EISPIRATEN

A start under the moonlight predawn. I had wanted to explore a obsure canyon in the closed area, but was foiled by a large release of water from Cogswell dam. I had expected to see a burn area since the whole trail had been closed earlier...but there was basically zero impact. Into Devils canyon it was burned, but nothing else, including almost all of the east side of the ridge of West Twin still chocked with brush...not that it mattered this time since access to all routes north was closed off by the river.

As far as waterfalls, probably saw about 30, but a lot of them had barely any water on em, so they arent good for photos. Back to the parking lot, and the place was very crowded, with forest service vehicles checking in.

If you want a horror setting for movies, the West Fork is almost unbeatable pre-dawn.


Butterfield canyon


Cogswell release which had been going on for days...


Another waterfall


Baldy, with a nifty cloud circling just above it


A few of the waterfalls are a fun downclimb/scramble


Storm flooding creates log soup/obstacle in a narrow canyon


normally dry drainage about 100 yards uphill of parking lot flows and attracts many visitors. Note: Already has graffiti at bottom.


S Hawkins with snow covered Islip on the left


3 more photos(spring fed waterfall, upper GC falls, middle GC falls)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/13833920@N03/

3 videos
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unnamed drainage at mileage 3.2


up weatherby canyon(3 mins 20 sec)

GC looks good... can't remember what GC stands for though.

Taco wrote: ↑GC looks good... can't remember what GC stands for though.

GC = Glen(n) canyon. The bottom falls is the hardest one to scale that I know of around the SGs...that are scaleable...overhang crux move.
"Bottom line, I don't think the reward of going past the lower falls is worth the danger and risk, unless of course, you have technical canyoneering skills and equipment."

http://www.simpsoncity.com/hiking/glen.html

Excellent! I'm going to check it out soon. Are you interested?

Do you happen to know any way to get to Lower Devils Canyon by avoiding going into Cogswell Dam? I called and was informed that its been closed because of 9/11. Really wanna hike up Lower Devils. I see some possible cross country routes but it'd take some actual scouting for sure....

I visited this area last Saturday (03/23/24) to explore some of the tributaries between the parking area and the Fishing Cabin, focusing on four tributaries that flow in from the south side of the canyon (If you haven't Big Mermaids, Little Mermaids, and Chileno Canyon to the north, then I suggest those too). None of the tributaries I discuss here host the obvious waterfalls that are pretty much right next to the trail/bike path, but instead require slightly more bushwhacking or rock hopping (but nothing excessive).

The first one is the tributary that flows into the west fork just upstream from the bridge near where Bear Creek flows in (but before the "west fork waterfall" on google). Just a short ways up the canyon there is a two tier waterfall that is flowing quite heavily up that way. The trip up the canyon is short and the canyon is quite spectacular (I put a photo below of the waterfall, but I don't think it really does justice).
the second tributary is a little ways further upstream near some black tubing (~6 foot diameter) that may be related to some ongoing construction project. I think there was quite a bit of blackberry to start, but after passing that, there is a two tier waterfall (photo below). There was anther ~waterfall flowing over a boulder a little ways upstream that I think I could have climbed over, but I decided to keep going to check out the other two tributaries.
The third tributary I went up was quite surprising. I never know quite what to expect, but when I made my way up this one, I stumbled upon a really gorgeous waterfall (see picture below). It was just past a few smaller waterfall-like structures I had to make may way over/around, but I'm really happy I did.
Finally, at the cabin, I made by way upstream to a fork in the creek. Up the left fork, I found a waterhole at the base of a two tier waterfall (see below). These waterfalls were some of the the smallest between the other tributaries I explored, but the pool was really amazing. I think the water was up to my chest (I thought it might have been one where I needed to tread water like some of the similar holes in Bear Canyon).
After that, I went up the right fork and found two water falls. The first was a taller waterfall flowing into the tributary (see below).
Just a little ways upstream from that taller waterfall, I stumbled upon a shorter waterfall with more flow along the creek (see picture below). I noticed that there was a metal chain and a ring attached to the rock on the left side of the waterfall and some other metal structures that looked like they were used to support something at some time (maybe even steps to climb the waterfall, but it was too slippery and low when I went - it was also raining a little).
Ultimately, it was nice to explore some of the tributaries that I have passed by when I have explored other parts of this area in the past. There are a lot of other waterfalls along the west fork that are closer to the trail/road, and that are flowing now, but don't flow in the dry season. None of these are particularly far from the trail/road (maybe about the distance to Glenn Canyon Falls from the paved road, but a little more over grown), but many are easy to skip.

@AW: I'm not seeing any of the pictures, and I think these are some that I really want to see. Thanks for the vids.

Tapatalk lost all images stored on their server from when they took over (2017) to when we took over (2024). Unfortunately AW was renaming his images, which makes them hard to identify, if we try to recover them. I'd love to find a way to get his images back, since he wrote many very unique trip reports. Let me know if you want to chat about that, AW

There kind of scattered..but I did locate these [attachment=0]tr9.jpg

Note: Its Wetherby, not weatherby.

Did I get to obscure canyon?

Kind of. There was a particular waterfall that I wanted to see from the bottom...which I never got there...and got near to the top instead...when it was dry.

So when I planned on going there..no way, foiled all the time. But when not planned, I couldve...but by that time I didnt care.

Very nice Carl Swindle.
Where did you start? I would like to check out those waterfalls.

Sorry this took a bit, I need to get on here more. I've explored a lot of the west fork area, but I'm planning to explore another spot tomorrow and I wanted to see if anyone had been.

Regarding the west fork waterfalls, I started here (34°14'28.1"N 117°52'05.4"W), and I think I explored these four tributaries (34°14'21.2"N 117°53'03.6"W; 34°14'23.4"N 117°53'39.9"W; 34°14'28.1"N 117°55'48.2"W) and maybe here (34°14'39.7"N 117°54'29.4"W - not 100% sure) on this trip. Some of them are quite over overgrown, but when I did this, I chose to go up tributaries I hadn't explored. I made a video when I did this one too (

There are a lot of waterfalls along the road or just off it, including Glen Canyon Falls which is near the campground:

The ones below are not found on the internet as much, but are worth exploring if you haven't:

Chileno Canyon (I went in December last year), where you can find this one starting here (34°14'33.0"N 117°57'00.4"W): Also Little Mermaids Canyon starting here (34°14'49.3"N 117°54'23.4"W): And Big Mermaids Canyon (34°14'47.4"N 117°54'02.4"W):