Wildcat Canyon (West Fork)
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| | Raps:5-7, max ↨160ft
Red Tape:No permit required Shuttle:Optional 10 min Vehicle:Passenger | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Condition Reports: | 16 Jul 2023
"The 5 rappels before the confluence, and two after are very pretty and fun. The committing gorge after the confluence looked unrunnable at the flows w |
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| Best season: | June
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39.1844, -120.4582
39.1724, -120.4511
39.1744, -120.4707
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Introduction[edit]
Wildcat Canyon is arguably the best canyon on the South side of the NF American. The West Fork has a nice gorge, followed by a couple good rappels down big waterfalls, and enters the lower section, with jumps, slides, and a short slotted gorge. We descended it to a creek where we exited up to Walker Mine, and out the associated trail.
It's likely also possible to exit down to the river, and make your way 1.5 miles downstream to exit via the Sailor Canyon trail. This would allow you to complete a last few rappels or jumps, and also cut down a bit on your elevation gain on the way out.
Also, the East Fork of Wildcat looks like it's probably pretty cool, and has many tightly spaced, large drops.
Approach[edit]
Drive out forest divide road, and spot a car here: 39.1744, -120.4707. Then continue another mile and a half and park here: 39.1724, -120.4511. Hike north, and head down the ridge. There is a sort of trail that you can follow, but you will want probably a GPS with you, as once you follow the ridge down and it gets steep, the trail mostly disappears, and it's easy to veer off too far left. You're aiming for Placer Queen Mine here: 39.1844, -120.4582
Descent[edit]
From that point you can climb into the creek and start downstream. It remains scenic, though non-technical, and you can stay dry for the next mile or so. Eventually you will find a fun little slide, just below a small tributary coming in from the right. From here the canyon becomes fun, with downclimbs, and some short jumps through a pretty gorge. Then you'll come up to the biggest rappel (from a tree way up to the left), and more rappels down to the confluence with the East Fork.
The canyon below here is largely nontechnical, with downclimbs and jumps. There are a couple exceptions. One is a short tight gorge, that the canyon drops surprisingly into after a bend. You rappel into it, and then have a couple downclimbs to deal with. This section could become dangerous at higher flows, although you could likely bypass it with some substantial effort?
More fun canyon lies downstream of here. If you are exiting at walker mine, keep an eye out for the significant tributary on the left (here: 39.2082, -120.4698). You come to it just after a fun drop where you can traverse right on a ledge, and then jump ~15 feet, or probably also take it as a steep 10 foot slide. The exit is that creek on the left.
If you still have energy, you can drop your packs, and continue downstream for more fun jumps and slide. At the biggest jump of ~25 feet, you can set a rope on the tree to the right as a hand line to get back up when you return for the exit. When you get above the last few larger drops of Wildcat, turn around and climb back up.
Exit[edit]
Hiking up Walker Creek is quite pleasant overall. You ascend ~400 feet of elevation, and as the creek cliffs out above you, with a pretty, mossy waterfall up on the right, you will notice the Walker Mine, and an exit trail on the left. The mine is worth checking out, as it goes back quiet a ways, and has a somewhat functioning mining cart inside!
Hike out that trail, as it traverses to the old mine camp. From here, a trail keeps traversing away, but you don't want that! Instead, just start going straight up the ridge to your right. You'll find the Walker Mine Trail cutting up to your left soon. It is often covered in deadfall, or brushy, and does have some poison oak, but is actually pretty easy to follow if you pay attention (at least for the first bit). It cuts steeply out of the canyon, with some nice views of the East Fork, getting quite overgrown on the way.
Eventually it flattens out on the rim of Wildcat. Look for the trail to stay close to the edge here for a bit, and then climb up into the trees, following a wood with just a ridiculous amount of big dead logs laying on top of it. Again, a GPS is useful here. Once the trail starts climbing up the steep ridge ahead, if you can find it, you should be able to stay on it easily from there on out. It actually becomes very pretty as you get near the top, with good views at several false summits that will fake you out along the way.