Brooks Bushwhack Canyon

A neat little canyon right next to San Francisco with a committing approach and exit. The waterfall is usually dry, but it was first descended in class B conditions during a rainstorm. The approach and exit are a pretty grueling bushwhack, making the waterfall a much needed reward.

Follow the Brooks Creek Trail up to the waterfall viewing point, from which you’ll be able to gauge the flow. At many times, these falls are completely dry; the first descent was after a series of heavy rains and we saw 3 falls. Continue up the trail until you hit the road, turn left and continue up the road 0.5 miles before dropping into the drainage on the left around (37.56479, -122.48567). At the time of writing, there is no trail leading down the drainage, and the bushwhacking intensifies from walking through shrubs to crawling down the creek to a few brief Class 3 scrambles. In flowing conditions, the creek will become wet a short horizontal distance before the first rappel.

Some pre-placed webbing, but don’t expect it. We carried a 300 ft rope and did a double strand rappel for the final rappel of every drop. There is a lot of vegetation that the rope can get caught on during a pull. R1: ~60ft, Anchor off of a tree R2+3: ~65 ft, Anchor off of another tree, combine rappels 2 and 3 R4: ~125ft R5: ~15 ft, nuisance rappel