Some of the others seemed to have a bit of a canyon hangover and slow start to the day, which was forcing us to question our plans. Gavin and particularly Keith were worried about being cold in their wetsuits given their experience the day before. We searched for alternatives and decided that nearby Pitman Creek sounded like it would have less flow, less swimming, and drier rappels. It was touted as being a good cool down after Big Creek and a drive home, which sounded like us. Keith opted to pass which meant that we could save some effort and have him close the shuttle for us. We drove around to the top and half suited on the side of the road. A short and steep rutted road led to a surprising amount of water flow infrastructure. The canyon started as an chain of potholes and pools, most of which could be bypassed on slabs or downclimbed. The canyon soon steepened, forcing more slippery downclimbs past waterfalls. The slabs gave way and the canyon narrowed, while at the same time increasing in steepness. Finally the rappels started kicking in.
The rappels were all nicely bolted and for the most part led down fairly dry paths. Several optional jumps were bypassed to keep warm but at least a couple were too nice to skip.
A standout section was a three-tiered rappel through pools where the canyon is narrowest. Below was a steep and intimidating slide we opted to pass given a tailbone hit possibility.
The last rappel (frontispiece) was over a particularly vertical face of rock. Once far enough down it was possible to pendulum over into the flow.
Plenty more downclimbing led us through the end of the clean bedrock section and into a boulder dominated section. We avoided several features here using the trails on the side to speed up progress. It took us about 4.5 hours to reach the waiting cars. Unfortunately Keith was not there and after much searching and whistle blowing I hiked back up the last part of the canyon. We must have walked around him on our way down. Finally reunited, we said adios and began the long drive back.
It was a nice enough Sierra canyon, beautiful with a few nice features notable for its easy access. In the end it made me ponder just how many comparable canyons there must be in the Sierras, undescended due to the extra effort needed to reach them. Hopefully next year's season is more cooperative of wet canyon descents than this covid muddied one is.
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