South Fork Trail (Big Rock Creek)

[tarol]

Anyone hiked it? Would there still be snow in this area? I would like to hike it this weekend if possible... Thanks

[mtnfox]

I've hiked the portion from South Fork Campground to the Devil's Chair twice in the last month or so and it was fine - no snow. The portion from Islip Saddle down to Big Rock Creek may have snow, however since it doesn't see the sun as much. Big Rock Creek has mucho water.

[MtnMan]

I didn't see much now at Islip itself the other day, but I didn't look over the side too closely. Anyway, it should be passable. The top 1 mile may have some snow patches though, but it's unlikely it's solid snowpack.

[tarol]

thanks - how's the camping along that trail if I wanted to do it as an overnighter?

[tarol]

How about hiking the South Fork trail down, staying the night at or near the campground, then hiking up the Manzanita Trail to Vincent Gap? What do you think conditions are like?

[MtnMan]

you should be fine as far as snow is concerned.

[Hikin_Jim]

thanks - how's the camping along that trail if I wanted to do it as an overnighter?

It's been a while since I've done that trail, but the section that climbs to Islip Saddle is an old mining road cut out of some pretty steep terrain. Not much opportunity to camp there.

At the bottom, there is a public campground. Between the bottom and Devil's Punchbowl the terrain is less steep, but I can't remember if there are any camp sites.

If I were doing it, I'd park at the Punchbowl, hike over to South Fork, head up the trail to Islip Saddle, and then hike the extra 2 miles to Little Jimmy Trail Camp which has good water and is a very nice forested spot.

You could also walk a bit east on ACH and come to the old Pine Hollow picnic area. It's not a trail camp or anything, but there are flat spots that you could camp on, and it would be less gain than Little Jimmy.

There's a spring on the S. Fork trail (Reed Spring?) that will probably be running this time of year. There's another spring east on ACH if I recall correctly (Cortelyu Spring?), and of course there's the very nice spring at Little Jimmy. I don't even treat the water at Little Jimmy.

The only problem with Little Jimmy might be its popularity, and there were some bear problems last year.

HJ

[mtnfox]

Also, about half way between South Fork campground and Devil's Chair there are a couple of "well used" campsites in Holcomb Canyon near the creek, which also has mucho water right now.

[MtnMan]

Little Jimmy still has quite a bit of snow. It takes a long time for it to melt out there in an avg snow year, like this one. You could probably get up there in the next 2 weeks, but it might be a sludge.

South Fork Campground has plenty of sites, and since it's a developed campground, so you can have a campfire... which is nice this time of year.

[Hikin_Jim]

Little Jimmy still has quite a bit of snow. It takes a long time for it to melt out there in an avg snow year, like this one. You could probably get up there in the next 2 weeks, but it might be a sludge.

South Fork Campground has plenty of sites, and since it's a developed campground, so you can have a campfire... which is nice this time of year.

Hmm, yeah, good point. Forested = slow melting.

I don't know for sure, but you might find some dry ground there; it's a pretty big area. No way to know for sure except to visit. There's also a service road that runs just above the trail. There are a lot of level spots on that road.

You'd probably find something to camp on, but, again, you can't know for sure without first hand observation.

HJ

[Bill]

How about hiking the South Fork trail down, staying the night at or near the campground, then hiking up the Manzanita Trail to Vincent Gap? What do you think conditions are like?

There is probably some snow on parts of that route near Islip, and again toward Vincent Gap. There is a CG near at South fork. Avoid the weekend as it can be kinda crowded. The trail down from Islip has some steep areas with some narrow spots, but awesome views. Also some bad spots on the front half of the trail up Manzanita to Vincent Gap, but should be nice this time of year.
Enjoy! 8)

[AW~]

Should say that this trail is savage. On both ends.
At Islip Saddle its is overgrown near the parking lot already.
And at South Fork...it basically does not exist.

[Sean]

That's too bad, it was a fun trail before the Bobcat Fire. Hopefully someone will restore it.