Swurrly Canyon

Fun downclimbing leads to a deep and skinny slot, ending with an epic free-hanging, 300 foot rappel. While it is shorter than it's neighbor Burrly Canyon, it packs a lot in for its short length. The exit involves a 40 foot section of 5.7 climbing, So make sure to set a rope on it beforehand if you are unsure about your climbing abilities.

The parking area is located directly at the top of the canyon drainage. Head east a short distance to the rim of the canyon and follow it south for about 300 feet until you can descend into the canyon.

Head down the canyon drainage 600 feet or so until the first down-climb is encountered. From here it is possible to rim walk along the east rim (RDC) of the canyon for about 1000 feet to a place where you can climb down into the canyon and leave your gear and ropes. If leaving your gear at the start of the lower section, retrace your steps back up to the top of the canyon and descend the canyon from there. The upper section of the canyon doesn’t have any rappels and consists of stemming and down-climbing. None of the stemming takes you more than 10 feet off of the ground and the down-climbs are short as well. The canyon makes a left turn at the end of the upper section, with the walls on the RDC becoming shallow enough that escape is possible. This is where you would have stashed your gear if you chose to do so. The lower section begins with a series of larger down-climbs and becomes much more narrow and dark than the upper section. A long, narrow hallway leads to the final drop. Make sure that you enter this section in the order that you want to descend the rappel because passing people here is very difficult. There are multiple solid chockstones at ground level that can be used as anchors. Depending on which anchor is used, between 20 and 40 feet of webbing will be needed to extend the anchor enough for a clean pull. A tight section is encountered on the rappel that will force any larger individuals to climb up and over it. After navigating through the tight section, it’s about 270 feet of free-hanging to the ground. With a 340 foot pull-cord, we were able to get a clean pull from a hill opposite the rappel.