Islip Canyon First-Descent-That-I-Know-Of-Or-So (FDTIKOOS)

TRs for the San Gabriel Mountains.
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Taco
Snownado survivor
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Joined: Thu Sep 27, 2007 4:35 pm

Post by Taco »

So, Islip Canyon is a 2 mile or so long canyon up R39 north of Azusa. My brotha-from-anotha-motha Chris and I hiked up it to the first waterfall last year or so, and it looked nice so I put it on the long list of things to do. I found no info online regarding previous descents.

Ty and I started hiking up the ridge to the north of the canyon today at 0800. We dropped in at 1100 and got back to the truck at 1800 or so for 10hrs car to car. There is a lot of tubing and trash in the canyon from a grow operation that appears to have ended a couple years ago. We encountered 13 rappels or so, 2 of which we didn't do but would do if we went down this canyon again. The last rappel is the longest and best looking. A 200ft rope was perfect for this last rapp. We left nothing behind: no webbing, no links, no nothing. We used all natural anchors obviously, simply wrapping the rope around trees where convenient or using the retrievable setup I put together along with a pull cord (we used my 70m dynamic as a pull).

A lot of the pics came out real blurry for whatever reason, dunno why.

Cheers all

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Ty the Annihilator on the approach. Note sweet rope bucket made by someone... I'd tell you but then I'd have to kill you, and that just involves too much paperwork and I'm scared of blood anyway.

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Here be Islip Canyon from above.

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This is upper Roberts Canyon, with Pine Mtn 4539 on the right. It appears to be a realm of impenetrable brush and pure hatred.

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Ty after dropping in, avoiding the thickest brush in the bottom.

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Whose idea was this?!

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First rapp

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5.10 bushwhacking was encountered

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Yay, nice clear part!

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Shmokey shmoke

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Another rapp

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Wee

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Ty and the top secret anchor and about a billion other things going on. Yup, we are that cool.

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Nice spot

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Orange

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Ty on the last rapp. We started it just as darkness fell, and fall it did... or fell it did? Anyway, it got dark fast, and we boogied out on a well-used trail from this point out, getting to R39 in no time.

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Bam! Ty's first canyon!

Have a good week, errbody!
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lilbitmo
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Post by lilbitmo »

I will not tell anybody but Taco popped Ty's Cherrie in the canyon side of things :shock:

Great job guys maybe next time I'll join you for that repeat of that one, as long as the Poison Oak can be kept at a distance :oops: it get's me everytime I get near water sources
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everyday
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Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2011 12:36 pm

Post by everyday »

Cool! Tys gloves look just like mine! and you got the new rope bucket we got outside finally! sweet! :D
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666-The Beast
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Post by 666-The Beast »

Been to East Fork many times for the mountains, the river, the gold mines, but the canyons were always quickly glanced as I drove by on the 39. Always, I wondered what magic hides in these rarely traveled places.
Taco and company, thank you for giving us a glimpse in that special place and I hope you continue to explore the rest of them! 666
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AW~
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Joined: Mon Oct 01, 2007 12:00 pm

Post by AW~ »

I like those words "pure hatred"...it can get like that for sure. I would recommend hiking the redbox-rincon road to the drop in to keep with the overall atmosphere of the hike :wink:
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cougarmagic
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Post by cougarmagic »

Looks like a nice canyon - just needs a good flood to clean all that debris out. Must have felt kinda like the trash compactor scene in Star Wars!

Good job on the first descent.
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Taco
Snownado survivor
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Joined: Thu Sep 27, 2007 4:35 pm

Post by Taco »

BTW, here be my video for the day:

Thanks guys
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tpfishnfool
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Post by tpfishnfool »

My Kitty ROCKS ! Any fishy looking pools up there ?
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Taco
Snownado survivor
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Joined: Thu Sep 27, 2007 4:35 pm

Post by Taco »

Not a one! No fish in this canyon.
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