Gorge Creek Canyon

The best checkpoint for water flow is from the Gorge bridge that overlooks the canyon, from here one can see all the rappels except R1. Despite appearances from the bridge, all of the falls spread out immediately after pouring over and are relatively benign while on rappel. R5 is the burliest looking from the anchor, but the rappeller does a quick duck under to cross the flow at the top and is behind the falls to the bottom. All of the falls may look intimidating from the bridge because one is looking at them from the side. The waterfalls pour over to canyon right and spread out, making them easier than one would imagine from the bridge. Gorge Lake Campground is a nice campground with toilets and fire pits, just before the hamlet of Diablo, east of Gorge Creek.

Since wildfires burnt through the area the approach trail is hard to find. From the east side of the bridge pick your way up the slope, inevitably finding yourself in a mess of burnt-down trees. Keep going until 1500ft elevation, and then side-hill left to eventually join the watercourse close to R1. At this point the flow is roughly 1/2 of that in the ensuing rappels below the confluence of the two upper forks. It may be possible to start the canyon much higher than stated in the beta by using the trails climbers use to access David Peak (Little Davie). For more information see:

Short creek walk, with 8ft jump from boulder. Bridge comes into view, start of the slot section. In the water course: Initially 150ft down into free-hanging crack, then across floor to next drop. The original R4 is DCL above the boulder wedged across the gap in front of you, however sometime since the original beta was written a blockage has collapsed making it inaccessible (except perhaps via the high-flow traverse line - untested). Until a replacement R4 is established here, drop another 50ft through the new rabbit hole, into the cavern below. The pull is actually OK from the cavern, as there's a direct line through the hole to the bolts far above, and with rapid pulling there's not much to catch the rope as it falls. Via the high-water traverse line: There's a line of bolts DCR which provides a high-water route to avoid dropping into the crack. These have been unused for an unknown number of years and shouldn't be relied upon. In the 2006 topo there's mention of a high-water bypass here too, seemingly following a ledge DCL. It's unclear if there still a bolt at the end, or if it's a jump. This photo shows people on the ledge. A bunch of smaller down-climbs takes you to underneath the bridge, and eventually to the lake.