
Mouth of Willow Canyon ahead. We took the ridge on the left.

Ascending the ridge.



At a false peak, looking along the ridge at a pretty section toward the high point of our ascent. Willow Canyon visible on the right.

Close-up into Willow Canyon. Omg exciting.

Looking back along the ridge as we continue to ascend.

Continuing farther would result in a much longer approach. We dropped in on the right.

Crappy, dangerous scree descent.



At the bottom of the crappy scree descent. As we continued, we hit some obstacles and a short rappel before getting into Willow Canyon.

Within Willow Canyon, yay!


Some light bushwhacking.

And some nice down climbs, all before even getting to the first rappel.


Approaching the start of the technical stuff. You can see the white register box on the top right in this photo. The first rappel is just right of that. I got distracted and took pictures of these pretty rocks instead, oops.

First rappel in Willow Canyon!

Avoiding the brush, looking back toward the first rappel.

Lots of pretty narrows, but no more rappels for a while after the first one.


Waterfall down climb.

Looking back at the pretty waterfall.

Willow Canyon opens up for a while.

And then in narrows again, some short obstacles we partner-assisted.



Gorgeous colors and curves.

Down climbing to bypass rappel 2.

Rappel 3, super pretty.

More waterfalls to down climb.






The big two-stage rappel. Can be done as one swoop.

Looking back up the two-stage rappel. You can see Karileigh starting the descent, center.

Close-up of the second stage of the 2-stage rappel.

Continuing into the narrows, which were consistently awesome for the rest of the canyon.


More obstacles. Seriously, so many fun waterfalls to down climb or avoid.


At the top of the second 2-stage rappel, where the most gorgeous view of the canyon waited. It didn't translate in my photos, unfortunately.

Karileigh and Kailey posing for a photo at the top of the second 2-stage rappel. I lost it a little at the beauty of the canyon here.

Looking up at the first stage of the 2-stage rappel.

Looking back at the two stages of the second 2-stage rappel. We entered back into narrows.

More fun rappels as Willow Canyon continued.

Looking back again toward the second 2-stage rappel, just a different angle.

Small avoidable pothole on the left. Narrow, beautiful, short, fun rappels.






Nearing the end of Willow Canyon.


Some more short down climbs, and then the final rappel. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the final rappel because we lost all light.

2015: Base of the last rappel, what the NPS calls the Willow Canyon Falls.

2015: Willow Canyon Falls, the last rappel.

Heading out of Willow Canyon.


Willow Canyon opens up.
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