One of the cool things about canyoning is that there is so much potential for exploring places that few, if any, people have ever been. The sport is still quite small and little known, and it requires specialized gear to reach hard-to-access places, which means there are still many canyons around the world that have seen little to no human activity. Of course, one has to consider Indigenous communities and how curious and adventurous they were in reaching these places, but it’s hard to imagine how they would access certain areas without ropes or other specialized gear. Even in Southern California, there are places that still call out for exploration. My buddy Ron had scouted an area located in the Grapevine outside Los Angeles and asked me along to check out a potential undocumented canyon. For these trips, you can use satellite and topo maps to get a general idea, but you still have to come prepared for any scenario. So, with our heavy packs and shrub clippers to tackle the ubiquitous dense chaparral, we made the long, early-morning approach to the top of the canyon, weaving in and out of the thick brush, appearing and disappearing through an ambient fog. The canyon itself had a few rappels and was made up of anorthosite and weathered granodiorite, common in the San Gabriel Mountains. For the handful of scenic drops we farmed some big rocks and created cairn anchors. Luckily, we only needed the loppers a few times on the exit, had to do an army crawl under brush just once, and thankfully, I escaped without any poison oak. We got back to the cars right before dark. A long day, but kind of magical to have explored a “new” area so close to millions of people. Ron named the canyon Maxon, in honor of a veteran member of the canyoneering community: https://ropewiki.com/Maxon_Canyon
