push on, and continued down with headlamps. Rapping down #6 in the glow of the headlamp was surreal!
Finally, we arrived at Piru Creek around 10:45 pm without incident, pumped water, and racked out. We were awoken in the middle of the night by an eerie, fairly loud, low-pitched and repetitive humming which appeared to travel up and down the watercourse. We heard it again the next morning, but could not locate the source. It must've been some type of bird or frog maybe? Or aliens?
Navigating down Piru is a damned bushwhack. There are some game trails in sections, but at times you're just better off walking through the water course. My only useful advice is to "cut corners" by exiting the wash when the river takes a bend and walking over the pediment on the inside of the bend when you can. This saves time and relieves you of miserable bushwhacking. Eventually in the lower reaches you may find a trail which someone has developed by sawing down impertinent branches.
Once we hit the service road things eased up. Our original intention was to drop back into the creek at the "Gaging Station," but we missed it and planned to drop in later when the road descended back to the elevation of Piru Creek, near the apiary. From a vantage point on a hill, the creek seemed like a bushwhack still, but we trusted the beta and tried to gain access to the wash, hoping it would be free of vegetation. Unfortunately, it proved to be the thickest bush we'd encountered all trip, and we turned around to gain access to the road again. We trudged along the pavement with aching feet until a friendly cowboy from Oklahoma offered to transport us to our car, which then transported us to a well-deserved Corona and tacos in Castaic.
TL;DR - LARP’s probably not worth it, especially if you are allergic to poison oak. Pack as light as possible. Be prepared to run part of Ruby in the dark. The egress BLOWS no matter what, but try hailing a ride on the service road. Ruby Canyon is AWESOME, but every other part of this is Type 2 (or 3) fun.
Background[edit]
First known descent was on November 22, 2014 by Alden Anderson, Dave Red, David Angel, Randy Worth, Scott Swaney, Ron Hudson, Scott Merrill, Kirk Belles, Steve Sieren, and Carole Da-Cruz
11/22/14: There was a guy standing in the road near the trailhead as we pulled up trying to figure out where to park. He was looking at us and smiling so we stopped and rolled down the window, perhaps he knew where to park. "You here for the LARPING?" We all looked at him confused, except for David Angel who chuckled. "What's that?" we asked. "Live Action Role Playing" he replied in a slightly embarrassed, I-know-it-sounds-silly, tone. We all broke out laughing.