Canyoneering Route Description
Hidden Falls Canyon - 3A II (or maybe III)
Red Rock Canyon, Nevada.
10-19-08, 3 people, 1 Day (Travel time in route 9 hours)
05-08-10, 8 people, 1 Day (travel time in route 10.25 hours)
05-15-10, 7 people, 1 Day (Travel time in route 11 hours)
07-22-10, 3 people, 1 Day (Travel time in route 8.7 hours)
07-08-17, 4 people, 1 Day (Travel time in route 9.1 hours)
07-20-21, 5 people, 1 Day (Travel Time in route 5.5 hours)
Time Required - 6 to 09 hours
Distance - 5.9 miles Total, 1.4 miles Technical
Rappels - 5 Rappels, Longest Rappel 120 feet.
Elevation Range - 4455 - 6820 Feet
Shuttle Required -No Vehicle - Passenger
Permit Required - No
Rappelling and anchor gear, Rope and or pull cord for rappels up to
120 feet, 30 feet of 1†webbing and
rapids for sling placement.
Note / Warning:
Over the past few years bolts
have been being placed in Hidden Falls Canyon. Those bolts are
un-welcomed by many in the community who wish to keep Hidden Falls in
the bolt free status it has enjoyed for decades. July 2017 a
group of us have removed the bolts in the Canyon and it is once
again bolt free. Bolts may be placed by others at some future
date. When enjoying the canyon be prepared to use natural
anchors and use some technical know how when using or creating new
natural anchors.
Hidden Falls Canyon is a fun and scenic route. There are only
5 mandatory rappels on the route. A few of the down climbs are
rigged for and can optionally be rappelled so your count may vary. There is a lot of down climbing
involved with most of the difficult down climbing being in the lower
portion of the canyon. Some of the climbs around the rappels will
definitely “grab your attentionâ€. If water were flowing in the
canyon there may also be a few pools of water to wade through.
To get to the Trailhead
From the entrance of the Red Rock scenic loop, drive about 5.8
miles to the turn off for The Willow Springs trailhead. Turn
right and drive about 0.5 miles to the end of the pavement and
park at the Willow Springs trailhead. This will be the start
for the route.
To leave the Exit Vehicle / Escape Pod
No exit vehicle is needed. This is done as a loop route.
GPS coordinate information listed at the bottom. For information about waypoint naming and map symbols, refer to the
Glossary page.
Click the links for maps of the route.
Map of the entire route.
Map of the technical section.
The Approach:
From the Willow Springs parking area / trailhead (tWillowSpring)
walk 2.4 miles on Rocky Gap Road to the start of an alternate route
to Bridge Mountain. At this point a wash crosses the road coming in
from the right (west) side of the road. A few feet before this
wash will be a faint use trail leaving the road to the south east
(tAlt2Brdg2). The trail is sometimes marked by a cairn and is
where your route leaves the road. The path is hard to see from
the road and becomes more apparent a short distance from the road.
The trail leaving the road, leads to a wash running parallel with the
road and crosses the wash. Just after crossing the wash the
trail becomes wide and starts to follow what looks like the remnants
of an old dirt road. You will not follow this wide path very far.
Just over 250 feet from leaving Rocky Gap Road, the trail leaves the
wide path and turns left to start up the ridge line
(wAlt2BrdgRP-01).
Follow the use trail up the ridge to the west. The use trail
has seen a lot more traffic in recent years and has become well worn
and easy to follow. The path is easy to follow but is far from being a
standard trail. On the way up there is one well traveled path and a
few not so well traveled paths and they all tend to go to the same
place. Before reaching the top of the ridge, the path is no
longer dirt but instead travels up wide open but steep sand stone. Follow the cairns
that lead to the top of the ridge.
As you get close to the top of of the climb you will drop slightly
as the route up crosses over a wash (wHiddenFlsRP-1). This is
the top out of the climb if you plan to go directly over to Hidden
Falls Canyon. It should take
about an hour to travel From Rocky Gap Road to the this wash IF you keep moving. The elevation gain on this section is a little
over 1500 feet in about one mile so it is steep. Plan on a slow but
continuous pace. The wash you are in now leads directly down
into Hidden Falls Canyon to the north. The canyon is easy to
spot with a large white wall near its head.
From the wash you have the option to drop your packs and walk over
to a great overlook of the area. Walk about 500 further south
east to a saddle. From the saddle you will be able to see the top of Ice Box Canyon in
front of you to the south east and Bridge Mountain farther in the
background. Just below the
Bridge Mountain peak is a large natural bridge. It is easy to see
but also easy to over look, take a moment to spot it. After
you have enjoyed the scenery, walk back down to where you left your
packs in the wash.
Follow down the wash about 0.2 miles toward Hidden Falls Canyon
until the walls of the canyon close in a little and you are in a
defined sandstone drainage. The route down the slope starts
turning to a rocky wash with desert vegetation. As you get closer
to the mouth of the canyon you will start seeing less vegetation and
more flat sand stone. The entry for the canyon is where you start
finding almost no debris and you begin walking on sandstone as the
walls start to rise around you. This is the top entry at the head of
Hidden Falls Canyon (yHiddenFallsTp).
The Canyon / Technical Section:
From the head of the canyon walk a little over 100 feet down canyon
to a short down climb followed by Rap 1.
Rap 1 (dHiddenFlsR1) is anchored from a small tree LDC and drops
about 25 feet but looks a lot further because the ground below
continues to slope downward. Optionally rap 1 can be anchored RDC
by threading the webbing through a long tube in the wall about chest
high. From the top of Rap 1 you can see Hidden Falls Canyon
stretched out in front of you and the Red Rock Scenic Loop in the
distance.
Rap 2 (dHiddenFlsR2) is about 0.2 miles down canyon of rap 1 with a
few easy down climbs along the way. Rap 2 is anchored from a tree
LDC and drops about 120 feet and is the longest rappel on the
route. The rap starts out down a steep slope then turns vertical as
you work down the rappel. Be sure to look down canyon while on rap
2, the view is great! If you happen to be there when there is
still water flowing in the canyon you will be rapping close to a
trickling fall to the side of the rappel. After rap 2, put the
ropes back in your pack or anywhere that will make them easy to
travel with. You will not need ropes for a quite a while.
From the bottom of rap 2 continue down canyon about 0.5 miles where
you will find a drop off of about 40 feet that looks like a bad idea
to down climb (wHiddenFlsRP-2). Along the way is a fair amount of down climbing,
nothing too difficult but lots of it. While at the top of the
drop, take time to enjoy the rocks LDC of the drop that look like
they were stacked into the mountain. By pass the 40 foot drop
by climbing up and over RDC to an easier route down a chute.
Just below this drop is what looks like another canyon joining in
from RDC (south).
Down canyon after the drop is where all the fun begins. The
next 0.5 miles is full of down climbs more challenging than what has
been done up canyon as well as 3 more rappels. The last bit of
the canyon from here may take a few hours to complete depending on
the skill level of the team.
From the drop that was bypassed continue down canyon along slick
rock about 200 feet along a series of down climbs along ledges.
The series of down climbs are spread out along open sections of rock
and looks kind of like a skate park would work well for this area
except for all the ledges you will be down climbing of course.
About another 200 feet down canyon is a drop of about 50 feet down a
series of steep ledges (wHiddenFlsRP-3). This drop is a long
down climb. It is possible to down climb right down the center
on a series of rock ledge that looks a little like a fin of ledged
rock working its way down next to the water flow. A better
option for some people is to down climb the first 10 feet or so down
a crevice to a small ledge to the top of the fin then traverse RDC
about 7 feet to a chute to continue the down climb. The chute
is still a bit sketchy but offers better foot and hand holds.
Up canyon of this drop there is a small shrub and a piton set as an
anchor if your party decides it would be a good idea to rap instead.
About 250 feet farther down canyon is a large drop (wHiddenFlsRP-4).
This is
not a rappel and can be climbed around RDC. To get around the drop
off, stay high on the right side. Keep working your way around
a series of wide open slick rock ledges to
find a spot to down climb to the wash below the drop near a large
bush / tree.
After several more down climbs over about 300 feet is a drop of
about 15 feet under a huge boulder hanging over the drop
(wHiddenFlsRP-5). A hand line is usually set up there to
assist descending the featureless drop. This drop is easily
bypassed by climbing up and over the boulder to find a hole that
goes under the huge boulder with easy scrambling down to the bottom
of the drop.
A little over 500 feet further down canyon is a large drop of about
60 feet (wHiddenFlsRP-6). This drop is not a rappel although
there is sometimes webbing tied to a small shrub just LDC of the
drop so it can be rappelled. Instead down climb a series of
ledges LDC to about half way down the drop. Then work over to
the center of the watercourse and down climb a shallow crevice that
has a lot of features and small ledges to assist in getting to the
bottom. At the bottom of the drop is a large pool. If
the pool has water the shallowest place to get around is LDC where
rocks can be placed as stepping stones.
After more down climbs and about 300 feet farther down canyon is a
down climb LDC along the wall that looks difficult from the top.
The first 12 feet of the down climb looks difficult but is very easy
with lots of ledges large enough to sit on to get a foot down to the
next.
About 100 feet further down canyon is another drop (wHiddenFlsRP-7)
of about 30 feet to a pool below if there is water in the canyon.
The first 8 or 10 feet of the drop is a little sketchy and all but
the last person down should be given a meat anchor. The last
person down can hand their pack down and down climb. The start
of the down climb is LDC along the wall and is awkward since the
angle of the dihedral above leans out making it difficult to lean
over to look where your feet are going. A spot from below is a
good idea. After getting down the first 8 or 10 feet it is a
simple traverse over to a chute to finish down climbing back to the
floor. Alternatively you can continue all the way down to the
pool and traverse a sloped slick ledge there with the risk of
slipping in.
Rap 3 (dHiddenFlsR3) is about another 200 feet down canyon with a
short down climb just before reaching the top of the rap.
Rap 3 does not drop directly down the water course to the pool
below. Instead traverse LDC along a flat ledge up to the
anchors. Along the ledge to the anchor is a narrow spot where
you will need to be careful as you cross. Rap 3 is anchored
from 2 pitons and drops about 60 feet down the side of the
canyon to the bottom of the pool below. Optionally rap 3 can
be downclimbed scrambled down and is much easier than it looks. A
meat anchor can be provided for all but the last person to downclimb
if desired. Rap 4 is about 100 feet down canyon.
Rap 3 used to be anchored from a small bush in a crack in the rock
LDC of the water course and would drop next to the pool below which
then
needed to be carefully traversed to get around. In the past
bolts had also been added and later removed.
Rap 4 (dHiddenFlsR4) is found by scrambling up and over the ledge on
the LDC side over to a chute about 50 feet down canyon to a medium
sized tree anchor and drops about 50 feet.
There is a crack running over the top lip of the rap that can catch
a rope when pulled. The last person down should note this and
place the rope well out of the crack. In the past bolts had
been added and later removed from rap 4.
Down canyon of rap 4 is a series of small pot holes to walk around
LDC before dropping to the gravel wash and a short walk to rap 5.
Rap 5 (dHiddenFlsR5) can be anchored from one of many large boulders
in the wash and drops about 70 feet. Extending the webbing
over to teh lip will help with a smooth rope pull. In the past
bolts had been added and later removed from rap 5.
At the bottom of rap 5 is marked the bottom of the technical section
(yHiddenFallsBt). This is where you may encounter a few hikers
since this is end point for the Lost Creek Children's Discovery
Trail.
The Exit:
From the bottom of rap 5, follow the Lost Creek children’s discovery
trail about 0.3 miles to the trailhead on the road (tLostCrek).
Once at the road turn left (northwest) and walk about 0.4 miles to
the Willow Springs trailhead to complete your route.
Downloadable GPX files
available at
BG-Gear Store
(easier than manual entry and a great way to support
Bluugnome).
Waypoint naming convention and map symbol information can be found on the Glossary page.
Elevations are approximate.
BEFORE
manually entering coordinates set your system to WGS84 datum and Lat/Lon hddd.ddddd° coordinate format.
Inconsistent datum's and coordinate formats will result in location errors.
Click to show / expand the list of waypoints below........
| Hidden Falls (1) - Approach |
- tWillowSpring
Lat/Lon (WGS84): N 36.16105
W -115.49860
Elev: NaN Feet
Willow Springs picnic area and Trailhead.
- tLmdreSpr
Lat/Lon (WGS84): N 36.16562
W -115.50759
Elev: 4,800 Feet
La Madre Springs Trailhead.
- tAlt2Brdg
Lat/Lon (WGS84): N 36.15125
W -115.52337
Elev: 5,380 Feet
Start of alternate route to Bridge Mountain and North Peak from Rocky Gap Road.
- wAlt2BrdgRP-01
Lat/Lon (WGS84): N 36.15070
W -115.52268
Elev: NaN Feet
The alternate trail to Bridge Mountain forks here to a faint trail up the ridge to the left. It does not continue to follow the wide path that looks like an old road. This turn is easily missed.
- wHiddenFlsRP-1
Lat/Lon (WGS84): N 36.14360
W -115.51293
Elev: 6,820 Feet
In the wash that leads down into Hidden Falls Canyon, look north to see the mouth of Hidden Canyon.
- yHiddenFallsTp
Lat/Lon (WGS84): N 36.14672
W -115.51247
Elev: 6,630 Feet
Top entry for Hidden Falls Canyon.
|
| Hidden Falls (2) - The Canyon and Exit |
- yHiddenFallsTp
Lat/Lon (WGS84): N 36.14672
W -115.51247
Elev: 6,630 Feet
Top entry for Hidden Falls Canyon.
- dHiddenFlsR1
Lat/Lon (WGS84): N 36.14683
W -115.51217
Elev: NaN Feet
Rap 1 - Hidden Falls Canyon. 25 feet Anchored from small tree LDC.
- dHiddenFlsR2
Lat/Lon (WGS84): N 36.14833
W -115.51019
Elev: NaN Feet
Rap 2 - Hidden Falls Canyon. 120 feet Anchored from tree LDC.
- wHiddenFlsRP-2
Lat/Lon (WGS84): N 36.15187
W -115.50333
Elev: 5,550 Feet
A large drop of about 40 feet that is bypassed up and over RDC. Just after is what appears to be another canyon Joins from RDC.
- wHiddenFlsRP-3
Lat/Lon (WGS84): N 36.15288
W -115.50286
Elev: NaN Feet
Drop of about 50 feet with ledges along the way. This is a difficult down climb for the inexperienced. There is a piton and a small shrub up canyon of the drop if a party decides it should be a rappel instead.
- wHiddenFlsRP-4
Lat/Lon (WGS84): N 36.15358
W -115.50293
Elev: NaN Feet
Large drop in the wash. Bypass the drop by following wide open slick rock ledges RDC and finding a spot to down climb to the wash below the drop near a large tree / bush.
- wHiddenFlsRP-5
Lat/Lon (WGS84): N 36.15441
W -115.50278
Elev: NaN Feet
Drop of about 15 feet under a huge boulder. The drop is featureless and would require a hand line if descended. Instead bypass the drop by climbing up over the boulder to find a small hole that drops under the boulder providing easy access to scramble down under it to the bottom of the drop.
- wHiddenFlsRP-6
Lat/Lon (WGS84): N 36.15554
W -115.50132
Elev: NaN Feet
Large drop that is not rappelled. Down climb using a series of ledges LDC to get half way down then climb down the center of the water course in a section with a lot of features to help down climb.
- wHiddenFlsRP-7
Lat/Lon (WGS84): N 36.15608
W -115.50032
Elev: NaN Feet
Drop of about 30 feet to a pool below. Good dihedral at the top to provide a meat anchor for all but last person. Only the first 8 or 10 feet is difficult. Then traverse LDC to a chimney to finish the drop.
- dHiddenFlsR3
Lat/Lon (WGS84): N 36.15619
W -115.49974
Elev: 4,820 Feet
Rap 3 - Hidden Falls Canyon. Anchored from 2 bolted hangers LDC out along a ledgey and drops about 60 feet down a ledgy sloped wall.
- dHiddenFlsR4
Lat/Lon (WGS84): N 36.15620
W -115.49943
Elev: NaN Feet
Rap 4 - Hidden Falls Canyon. Anchored from 2 bolted hangers slight LDC of water course and drops about 50 feet down a wall with ledges.
- dHiddenFlsR5
Lat/Lon (WGS84): N 36.15595
W -115.49838
Elev: NaN Feet
Rap 5 - Hidden Falls Canyon. Anchored from 2 bolted hangers about 10 feet LDC of water course and drops about 70 feet.
- yHiddenFallsBt
Lat/Lon (WGS84): N 36.15592
W -115.49831
Elev: 4,645 Feet
Bottom Exit of Hidden Falls Canyon.
- tLostCrek
Lat/Lon (WGS84): N 36.15738
W -115.49372
Elev: 4,455 Feet
Lost Creek Trail Head.
|