EISPIRATEN

I hiked up to Icehouse saddle from Lytle Creek on July 5th and the middle fork trail was in great shape except for one washout/slide between Comanche and Third Crossing. Not technical, but you have to cross some slippery gravel above a steep slide down into the canyon. Good to have boots with good t...

I was there yesterday. No water at Comanche, but good water at third crossing and stone house, mostly dry in between. Lots of bugs in certain parts of the canyon where there's not a breeze. I got at least three in each eye and a couple in the mouth! but generally very nice up in the canyon, especial...

I saw one of those above the Royal Gorge about six weeks ago, but it was too quick for me to snap a shot of it. Same beautiful colors as in your photo. Thanks!

Hey Shreddy, Here's an old article about it: http://articles.latimes.com/1988-01-03/ ... ding-areas They ran out of spots to land thanks to the real estate biz and cities worried about potential lawsuits. Jumping off from Mt Wilson must have been quite a rush! Come to think of it, I can't think of t...

In particular, the wildland/urban interface areas seem to feature a confusing patchwork of private land, gated residential developments, national forest, designated open space and assorted mystery parcels under the jurisdiction of various cites, unincorporated areas of different counties as well as ...

Sad to hear about that. Not that it would have helped this fellow, but it seems like they've been talking about creating some kind of wildlife underpass or passageway in the region for years, but looks like it's still not quite there. Found this note: http://www.theacorn.com/news/2014-03-06 ... _roa...

Okay never mind. Looks like the Gabrieleno below Bear Canyon Trail (and probably all the way to Brown Mt. Dam) is still part of the station fire closure area. Oh, well.

I was up there a month or two ago and it's passable. The trail is right where Dima says, but concealed under piles of deadfall and other debris. The trail is navigable, but hasn't been worked since the fire. There are a pair of minor washouts you have to skirt or cross. You climb the hillside, pass ...

Fantastic shots. Don't be surprised if you get some footage of a scrawny hiker. I think I walked by your camera on Sunday late afternoon and was startled by a flash. I saw few human footprints in the area but lots of animal tracks all over. On the way down, I saw something with a big gray bushy tail...

I recently came across an amazing article about a trip to Switzer's camp in the 1880s, including a general description of the range and the "Switzer trail" as well as encounters with crusty old mountain men, accounts of thrashing through chaparral on horseback while deer hunting and gratui...

Hi, Packer Greg. Thanks for the video. I didn't know that Switzer's had been in operation as late as the '50s. It seems like the power lines may have been a product of that era, and the hardware that remains looks like it could be from around then. Perhaps this trail was an old access road along the...

Haven't been into the Royal Gorge since before the Station Fire, but I've been just upstream of there between Switzer's Falls and Bear Canyon a couple of times recently. Many of the big pools are still full of sand and silt with a relatively small amount of brackish brown water in the margin. Not su...

Thanks, Fortified, "ancient" was purely tongue in cheek. ;-) But for all intents and purposes, once the chaparral grows over something, stuff like this might as well be in the lost city of Atlantis. I didn't see any silverware, but did see some broken glass and rusted out tin cans. The hik...

Once buried like the tombs of the pharaohs under a thick blanket of chaparral, the remains of ancient civilization have been uncovered by the Station Fire. I stumbled across this abandoned trail near Switzer's recently and came back on another trip to follow it a bit more. In some of the rocky secti...

Thanks, cougarmagic. I like to think of Brown Mt. as kind of rampart between the front range wilderness and town. It functions almost like a wall that shuts out all signs of the city a mere 2-3 miles away when you're down in Bear Canyon or Royal Gorge and vicinity. Meanwhile, from the town side, you...

I had been scoping this out for a number of years, mostly on a few cold clear days in the winter when it almost seemed like a good idea. On Saturday, with the cool breeze and scattered clouds, I managed to pull it off. This hike reminded me of the Lone Tree Trail without the trail and without the tr...

About 9 months ago, there was abundant, eight-foot-tall Poodle Dog Bush completely engulfing the area around Charlton Flats/Vetter Mt. along the Silver Moccasin. Probably not as bad now, but be prepared.

It was perfectly passable before the fire. Last time I hiked it was probably 2007? In some spots, the old trail was blasted through rock ribs that poke out of the canyonside. I'd imagine those old trail cuts are probably still good. the drainages and softer spots in between them are probably another...

Nice hike, Elwood. Thanks for the pics and such. Probably a good call to turn back given the current state of affairs in the area. That very afternoon while you were up on Ken Burton, I rode my bike to Paul Little and explored a bit. The dam can be bypassed via the remains of the trail. Past the dam...

Nice pics, Uncle Rico. And great to run into you on Muir a little while back. Always nice to put a face to the name, as it were. IMHO, Mt. Disappointment is not nearly as disappointing as its name suggests. The trail that starts just after the Red Box turnoff is a very nice stroll through the woods ...

These days, I can't get away for more than 3-4 hours for a hike, but I really miss the clean mountain air that you don't always get down in the foothills. As a result, I've gotten more into traveling light and fast. I decided to push my luck today on a loop I've wanted to do for a while. Left the ca...

Okay, here's a try. 34 13'20.07, 118 09'18.29 You can see the footings in a Google Earth image from just after the fire. The other imagery they have is pretty vague except for one image from 2007 where you can sort of spot a grayish rectangle in the vicinity. Even in person it was hard to spot excep...

The section of trail from Paul Little up the canyonside and around the dam is still there and negotiable, it's just in a state of total abandonment since the closure area begins right around there. The turnoff is buried under mounds of fallen timber so it's easy to walk right past it. The upper port...

Back before the Station Fire, I spotted an intact wooden structure above Brown Mtn. Road. It looked like an elevated wooden platform rising from the chaparral high up on the slope. I finally made it up there a few months back to check out what was left of it. Some concrete footings with no markings ...

Would you like some mustard on your poodle-dog?





Have a seat and enjoy the view:



And there were even bigger and thicker groves of the stuff further up along the road to Vetter Mtn. A couple of months ago, that is.

Great to see the before and after pics. From the top of Markham, you get a pretty good view of where all that rock is coming from. It's actually terrifying if you're ever around when there's a lot of rockfall activity. I was once at the tunnel on a warm day right after a very cold snow storm the day...

Does anybody know if the Dark Canyon Trail ever existed as a continuous route from lower DCT to upper DCT? I'm assuming that the current route into the Arroyo via CCC Ridge to lower DCT is actually part of the old road grade that contours downcanyon into Woodwardia Canyon and beyond. Was there ever ...

Thanks, all. I think if I did this loop again, I would park at Eaton Saddle and tackle the Occidental section first. It was pretty exhausting after the long climb up out of the West Fork, but a fun jaunt. It reminded me of the west ridge to Strawberry, but with much thicker vegetation and without as...

Nice report. That's one of my favorite "3 hours or less" trailheads in the area. I was pleased on recent trips to see lots of pine saplings sprouting up both at the burned out pine plantation where the trail crests out and down near the burned up pine groves in Grizzly Flats itself. It pro...

A few years ago, right after the Station Fire Closure was lifted in the West Fork, I descended the Gabrieleno Trail from Red Box and ascended the Valley Forge Trail through nearly three miles of nonstop feral poodle-dog bush. Needless to say, I spent the next two weeks with most of my legs and much ...