EISPIRATEN

*usual disclaimer: Fish Fork is a serious technical canyoneering run. Plenty of ways to end up a pile of bones in remote wilderness. For example. usually this time period would be a no-go most likely, but with our low water year, it was good to go.

Started off short of 11am at Manker on my 3rd different SG heavy duty wilderness route . I was thinking the ski lifts would be open but no such luck. Slowly moving up through the heat, but at least a cold wind would blow now and then. Reached WBaldy almost 5 hours later. Hmm...already behind schedule. Started down San Antonio ridge, running into a couple of backpackers coming up from Heaton. "Where are you going?," they asked.

Coming down the ridge and hit a patch of buckthorn on the Heaton side..arrgh, it seems people prefer this side, but the Fish Fork side is where I spent most of the time. Went down a ridge to FF that was obscured by pine trees. Better than Copter ridge if I do say so. Ended up in a feisty tributary to Fish Fork, that kept on trying to scare me with not so surprise drops . Met Fish Fork at elev 6900, a bit above where it was taming. Rappelled a short jump into a pool in some narrows and setup for the night, wondering where was that grotto at 6600?

Next morning 5:30am, past the scenic grotto, but FF wouldnt relent. I thought I would hit some easy section once I got to the Campsite peak/SA Ridge draw that the Sierra Club used long ago, but no such luck. Now it was straight up wilderness creeking. I think I spotted Little Fish Fork, but I was in a hurry. Finally hit drop 1 at like 8am. Rappel 1 into the bowels below the chockstone, worrying that my rope was going to get stuck in a crack. Once in the water, a small current towards the waterfall... A long creeking of various difficulty then it was time for rap2 aka the falls. Did a silly job replacing one of the webbing here, wondering again, why I didnt push the anchor out closer to the edge of the rappel. No water hazard at this time and it was 2:45pm. 2 more rappels and one almost swim(a nice log was floating that I grabbed a ride on later it was a hurry to the finish line.

Sprained my ankle, then kept on respraining it. The creek wasnt too bad initially, but once past a tributary, it was slowing me down. Finally at the San Gabriel river & Fish Fork camp with about 1 hour of daylight left. A bit of creeking until past Falls Gulch, the trails started, although they were a tad overgrown. Met some prospectors before the Narrows who were very concerned about how this was going to turn out. Gave me a MRE, which was yummy considering how hungry I was. Almost to the bridge I decided to call it a day, considering I had no headlamp.Next morning off at 5:15am and eventually the sights were 99 cents store, Modelo, writing I couldnt deciper, empty Nissin ramen cups,etc. A preview to Memorial day. Finish 8am.

Snow!


Time to go the right on the SA ridge


Fasten your seatbelts


Thats our creek off to the right


One of the last looks at Baldy


In the tributary. There still is a better put together pair past the falls, left over from a previous tr?.


Technical bugger of a tributary...quite a few waterfalls bypassed, mainly in the 40ft range.


Rap into a pool...then setup for the night


Grotto area...I knew my camera wouldnt pick up how good it looked early in the morning so I didnt even bother with the main seepage.


Mucking towards Little Fish Fork.


The nifty pothole(byapssed)


Thats just how it hits the viewer.


Tributary waterfall


Tall(maybe 300ft?) something or another


It aint over yet.

dude, you crazy. excellent!

Beautiful canyon. Thanks for sharing.

Beautiful pictures and one insane trip. Whenever I start to think I know something about mountains, I read a report like this and remember I don't know much.

AW, you never cease to amaze.

Frickin 3000' drop in about 1.25 miles from West Baldy to 6900 @ FF, not steep at all! And that was the easy part.

Fun eh?

Very nice route and TR AW very nice

Nice job AW!

Have not posted here in quite some time but this will get me off the fence.

Fish Fork is a serious outing, and to do it solo... wow!

Taco wrote: ↑Fun eh?

Yes...I would say hell yeah!, but my foot is still healing
I dont think any route will beat this one in the overall sense...in the particulars perhaps, but even then these particulars rate in the top.

Going solo , I dont recommend it(I suppose this should be my sig, so I dont miss disclaiming going solo as being safer or even safe off-trail).

Great trip, great pics. I hope it lived up to the hype for you!

Now I'm curious about your drop-in route.

cougarmagic wrote: ↑Great trip, great pics. I hope it lived up to the hype for you!

Now I'm curious about your drop-in route.

Looking at the topo, I was off on where I thought I was. I dropped off SA ridge at elevation 8400, travelling NE. Went NE into a tributary at elevation 7100, and then into another tributary at 6900. That means I hit Fish Fork at elevation 6700. I was going off the grotto being at elevation 6600, when it was 6400.

The ridge from San Antonio is amazing, but I was just using that drop-in to combine 2 hikes on my list. If someone were to want to visit the upper section, they should come from the Dawson Peak trail.

As far as the hype, you have to pay the price of admission , especially with that last walk. I kept on thinking anytime now Im getting to this Fish Fork camp and at least there will be a trail out of the Fish Fork...and then knowing the East Fork was coming up and thinking how in the hell did I miss a camp? But yeah, early on in the hike I already knew FF was killing IF. Falls Gulch and the upper section of FF are similar, so it was like this is not fair competition.

My foot is almost healed.....hehehe....the canyon is getting better by the minute.

There is a time-delay of a week or so where you go from thinking "that was dumb" to "that was fun!".

The walk out to lower FF does seem never-ending. Just have to remind yourself how beautiful it still is, even wading through alders and stumbling over rocks. Fun in itself, if you weren't exhausted and carrying a bunch of stuff, tired of stumbling.

Plus I still want to see Iron Fork. It's all about novelty for me...

Iron Fork is the canyon I want to see.

cougarmagic wrote: ↑There is a time-delay of a week or so where you go from thinking "that was dumb" to "that was fun!".

I think I agree with this, but Fish Fork is in my opinion right on the boundary between Type II and Type III fun.

cougarmagic wrote: ↑if you weren't exhausted and carrying a bunch of stuff

That's easy, just carry less stuff.