We intended to go up on the Incline trail, which ascends the west wall of the canyon where the old railway used to carry (lucky) people up to Echo Mountain. A few people in our group said...that's nuts...go on the east side, it's way better! It did seem a bit faster, and both sides are steep ascents on loose soil, so that turned out well and it was fun to see a new route. There was cougar scat on the trail above the Thalehaha Falls overlook. It was not very recent, and I was the only person really interested.
We traversed a couple of high pucker-factor slopes before arriving at the top of Leontine Falls. Most donned full wetsuits, but a couple polar bears braved it in shorties. It was still early, full shade, and COLD water. We descended Leontine, the biggest of the falls here at 160' (correct me if I'm wrong...) and continued down the canyon.
Most of our group have been in Rubio many times, so we just enjoyed the beautiful day. I had just taken the ACA's "Advanced" canyoneering course, and wanted to practice setting a guided rappel at Thalehaha Falls (80'). Alas, I need more practice - it worked out OK, but the angle was not ideal, and my canyoneers ended up dangling a couple feet off the deck as they reached the end of the guide line. Nobody hassled me too much about it though!
Couple of short clips:
Maxon on the guide:
Kirk and Alisse tag-team rappel:
And Kirk at the last set of falls (the ones you can hike to)
