Tahquitz Drainage - mission failed

[Hikin_Jim]

Pretty cool post and subsequent thread. I've been down below the first set of three falls (the falls just below Caramba), and that was enough to convince me that it would be hell-on-earth to try to descend the length of the canyon. I'm glad you lived to tell the tale. That sounds like a pretty brutal hike to climb out.

Post all the pics you want. You'll never catch me trying to descend much down that canyon!

HJ

P.S. Exactly why would you call that trip a "failure?" You may not have found the camp (how would you know anyway), but you got quite a long ways in and extracted yourself unassisted and uninjured. That's a rousing success in my book!

[RMRUpete]

If you read the RMRU WEB site NEWSLETTERS and look in the 1970's May, June, or July (1971-1979) you will find many write ups of decents of the canyon. I have done it 6 times and once I decended Andreas canyon. Andreas is much harder them Tahquitz by a factor of 2. Andreas was walking 20 feet above the ground on downed trees and bushes, lots of 4th - low 5th class climbing, and took 18 hours coming out in the dark near midnight. My climbing partner back then also did Murray and said it was harder then Andreas.

As for John Donovan we think he came down from the Saddle towards Laws and got onto some to the ridge lines that go out towards the desert. From here you can decend into the Long Valley Drainage and get to where he was found. Decending would not be to bad, coming back up would be very hard. I was out on a ridge and decending it when we saw the fire of the Texas couple. We could have gone down but it would have taken hours so we called in the helicopter.

Also RMRU members have also decended Long Canyon from the Tramway to Palm Springs. From where Donovan was camp there is a 100+ foot waterfall that must be repalled or gone around. The Texas couple did the same thing decended Long Canyon until the waterfall. NOTE: TV program I Shouldn't Be Alive was NOT filmed in Long Canyon or anywher near it. If you ever drop down Long Canyon for 1,000 feet it looks nothing like the show on TV.

Hope this little bit of history is helpful or interesting to everyone.

[Ellen]

Howdy WB

Incredible trip report, thanks Like HJ, I would also like to see pictures as I will NEVER attempt that

Howdy RMRU Pete

Thank you for your numerous years of service to my favorite SAR team

Miles of smiles,
Ellen

[lilbitmo]

Thanks for that tidbit Pete and I second what Ellen said you guys do great things

I also agree with HJ, getting yourself down there and extricating yourself safely is always a success in my book and sharing the adventure made it twice the success - thanks WB

Pete I think I'll do a little reading tonight on those old news letters - thanks.

[bluerail]

last thing some of us need to hear is "six times"

Great info Pete, and I agree wholeheartedly with Jim...that was nothing but a success

[Rumpled]

Great report and effort!
I look forward to pics and maps.

I remember an article many years ago (before Tahquitz Canyon was closed and then fees and tours) in the LA Times about a white guy that owned a small piece of land up the canyon with a small cabin IIRC.
He knew the canyon well and how to navigate it.
That article always intrigued me.

[skunkboy]

wb wrote:

Based upon the recounting of your experience with Tahquitz, I'm thinking that we must be related

I think you may be right since I also like to hike solo and then call my sweetie to come and bail me out after my adventure. Let me tell you that sometimes, she is less than pleased with me when I do this... just saying.

RMRUpete, thank you for your post. You said:

Also RMRU members have also decended Long Canyon from the Tramway to Palm Springs. From where Donovan was camp there is a 100+ foot waterfall that must be repalled or gone around. The Texas couple did the same thing decended Long Canyon until the waterfall.

I take it this is where Long Valley Creek flows past Longview Rock and eventually runs into Hidden Fork Creek. Was John Donovan found at the bottom of that 100 ft waterfall?
As lilbitmo said about one of my favorite books:

One of my favorite books is "Deep Survival" by Louis Gonzalez and he talks at length about how simple choices compound themselves when we make the wrong choices and how quickly they become life threatening when we keep making wrong choices.

Mr Donovan made a couple of bad choices and paid the ultimate price for his decisions. Thank you WB for starting a very thought provoking and enlightening thread.

PS. In the Aqua Caliente lore, Tahquitz was supposedly a very bad brujo, or witch doctor in the tribe. He would kidnap children and young Indian maidens and take them to his caves beneath Tahquitz Rock, never to be seen again. If anyone finds themselves in his canyon, tread lightly and with humility, least one find oneself in need of Pete and his buddies services.

Sincerely and with best regards,

Skunk

[wb]

You didn't by chance see any webbing anchors around trees or rocks did you?

<wb> No, sorry. No evidence of canyoneering.

I've wanted to go down that canyon for some time. Seems like I've heard from a friend of a friend whose done it but I have no info. This makes me more interested in getting in there. So what's the deal with access? Can one get permission from the Indians?

<wb> Permission was not sought from the Tribe. Were I to do this again, if, for example, I went insane - I'd drop in from the north wall around 1/4 mile above the merge with Long Valley drainage.

[wb]

I do faintly recall that he was ill equipped and that he was heading to get water when he fell. If only he had taken a day in Idyllwild until the storm had passed or a detour around, what could have been?

<wb> No crassness intended whatsoever, but had Donovan simply stuck with the mother and son team, he'd be alive today, all other things being equal.

I've helped another couple doing a thru hike that made the proper choice to turn back from the Red Tahquitz area during the major snow season in 2005, they could not find their way to Saddle Junction...

<wb> *The* major concern for PCT hikers is Fuller Ridge, especially when there is snow. Locals, like yourself, provide an invaluable service to the international hiking community trampling through your wilderness by offering the kind of guidance as mentioned above. Many PCT hikers, perhaps most, simply follow the tracks laid down by those who have gone before them.

Once again I (and I'm sure others) appreciate your attempt to get more answers about the last day and route he took.

<wb> For me, the last piece of the puzzle is locating his final camp. I would love to form a group of locals with whom to collaborate on an entry strategy to the last Donovan campsite, and once formed, put together a weekend excursion. Anyone out there interested can email me off-list at wb104475@sbcglobal.net.

[wb]

I have done it 6 times and once I decended Andreas canyon. Andreas is much harder them Tahquitz by a factor of 2. Andreas was walking 20 feet above the ground on downed trees and bushes, lots of 4th - low 5th class climbing, and took 18 hours coming out in the dark near midnight. My climbing partner back then also did Murray and said it was harder then Andreas.

<wb> Thank you for the comments Pete. Are you describing a free climb from top to bottom?

Hope this little bit of history is helpful or interesting to everyone.

<wb>Sure is, thanks for taking the time. And thank you for your service to the general public through the RMRU. You guys are amazing.