A rare summer rainstorm on saturday had me packing up my gear for a decent of Sardine Creek canyon (3C Grade II). I'd scoped this creek out a couple of times, but flows were too high to feel safe about decending it. Unlike some of the other canyons we've done in the area and elsewhere, this one didn't have the same feeling of "commitment". The canyon walls weren't steep enough to prevent escape out the sides, although after the first drop I was sure that there wouldn't be any going back up stream. This was also my first solo canyon, so I was glad that there was minimal required swims and that the current was low enough to be comfortable with everything. I was a little suprised when after scrambling over and under fallen old growth logs for a half hour I encountered the first real horizon line. The drop was felt bigger than I expected, with my doubled over 200' rope barely reaching the pool below. The rap was slippery, beautiful, and exciting.
Anyway, after the first big rap, the canyon mellowed out significantly with only a couple of other waterfall drops with I either climbed around or rappeled. I actually really missed the company I was used to on these types of trips, and was a little dissapointed with the canyon itself as well. After the first drop there wasn't much technical difficulty, and there was a lot of freshly fallen trees to climb over and under. The hardest part of the trip was trying to stay upright on rocks that were more slippery than usual. I guess a good time overall, although I probably won't be rushing back to repeat that one. :)
Pictures sorta suck cause I couldn't keep my camera lens dry. :)
At the put in... Doesn't look like much here!
The first big horizon line
The edge!
Peering over
First drop from the bottom
Self picture :)
Pool below the second drop
Final drop down chasm falls... This would be nasty in high water for sure.
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