East Canyon Creek

The USFS has identified sensitive species breeding in East Canyon Creek between April 15-July 31. Please do not descend this canyon until August or later East Canyon Creek is a short canyon with three rapid-fire drops into beautiful pools. The final drop takes you into a deep pool and a short beautiful set of narrows before exiting into the Cispus River. This route could be combined with other nearby canyons, such as Davis Creek or Dark Creek, for a full day of canyoning.

Park on the shoulder of FR-23. Bushwhack 0.5mi to the rim of the canyon and then descend 200' into the canyon via a steep draw just upstream of R1. (Alternately, find a place to rappel in.) Note, the track that goes directly east is misleading as the contours push you left and down and make it very difficult and unpleasant to side-hill over to the drop in. It is recommended to head a couple hundred feet south on pavement and then start your bushwack arcing south and easterly to the drop in. There are several hills and dales. A somewhat nicer entrance on the east side of the creek with more bushwacking which gives you +1 rappel. Drop a car on FR-2322, bushwack due north, and enter via the tributary creek. The trib had low water in late July 2022. This approach is slightly longer.

Continue through the short set of narrows until you reach the Cispus River. Traverse the downriver along the bank for about 300 yards (~0.2mi) before cutting uphill on a faint game trail through the brush. The brush clears up once underneath the tree canopy and follow the obvious game trail upward about 200ft to the top of the hill. The trail mostly disappears at this point, although it's a fairly flat easy bushwhack about 0.25mi back to your car. If you did the tributary entrance and did not leave a shuttle car you can exit by going upstream along the Cispus for about twenty yards from the confluence. Look for a light steep game trail in the ferns. This is a steep loose trail with several exposed areas and is a tough climb but it will take you back to the top of the ridge where you can bushwack south to your car on the 2322 road. This climb and bushwack will take about an hour.