| Home | Warning | Gear | Books | Photography | Hikes | Links | Flora & Fauna | Etiquette | About Me | What's New |

 

 

Secret Place #9 (Coffee Canyon*)
* Alias, not found on any map.

Summary: Two short side-by-side tributary canyons with some decent scenery that can be descended by climbing and rappelling. The first canyon can be done without any technical gear, but a rope would be recommended for those not comfortable climbing with exposure. The second canyon will require: a 200' rope (or 1x100' and a 100' pull cord), webbing, harness, descender & carabiners.
Road Conditions: High Clearance Vehicle
Navigation: Easy
Length: Each canyon will take 2-3 hours
Date Hiked: August 2003
Weather Conditions: Hot & sunny
Required Skills:
Hike Description: Canyon #1: Park where the road makes a dip into a rocky depression. Walk east from this point and you will soon enter a shallow drainage. The drainage soon meets up with another shallow wash which enters from the left. Rock hop your way down canyon and soon a trickle of water will appear and soon after that a drop off of about 80 ft. You can down climb a series of ledges on the left with some exposure to negotiate this obstacle. Just below is another 80 ft falls which can also be down climbed on the left with a 6 ft jump at the bottom. It's easy walking below this point to the confluence with the main canyon. Turn left and walk up stream to a prominent trail which will return you to the road, which you can follow back to your car.

Canyon #2: Park at the trailhead mentioned above and walk back up the road to where it makes a right turn at an earthen tank. Turn left past the tank and find your way into the bottom of a shallow wash. Head left and begin boulder hopping your way down canyon. The drainage becomes steep and water appears, soon you will reach a very nice if short drop into a series of plunge pools. Here's where you'll need your rope. You can either climb down into the drainage (a bit of a tricky climb) to rap right through the pools from a large chock stone, or work your way right to rap off a prominent tree situated on an awkward slope. The chock stone would be the cooler rap, but since I was alone I opted for the easier to get to tree. The rap from the tree is about 80 ft. Below this obstacle is a short wade and a few down climbs before you arrive at the second rappel. I used a tree located to the left of the drainage to complete this 60 ft rappel which was down a series of ledges with water trickling down it. Once down, it's a short walk to the main canyon with a campsite. The camp makes a convenient location to remove your harness and take a breather before climbing up the steep trail back to your car which is located just upstream. 

Rating (1-5 stars): Canyon #1
Canyon #2
The author completed both these canyons solo in about 2 hours each.
Photos: Click picture for larger view, click your browser's 'Back' button to return to this page.
The technical
section in Canyon #2.