Highest drop 20m
Public Access
4 hrs
The upper section of Chandler Stream is of lesser quality than the lower section (see separate topo), but there are still some very nice rappels and enclosed sections that make it a worthwhile addition.
Download the Chandler Stream Upper Topo
We followed the directions for approach and dropped in at the suggested elevation and near GPS. Unfortunately, this took us into the side canyon on stream Right. It seems that the directions should mention crossing this side stream somewhere between lower and upper Chandler. The side stream was scenic and did offer a single 25M rap shortly before joining the main stream. A sling and QL was left on a tree for this rap.
The anchor tree on R6 seems to have gone, might have got swept away in a flood. We used a boulder in the water instead. About half the trees have webbing already on them. The first two 4m jumps are hard to check and didn’t look inspiringly deep so we climbed around the first and abseiled the second from a jammed log. The one on R7 is nice though. Never saw the bolts on R4, must have used a tree and gone round. The canyon has a lot of boulder bashing with not much swimming, but still some good features – R2 particularly is very impressive.
We spent almost 5 hours in Upper Chandler and used up most of the day. 2 of us went into Lower Chandler with headtorches on, prepared to speedrun it and finish as it got dark, but were slightly disappointed when it only took an hour (despite a few jump repeats) and the headtorches were never needed. Both canyons are good, lower is better but quite short on it’s own.