Canyoning in the Pacific Northwest USA with Bestard

Pacific Northwest Canyoning Team Beginnings

I had moved to the Pacific Northwest in the Fall of 2013. I would sit in wife’s family cabin in the mountains and would be bored out of my mind. They didn’t have any internet or tv. What was I supposed to do? I found a local guidebook that would take me to caves, waterfalls, and mountain views. It was there when I began to fall in love with being outside. The lack of internet or tv quickly left my mind. When I realized that not every waterfall had a trail to it, I lost my mind. I wanted to see them all! I found out that there are well over 10,000 waterfalls in the PNW. I began to sharpen my off trail hiking skills which included reading old maps, topography, LIDAR technology, and using Google Maps. I went to hundreds of waterfalls and realized I would need a rope to help me get to a few of the waterfalls. As one who does not like heights, I was scared! I had a companion who was also interested in getting to those tough to reach places. We were mentored by a local guide who traded mentoring for rides out to the forest.

Deadhorse Canyon

Canyoning in the northwest is still in it’s infancy. Sure, people probably abseiled into deep and dark canyons 30 years ago but with technology and our strong desire for more, we are opening up 15-20 canyons a year. We utilize Ropewiki.com to share our trips and updated beta. A few of our favorites are North Fork Teiton Canyon, Deadhorse Canyon, Hager Canyon, and Big Creek.

Many of our canyons are made up of basalt. Basalt is a dark colored, fine grained, igneous rock composed of plagioclase and pyroxene minerals. When it comes to anchor building in basalt canyons, it is a 50/50 proposition. We could place a bolt station in 5 minutes or 50 minutes depending on how good the rock is. Basalt also breaks off in sharp and narrow ways so rope protection and awareness is a must. We utilize creeping the rope so that the wear can be spread out over the rope and not centered in a small area.

Since we are still young in terms of canyoning worldwide, we have had to do research and development on our tools and practices. We often get jealous of our friends who can use a bridge to get into the Canyon and drink a glass of wine and enjoy a slice of cheese afterwards. Our canyons are mostly deep into the forest with trees that are well over 60 meters and we have to be aware of fallen trees, landslides, or forest fires attempting to stop us. While we don’t hike as long as people do in the southwest US, I’d argue that our hikes can get pretty wild when you have to hop over and old growth tree a good amount of times.

Fern Canyon

Back to our tools and practices, we have tried all kinds of ways to make our gear last longer. We learned early on that basalt can slice through anything in a quick way.

My companions bought a few styles of canyon shoes before we landed on the Bestard Canyon guides. I personally love them. We went through packs that were either not function or too heavy.

Bestard Canyon Guide

We landed on the Rodcle line up. Their packs can last a decade. Once we got connected with Immersion Drysuits we were able to get into colder, deeper, and darker canyons without feeling like we would freeze. Partner our gear with our growing team and our confidence has gone through the roof. We are actively testing the limits to where, what, and how we can get into canyons that we have only dreamed about. We have a team of 3 guys in Portland, Oregon and a group of 5 in the Seattle, Wa area so our net is spread wide. We also train multiple times a year so that we can trust each other in the canyons.

Best season of the year

Our canyon season usually goes from May through September. That is the best time to get into our 5 star, committing canyons. The canyon team does try to stretch the season out by finding seasonal canyons. These canyons typically dry up by June and aren’t worth running by then. We enjoy being in near whitewater conditions and the challenge it presents. This type of canyoning isn’t for everyone but if it interests you, then I would compel you to take a swift water course. By canyon season arrives, we reach 10-30 C from morning to the afternoon. Our summers are typically dry which makes up for the 8 months of rain. It is not uncommon for us to see plenty of wildlife. We have many varieties of salmanders, newts, fish, snakes, deer, elk, lynx, bear, and the rare cougar sighting. We aren’t too worried about animals as they don’t pose a risk to us.

Planning and openings of the canyons

How do we open canyons? We like to use a drone to give us a good layout of what the canyon offers. We will walk along the rim to see what areas could pose a real challenge and we may abseil down to get a closer look. We may leave a rescue line in an area or have a small team stay above and assist as needed. Once we have a plan we make sure the drill batteries are charged, we have enough bolts/hangers, webbing, and rapides. We carry a location beacon just in case something doesn’t turn out in our favor. We also have a pre canyon meeting with everyone making sure we have all the needed gear and communication signals. We have to be on our A+ game every moment.

Lindsey Gorge

One canyon in particular from last season sticks out to me. Hager Canyon had been on our radar for a year or so but we didn’t put eyes on it until last April. The canyon is a waterpark. In the Northwest we don’t have too many canyons that have more jumps and slides vs. abseils. Hager has that. Its walls are maybe 30 feet at max. This is small compared to our other classic canyons. After 10 slides the canyon tightens up and the final sequence is a narrow corridor. When we scouted it, the final part scared all of us. It took us 2 days to open the canyon and once we made it through it was pure bliss. The canyon ends and a nice game trail takes you back to the parking area. It feels good to open new canyons up and share them with our small but growing community.

Oops, I just remembered that the mountains where many of our favorite canyons also has over 450 basalt lava tubes. A few of them require abseiling multi pitch drops to get into the good chambers. It was our experience from going into the caves that we would begin our new goal, night canyoning. The Portland team was able to do 5 night canyons last season with Big Creek (South Cascades) being the toughest one. In order to make these trips feasible a team needs to be tight and communication has to be flawless.

East Canyon

If you haven’t made it to the Pacific Northwest yet then you should consider it. We are a bright community and gladly point people in the right direction. Find us on Facebook under Pacific Northwest Canyoning. Cheers!

Ryan Ernst, Pacific Northwest Canyoning Team