Blue Canyon

One of the jewels of Tehipite Valley, Blue Canyon drops nearly 3,000 feet of elevation through giant granite walls with enough rappels to easily lose track. Tehipite Valley is waaaay out there and makes for a world class wilderness adventure. Unless you hate life or would like to hate life, get a group, save up around $400 a person, and call Clyde Pack Outfitters to haul your stuff around to the top and bottom of the canyon. Well worth it.

From the Rancheria Trailhead to a campsite above Blue Canyon is approximately 13 miles. The first 6.5 miles took about 3 hours, while the second 6.5 miles took about 5 hours. After the Blue Canyon Trail diverges off from the Crown Valley / Tehipite Valley Trail, there is a ton of deadfall on the Blue Canyon Trail, and the Blue Canyon Trail becomes difficult to find/follow. Drop in at the obvious spot where the trail to Blue Canyon nears the creek.

Start early in the day, it's a long one. The first part of the canyon is likely the best, through deep and polished slots. Further down it gets more of a v-shape with a little bit of rock fall into the canyon. When you notice trees in the middle you're getting close to the end. We used all natural anchors in the canyon, and in the upper section, rappels are all relatively small, nothing more than 100 feet I think. One big awesome rappel of maybe 120 feet out of the trees takes you to a pool, and as you exit, you'll notice things look very steep ahead. Climbing around a ledge to your gith will get you to a tree to anchor off of down to a big ledge above the 250 foot high Blue Canyon Falls. There is a good tree to anchor off of down there, but if you walk over to it, you might die. The rock is very slippery. Find a way to rappel to that tree, or rather to rappel off of something easier to get to. Trust me, don't walk out to it. The scariest minutes of my life happened watching a friend try it.