Eaton Canyon is awesome: there is an incredible little slot canyon tucked away in the mountains behind Pasadena with a year-round stream, natural granite water slides, and critters which you--or at least I--wouldn't expect so close to LA, like neon blue salamanders and frogs. There are waterfalls over forty feet high which you can jump, and there are higher ones which you can rappel. For anyone who's descended this canyon, you know how sweet it is. Unfortunately, you also know how dirty it is, especially towards the bottom.
The Caltech Alpine Club is running a major clean-up project in Eaton Canyon on Saturday, June 23. There will be two groups involved in the clean-up: one which will work at the popular area near the lowest waterfall, and another which will descend the canyon from the usual drop-in point and scrape the entire canyon, from top to bottom, utterly and totally clean. The first group--team A--will have a short, nontechnical hike to the lowest waterfall. The second group--team B--will have a longer hike and a technical canyoneering descent to negotiate while cleaning. We will wrap up with a BBQ at Victory Park, just down the street from the Eaton Canyon entrance, at 7 PM. As with nearly all CAC events, there will be free beer and food! Feel free to RSVP on Facebook.
We will supply trash bags, gloves, and graffiti clean-up supplies and instruction. If you've never rappelled or canyoneered but are otherwise sturdy on your feet, please join us for the top-to-bottom effort; we will teach you how to rappel and will install fixed ropes on all the rappels. Refer to Prof. Chris Brennen's page on Eaton Canyon for details about the descent, but don't be intimidated: we will take care of technical details, and all you need to bring are harness, locking carabiner, and ATC--borrow them if you don't have your own!
Team A:
* Where: meet at Eaton Canyon Nature Center (here is a map)
* When: 1 PM, Saturday, June 23
* Why: Because all we do with our money is throw parties and buy books
* What to bring: normal hiking stuff, including plenty of drinking water
Team B:
* Where: meet at the bouldering cave at Brown Gym (here is a map)
* When: 7 AM, Saturday, June 23
* Why: because you're super psyched to descend Eaton Canyon and make it cleaner
* What to bring: normal hiking stuff, climbing harness, locking biner, ATC, large backpack for holding trash, and a double-sealed plastic bag or dry bag containing warm clothes, headlamp, and other electronics. There isn't an inordinate amount of Poison Oak in the canyon, but if you have severe reactions, bring long pants and long sleeves.
Here's the event page!
