San Francisquito Canyon (West Fork)
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| | Difficulty:3A II (v3a1 II) Raps:3-4, max ↨80ft
Red Tape:No permit required Shuttle:None Vehicle:Passenger Rock type:Conglomerate | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Best season: | Any, but summer can be too hot & dry
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34.5434, -118.5297
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WaterflowIntroduction
> Please carry your favorite Gardening tools to every canyon (Folding Saw, Pruners, Loppers, Machete). We all need to help with trail and canyon maintenance on every trip.
A short and nice canyon in a less canyoneered area.
First Known Descent: November 10, 2019
First Known Descent Members: Eshed Bootel, Gil Chotam, Matan Bootel, Ty Chotam
Approach
Getting There: You can take different exits from the 5 Fwy. Go North-East and get to Cooper Hill Dr. Turn Left (North) on San Francisquito Canyon Rd. and drive 6.3 miles to the parking at 34.540057, -118.526402. You can see the last waterfall from the road.
Approach: The approach is short and steep. Go West from the car and take the first ridge. You’ll see a clear trail going up and it will take you to your drop-in point.
Descent
Hiking down from the saddle, you will quickly get to a 40’ angled, 3 tier drop. The rock is very crumbly - Do Not try to down-climb. Are 15’of webbing and a quick-link worth your life? Build a Cairn anchor and rappel. From here you will pass 2 more drops before joining the main canyon. Once you get to the main canyon you’ll have one 10’ down-climb and two 30’ rappels.
Waterfalls:
| Number | Tiers | Total height | Anchor (looking down stream) | Anchor Gear | Rope* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 40' | C - Cairn | 10-20’ Webbing or rope | 180’ |
| 2 | 1 | 10' | C - Wrap white rock | N/A | 30' |
| 3 | 1 | 5' | N/A Down-climb | N/A | N/A |
| 4 | 1 | 10' | N/A Down-climb | N/A | N/A |
| 5 | 2 | 30' | C - Cairn OR R - Small bush | 10-15’ Webbing or rope | 80’ |
| 6 | 1 | 30' | C - Cairn | 15-20’ Webbing or rope | 80’ |
- Rope - Recommended length based on rappel height and distance between tiers (when applicable) and to anchors x 2
Waterfall notes:
1. The actual height for the vertical tiers is about 40’, however the anchor was a bit far and we chose to rappel about 90’.
2. You may be able to down-climb this. We chose to wrap the rope around a white rock in the canter and rappel from that.
Exit
From the bottom of the last rappel it’s a short walk back to the car.
Red tape
Beta sites
Trip reports and media
Photos from the first descent - November 10, 2019
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