Zero Gravity
Last Candition: May 8, 2011
5 of us did the canyon in about 3 hours car to car. Water level is about medium-full. No wetsuits needed with 80 degree temps. The final sequence is not to be under-estimated: 4 of us went high and over the chockstone and rapped, one adventurous teen went under and almost got stuck. Fun!
Everything is full from yesterday's rain.
Some water still remains. Two are pools are swimmers. On a warm day no wet suit is needed.
Nearly dry except for a few small, but deep pools. The pools are incredibly cold, so a wetsuit is recommended unless it is extremely hot.
The semi keeper is in full on. requires at a minimum a good pack toss, edge is 10' from bottom. the downclimb directly following is a doozy. Easiest is to bypass the whole section by stemming high.
The end rappel is quite nice. The bolts for the rebelay are missing the hangers, so the rappel bomb-bays pretty hard. It's a spicey downclimb into deep cold water to finish out.
All of the water we encountered was chest deep or a swimmer. Didn't take or need wetsuits though. Happy to have knee and elbow pads. One down climb has some webbing on a cock stone that is thoroughly ragged and needs to be replaced. We partner assisted here. Replace the webbing if you feel you need it.
Still pretty full. Keeper pothole just emerging, but less than a foot below being brim full. Water slightly chilly in a few places, but was pleasant without wet suits since we didn't leave until 11 am.
Full to the brim, very fun. 4/3 wetsuit was perfect.
There is a glue-in eye bolt above the final rappel, which renders the other bolts useless. If you feel like doing a good deed, pulling those bolts and patching those holes would be pretty easy.
Full of water. Did a fair amount of stemming rather then try and push through the bottom. Would not recommend this canyon for anyone not comfortable stemming 20' off the ground. Not exactly sure exactly where people get stuck at the end but my understanding is to leave any bolts in place as they may be used for self rescue or search and rescue.
Water levels are pretty low, but there were still several swimmers and the jumping pool was still deep enough to jump into (8-9 feet deep). The keeper was only knee-deep. The water is pretty clean and very refreshing on a hot day. The road had one spot that was pretty worn away and difficult to get up in a sedan.
The road there is pretty rough getting out of Iron Wash. High clearance recommended.
Fairly low water levels and when we had to get in the water it felt refreshing. One of four people brought wetsuits and we were all perfectly fine. The semi-keeper was waist deep.
High water level so the keeper was only about 5'. There is now a shiny new bolt above the chock stone at the tight spot at the end. This made it much easier to lower most of our group down. No wetsuits needed on a Mid 80's day.
First time running this canyon. It was very low. The water in the keeper pot was about ankle deep. There are several unavoidable swims. I did not were a wet suit so it was cold but not too bad. I did figure out how the canyon got its name as I was stuck for a moment on the last down climb.
A bit of water with only one keeper that a competent climber can stem out of. Water was bearable without a wetsuit, though I was happy with the jacket I brought. Most potholes could be stemmed, while the mandatory pools held water that were a little too shallow to commit to the optional jumping that some beta mentions.
tried to drive to the canyon on Oct 10th but didn't dare crossing the creek with my Subaru outback....too much deep/wet sand in there. The creek was still running. I am guessing the canyon has a lot of water as a result.
The canyon Flashed the day prior and was still flowing (the arch was fully submerged). The keeper was full and just required a short swim to the edge before you just crawl over it. Water is really clean but I would recommend a wet suit since you are in water 80%+ of the time and its no longer 100 degrees out. Also the removable bolt that was above the squeeze has been taken so you now have to use the bolder in the event of someone getting stuck.
Zero Gravity your namesake does you well. This is such a sweet little treat of a canyon. Real short with a fairly easy slog to the start, its exposed but over flat land and only ~40 min. The canyon itself has some really fun obstacles like the semi-keeper silo mid way through. We used a pack toss to get up and over but it could also be easily partner assisted. The final tight section with the chockstone is SO narrow, my hips had no issue (size 33) but my chest was wall to wall and I just slid through. The pool area at the bottom makes a great shady hangout on a hot summer day as well. Would highly recommend not as a primary destination but a great combo for Iron Wash (North Fork) or Lower Eardley
All the pools were quite full with nice clean water and the keeper had chest deep water. We downclimbed the rappel at the end with little difficulty and the final pool only required a very brief swim.
Canyon water levels were below average. There were two swimmers - the large swimhole about 3/4 through and the last downclimb into the pool was a swim. Not nasty water thankfully...yet. The Keeper and the following potholes were dry. We all wore a wetsuit and were happy but most water spots were less than waist deep. You can easily do this now without a wetsuit on a sunny day. Water isn't ice cold at all. Great canyon though. Packs a huge punch in such a short distance.
Water levels moderate as reported in previous post. Found one good jumper. Pothole escape not too bad; all, including one noob, made it out without an assist, though you have to contend with a dead mouse floating with you. The last narrow section with a chockstone is more of a nuissance than I recall. As others have reported, the cam looks treacherous, so we didn't use it. No sling around the chockstone, so we reslung it with webbing, but this is a less-desirable starting point on the rappel. The horizontal rappel to get out to where you can drop through is a bit of a grind while also trying to hang onto the rope, which is anchored slightly below you. One noob did fine on the high stem with some coaching and encouragement, though she was anxious. Not a great place for beginners IMO.
Water levels low in most spots except the normal swim areas. Low rating due to this. Water is nice and warm, the first being bathtub ready. The jumps still super deep. The keeper pothole was about knee deep, easily defeated with rope bag toss. Went over the stone, inspected the cam stuck in the hole, wires starting to fray, need to be replaced very soon if you are using this as an anchor point. Runner around chockstone is in good shape. Great fun canyon!