Lower Eaton Canyon 3B

[rcwild]

For detailed information: http://www.dankat.com/advents/loweat.htm

Rating: 3B IV
Time Required: 8 hours
Longest Rappel:

Preferred Season
summer

Water Concerns
wetsuits may be needed.

Special Challenges
none

Directions to Trailhead

Trailhead UTM Grid Coordinate

Approach

Canyon Entry UTM Grid Coordinate

Exit

Canyon Exit UTM Grid Coordinate

[pitufo74]

I did Eaton Canyon yesterday. For details on drop in points and canyon details you can check out the link below from the Christopher Brennen site.
http://www.dankat.com/advents/loweat.htm

I did this canyon as a recon to see if it was safe after the fires we had.
The Mount Wilson toll road gate is still closed, but just half mile before the gate, there is an entrance with limited parking. My hike started at about 5:15am. I had read that the toll road was closed off to the public. I saw several locals walking the road, and even had a Ranger drive past me and wave hello, on his way up to Henninger Flats. It looks like the toll road has been repaired at the point just before Henninger Flats, where it use to be a very narrow hike thru. I'm guessing this was due to the fires we had in the area.
I took the Esme Cyn Telephone trail. Everything was green, no signs of fire, poison oak, or bees. The area where the rock slide are, just before canyon bottom, there are signs of recent slides so be careful.
I had a 5mm. wet suite with 2mm. gloves on and I was still cold, my hands almost never go numb, but on this trip they went numb. Down canyon on cyn right be very very very careful for the first half of the canyon. I saw many areas with slides and was even hit with Baseball size rocks at one point that came out of nowhere (yes I was wearing a helmet). For the most part, no major obstacles or sign of the fires. However, I did see one or two trees cyn right, high above, that had been burned. By the looks of the canyon, it seems like flash floods have been thru the area; most likely durring our last rains. There are signs of several broken and fallen trees, and many of the wooded areas have been somewhat cleared out, I even found the cave that Brennen describes on his site. Dont get me wrong, the canyon is still as beautiful as ever, with lots and lots of clear water flowing (cold water).
Be Advised! Someone has removed the bolt from the second to the last rappel. You will have to create an anchor if you want to rappel, or you can slide (quite fun), or use the trail on canyon right to bypass.
I chose to rappel instead of slide only because I had seen broken trees and logs thruout the canyon and was not sure if the pool would be clear. I found some old webbing wrapped around the largest rock a short distance from the lip. I replaced the webbing and quick link. This was the second anchor I had to re-do. I completed the last rappel at about 2:00pm, had some snacks, and hiked back to the car. All in all, a very nice day in a beautiful canyon.
Have fun out there!
Sorry the pics are out of order, the first two should of been last.

[cougarmagic]

Nice pics and TR. By the way (and I should have posted this sooner), I highly recommend against the Slide of Faith - was there in late October, and rappelled it. Our rope got stuck on something under the water at the base of the falls as we pulled. I swam out to release it, to find it snagged on a 2.5' diameter TREE about 6 feet under the surface, about where you might land if you do the slide. scary scary scary....

Love Eaton, though. It's my favorite San Gab. canyon, by far.

[pitufo74]

Thank for the info on the Slide of Faith, I have seen many of the local kids slide it and have never done it because usually I am the one to Rap first to check out the bottom, that is definately something that could ruin your day :). Thanks again

[Sierra Silence]

I did Eaton on sunday May 2 and hardly recognized it. There are no longer any legitimate jumps in the canyon, all of the pools have been filled in with gravel from the recent rains. Except for the last 2 raps, the pools are 4 feet deep or less. The last 2 are brief swims once you get off of rappel. It was only deep right at the base of those falls, 10 or so feet away from that and it was knee deep. The "Slide of Faith" is certain death if attempted. The canyon is still beautiful and a fun day, but has changed quite dramatically. The water flow right now is WAY above normal.

[bjp]

Just finished a quick run through Eaton and it is indeed very full of sand with an entirely different character than before. With careful down climbing, I was still able to slide all the old slides, but they're more of guided jumps now and you have to be ready for extremely shallow water. Also, the secret passageway before the first standard rappel is now blocked (picture below) which may require an extra rappel for some groups. I shimmied down the tree canyon right. The Gully used to be deep enough to jump (summer 2007 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tP1g6gpzBq8)) but now it is only a few inches deep.

Fortunately, there are a few swims left in the second half of the canyon and, most importantly, the second to last waterfall (Slide of Faith) is still a full swim. I spent about 10 minutes swimming around in it with goggles and was unable to locate the dead tree (of course, that doesn't mean it's not there!), though I did rescue a baseball hat and two whistles. Both myself and another person slid down and avoided certain death, but of course conditions change rapidly (see pictures) so definitely check for yourself. During the summer months (including now), the last rappel doesn't require swimming at the bottom.

Image index here (http://www.benpelletier.com/Pictures/EatonFireHiRes/); the left sections are from October 2009 or before, the right sections were taken today. I tried to line up the images as best I could.

http://www.benpelletier.com/Pictures/EatonFire/images/01_first_slide.jpg
http://www.benpelletier.com/Pictures/EatonFire/images/03_secret_passageway.jpg
http://www.benpelletier.com/Pictures/EatonFire/images/06_rock_jump.jpg
http://www.benpelletier.com/Pictures/EatonFire/images/09_first_rappel.jpg
http://www.benpelletier.com/Pictures/EatonFire/images/12_gully_slide_from_the_top.jpg
http://www.benpelletier.com/Pictures/EatonFire/images/13_gully_slide_from_the_bottom.jpg
http://www.benpelletier.com/Pictures/EatonFire/images/17_gully_from_the_bottom_wide.jpg
http://www.benpelletier.com/Pictures/EatonFire/images/30_pothole_up_close.jpg

[cougarmagic]

Wow, GREAT job on the photos! Thanks!

[bjp]

Also, it would probably be useful to add some beta for non-locals:
The gate for the Mount Wilson Toll Road is usually locked. The best bet for a good trailhead is an unmarked parking lot on the canyon side of Altadena at the intersection of Altadena, Midwick and Roosevelt (34.1842,-118.1014). Proceed down the obvious trail, cross the wash, head 100-300ft down canyon on the large trail, and look for the well-groomed horse trail heading up the hill. Follow this trail until it meets the Mount Wilson Toll Road then continue with Chris Brennen's beta. The correct mileage for this route is 7.5 miles.

When using the telephone trail approach, the correct gully to drop into is not 100% obvious, but the correct one has a tree within 10ft of the trail where you must climb down its roots.

If you are comfortable with downclimbing, sliding, and making small jumps, there only need be 3 rappels in this canyon.

Spoilers: At the 15ft drop in a narrow section with a large red boulder canyon right, it is possible to slip through a hole canyon right to get below the red boulder and slide from there. At the 10ft drop with cascades on either side of a large boulder, it is possible to downclimb in the cascades when the flow is not too high and carefully jump when the flow is higher. Rappelling the Slide of Faith (second to last falls) increases the number of rappels to 4, but it can also be bypassed canyon right with easy third-class climbing. Make sure to heed Brennen's warning about the single sketchy bolt at the Gully.

[Canyonette]

Wow! What a difference! I wonder how long it'll be before the character changes again? Could be years! :(
Thanks for the photos - it's quite striking seeing the 'then' and 'now' changes.

[cougarmagic]

Was just in Eaton on Sunday. I do actually think that the pools are already slightly deeper than they were just a month ago. We had several new people in our group who hadn't seen the canyon before, and they still thought it was amazing and incredibly fun. I give it just a couple years, or one really big rainstorm to bring back the pools. The water flow is still very strong - actually makes the last two raps really challenging.

[dsw2925]

TR and photos from a descent of Eaton over Memorial Day weekend. http://canyoneering.wordpress.com/2010/06/15/cali-canyoneering-lower-eaton-canyon/

[bjp]

With the recent rains, the Slide of Faith (second to last falls) is now unfortunately too shallow to jump comfortably. The deepest point is probably 5-6 feet deep with a sandy bottom, but just in front of the landing zone or right at the landing zone depending on your style, there are many 2-3" rocks which would make for a hard landing. Just 5-7 feet away from the landing zone, the water depth becomes 3-4 feet.

For people who would like to try to jump it, there is a very easy, short and obvious class 3 climb canyon right within 100 ft of the falls; you can rappel first to check the depth and quickly climb back up so no one needs to miss the fun if it has become deep enough :)

[cougarmagic]

Thanks for the update. How is the rest of the canyon? I've been curious ever since I heard LSA is all flushed out now.

[I3uller]

Just ran Eaton on Saturday, April 2nd. The canyon is looking MUCH better. The flow was surprisingly high but it seems that a large amount of the sand and debris has been pushed away. I would estimate that 95% of the slides and jumps are clear now. Where the water comes down the slides or falls it has pushed the sand out and away from the impact area making for comfortable jumps into deep water and then a sloping sand beach towards the end of the pool. There are quite a few pools that are too deep to touch the bottom again. I'm not sure if all of this is from the high water flow but I had run through it about 6 months ago and compared to now it is very obvious that it is MUCH clearer. Lot's of fully granite bottoms with no sand in the pools. There are still a few pools that need more time but on the whole I think Eaton is close to it's original character and definitely worth the trip again. Don't have any pictures unfortunately but if you have any questions feel free to ask.