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07/04/15 - Adams Canyon Waterfall
To those in Northern Utah and are familiar with the Adams Canyon hike located in Layton, the destination is the 35ft waterfall after the 1.5 mile hike.
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Out of the dozens of times I have hiked this, I have always wanted to rappel the waterfall. Many years ago, a few friends and I rappelled the Lower Falls (about 15ft) but not the upper. On the 4th, this just happened by chance and so my buddy Ian and I hiked up in the hot afternoon (which was a perfect combo) while most of the crowds were away. Puuurfect!
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As far as I have researched, no one has posted a TR or even a blog post online, so this TR is more for that reason. I did come across one candition report where one person did do the rappel, but that's all I had to go from.
From a technical perspective, there are 2 raps. The first one is a low-angle rap of 15ft which goes directly through the creek (Class C conditions). The rocks are quite slippery, but if you hang to the left side LUC (on rappel) you will avoid the slips. A 125ft rope is what I would suggest in bringing so you can double (or single and biner it) and to give you enough rope to do a easy rope-pull.
From there, it's a 30ft walk to the bolts located on the right, LDC. This avoids the blunt of the waterfall but still allows you to get wet (depending how good of a rappeller you are can avoid obstacles).
I would even call this a great beginner Class C, route. If you are a beginner to Canyoneering, please wait until late June or July once the water has receded a bit before proceeding. It would be a dangerous flow in earlier months to those who are ill-prepared and untrained.
Once you reach the waterfall, you will be presented with two routes. One in which I'm calling the "standard" route, which is followed by the crevice climb located to your North (left). Once on top of the rock scree, head towards the waterfall and downclimb in one or two spots and you are there. This route takes 5-10minutes. It's fairly easily even for those with no climbing or canyoneering skills.
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The other approach is the "sport" route which is exposed and can be protected, but for experienced canyoneers with climbing experience it will be cake-walk. If you have young kids, I wouldn't take them on this route at all. I warned you.
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Once on top of the falls, you will be greeted to this. Ian and I didn't find any webbing or bolts on our first survey until we were down-climbing and saw it in plain-sight. This rap is about 15ft in length but takes you directly through the stream. Young kids will have a issue with this, so it's best to have an experienced adult go first and belay and coordinate from the bottom. Again, if you hang to the right side, LDC, you can avoid the slippery parts.
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From there, walk 30 feet to the cliff wall on the right side, LDC, to the two-bolt station. Where Ian is standing is where it is.
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Looking down from the rap station:
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And the aftermath:
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And a video of Ian rappelling the falls:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFRdKW1hvws
I included a KMZ file (Google Earth file) which shows the waypoints and canyon path for the visually-minded.
PS - With this TR you will now see more people rappelling off the falls...(way to go Brett, ruin the hike and waterfall...)
(Edited: corrected needed rope from 100-ft to 125-ft. There is some horizontal distance that wasn't accounted for initially).