Originally, Mikey and I were going to rappel Chilao Creek to East Fork Alder Creek down to the crag but he bailed last minute due to bad poison oak. With a free day and still lots of stoke, I did a solo attempt taking a different way.
Alder Creek Trail is an abandoned trail that starts at Upper Big Tujunga Canyon road and ends close to Loomis Ranch. It hasn't been touched for probably a decade with the condition of the trail teetering on barely visible, washed out, or perfect. My plan was to take the trail to Alder Creek just south of Loomis Ranch and walk south to the crag but my stoke diminished due to heat and no shade or trees anywhere. The trail begins and immediately becomes brushy and hidden.
Theres a small creek crossing 1.6 miles in where I took a peaceful break at.
The trail begins winding around the hillside and is consistently a slope and rarely flat.
Yes yes I know I was only 2 or 3 miles in at this point, but due to being alone and without any shade on this exposed ass trail, I began to have less fun and less motivation to continue. I gave up after a short break under a shady bush but here is what the rest of the trail looked like.
I still had lots of energy to continue hiking so I looked at my map and found a ridgeline that beelined to the main Alder Creek. I started heading down that which was super easy and not brushy at all. Then I found my first snakeskin! It looked pretty fresh but fell apart into about 5 pieces which I stored in my pack so I could add it to my home museum.
A little bit further down the slope, I found the Gopher Snake who was most likely the one who littered the skin. He was about 3 feet long and just hanging out by the creek.
Now begins part 2 of this adventure,
The Long-Ass Creek Only Wading Hike. As most of you know, wading through a creek isn't ideal and you almost always want to avoid it. Lower Alder Creek forces it upon you and it is honestly not that bad and very very rewarding. Highly recommended. I wanted to take this up as far as I could go, but I knew that I would be stopped at the narrows or possibly before due to the canyon getting cliffy and rocky closer to the crag.
Now most of the time the water was knee deep but for maybe 2 sections, it was waist and chest deep! I was surprised to find some decent swimming pools that would be of high demand to your typical day hiker. But I must worn you that it will be 2 miles of trudging through water to get there.
I was eventually halted by a GIGANTIC POOL (and I must stress how large this pool actually was. I'm talking about the size of the average home's pool) which has this big rock to the right and thick foliage to the left. At the base of the little waterfall was a deep section that was maybe 10-12 feet deep.
I traversed this rock and could most likely get over it but the risk of falling in the pool with my bag was really high. There was another steep climb to the right of the rock which was definitely doable but I was just so far out and alone I didn't want to attempt it. I ended my hike here with a long swimming time and lunch.
The hike back was chill. I found a turtle somehow just swimming around.
That was it. Didn't make it but highly recommend getting to that pool!
I want to end on this photo of the Alder Crag in the distance. This was taken at the TR.
P.S. SO HAPPY THAT I DON'T HAVE TO PAY FOR TAPATALK PREMIUM TO UPLOAD 5+ PHOTOS DAAAMMMMNNNNN!!!!
