Silver Fish Trail/Stone Cabin Flat

[Blaise]

Last week I was out in the Duarte area, so I decided to check out the Silver Fish Trail, with the ambitious idea that maybe I could drop down through upper Fish Fork to the falls.

I got started around 2pm and it was quite hot.

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I found a little rattlesnake.

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There's not a lot of shade on the way up to Mt. Bliss. It's about 4 miles and 3,300' of elevation gain to get to the top, on a well-maintained fire road. I passed a guy on a mountain bike suffering up the road. About a mile after the summit (I didn't bother going to the true summit with the powerlines, I was more interested to see the canyon), Silver Fish Road branches off to the right. I had brought a machete and was prepared for a bushwhacking battle, but surprisingly the road was pretty clear. The roadbed is almost entirely intact, except for one washout not far from where it splits from the main fire road.

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There were dozens and dozens of bear droppings. I was a little disappointed I didn't see one.

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This was once a very well maintained road. There are multiple sections that cross side canyons with big drainage pipes underneath, and even cement dams/retaining walls to keep the road intact.

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I eventually made it down to Stone Cabin Flat, which is filled with some massive old oaks. It was looking pretty spooky by the time I got there.

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There was once a fire here, but it seems like most of the oaks survived.

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This tree bore the mark of some strange forgotten symbol... or was it just the tree's weird growth?

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Anyways, I finally made it down to some flowing water. Pushing on a bit further, as the last of the evening twilight faded, I looked at my watch and realized I had already gone 9 miles. Time to turn around. The 3.25 miles of Silver Fish Road I'd traveled so far had been surprisingly free from major obstruction. There are a few downed trees and some growth, but overall it's fairly open and even bikeable as far as I went (and from a distance it looked like it could continue that way for a while). After crossing the stream the road had more taller weeds and there was a big downed tree covering it at one point, but there wasn't much to slow hiking progress from a normal pace.

On the way back to the stream, I saw a PVC pipe sticking up to the side of the trail. Walking towards it, I found a bunch of fencing that must've been attached to it at some point. There were also a bunch of reeds unique to that area that I didn't see anywhere else around. Poking around more, I found a game camera, and a recently cleared roughly 10'x10' area of dirt (to pick up tracks?) The game camera and dirt made sense, the fencing and pvc not so much. What gives?

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Anyways, I refilled my water bottles and made the trek out in the dark. I found a bunch of toads, and also an unfired round.

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As I was finishing around 9pm or so, I saw fireworks start going off all over the place down below, telling me the Dodgers had won the World Series.


If you'd like to watch the video version, it's here:

[dima]

Ooh, that's cool. I've thought about checking this out many times, but never did it. You went a bit past the Fish Canyon crossing, and it stayed passable?

[JakubRZ]

That is super bold to wander alone into bear country. Kudos! Did you see any remnants of the cabin itself?

[Blaise]

Ooh, that's cool. I've thought about checking this out many times, but never did it. You went a bit past the Fish Canyon crossing, and it stayed passable?

I just went a bit past the crossing (maybe half a mile). As far as I went, it was pretty easily passable, just some tall weeds. My guess is that it's probably similar at least until the ridge that separates Fish Canyon from Roberts Canyon. The road was visible from afar all the way to that ridge.

[Blaise]

That is super bold to wander alone into bear country. Kudos! Did you see any remnants of the cabin itself?

Thanks! I didn't see any remains of a cabin, but I didn't look around very much. I can't find anything online about what was there before, or why it's called Stone Cabin Flat, but there must've been a cabin, right?

[Girl Hiker]

Cute frog. Picture # 7 looks like a pair of eyes on the tree to the right.

[Taco]

I've been thinking of trying to hike the whole road (by bike). I took it up from 39 once with a buddy probably 5+ years ago and we dealt with very thick brush just to get to the Silver Peak ridge, taking up all the time we meant to use for descending a canyon nearby.

Dima, wanna go with me? We can chop our way through.

[dima]

I did the same years ago: 39 to silver peak ridge. It sucked. Let's do it. Blaise: you should join us!

[David R]

There is a shortcut up the ridge that allows for easy passage versus following the road from the 39. I want to do this as a hike so let me know if you guys are going otherwise I'll probably go up in the next month with the cooler temps on a Sunday.

[Matthew]

There is a shortcut up the ridge that allows for easy passage versus following the road from the 39. I want to do this as a hike so let me know if you guys are going otherwise I'll probably go up in the next month with the cooler temps on a Sunday.

Let’s do it! Im game for a weekend getaway!

[dima]

There is a shortcut up the ridge that allows for easy passage versus following the road from the 39

Yep. The one time I did this I tried to take the road, but eventually gave up and jumped onto the ridge. Never went past the ridge. Taco: do you still never have free weekends?

[David R]

There is a shortcut up the ridge that allows for easy passage versus following the road from the 39

Yep. The one time I did this I tried to take the road, but eventually gave up and jumped onto the ridge. Never went past the ridge. Taco: do you still never have free weekends?

I'm in my slow season at work so could hike during the week with a little planning.

[Taco]

Next weekend is my last free weekend, then work, then no saturdays off.

I know of the shortcut. I should probably go up the normal way by myself soon on the bike to see how bad it is. Alternate is very steep but lacks tree-swimming.

[Blaise]

I did the same years ago: 39 to silver peak ridge. It sucked. Let's do it. Blaise: you should join us!

Sounds fun! I was hoping this would inspire exploration of more of the road between Stone Cabin Flat and Silver Peak Ridge. My schedule and living in Ventura county now probably would make it too difficult to coordinate a date that works, but I'll be interested to see what happens. Appreciate the invite!