Three Canyon - San Rafael Desert

RATING: 3A

LENGTH: 4-6 Hours

GEAR: Standard Technical Gear.

RAPPELS: 2 to 15 m ( 50 ft. )

WATER: Little. Should be avoidable. No wetsuit needed.

FLASHFLOOD: Moderate.

SEASON: Any, hot in the summer.

NOTES: A car shuttle eliminates 3.6 miles of road walking, but is not required. One additional 60 m ( 197 ft. ) rope recommended for fixing the exit with a hand-line.

Hype

Three Canyon is heavily visited by river rafters floating Labyrinth canyon by hiking up from the river. Surprisingly, however, it is often overlooked by canyoneers.Well suited to beginners, or those looking for a less technical canyon, Three Canyon is stinkingly beautiful and a nice easy outing. The two rappels (or one long one if not breaking up the rappels) in the canyon are at the very beginning, while the rest of the canyon consists of hiking in a deep, lush canyon. Exiting the canyon requires either a bit of 5.6 climbing, or better yet, simply fix a rope before you start and hand-line out. This one is not to be missed, and is even more highly recommended in late fall when the leaves are changing color on the canyon floor.

In addition to Three Canyon proper, the North West fork of Three Canyon is also described. This is a short, technical side fork of Three that energetic canyoneers can add after doing the normal Three Canyon route.

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Comments

What is the GPX system for GPS?

by: drdave [Feb 16, 2012]

You can download the .gpx file and use a program on your computer, like National Geographic Topo! or Babelfish to transfer the waypoints directly to your GPS so you don't have to enter them manually.

by: ryancornia [Feb 17, 2012]