EISPIRATEN

Sunday morning I decided to walk up Trail Canyon to the falls. With the recent rains, I figured it was a good chance to see the falls actually falling. So did everybody else apparently.

As I rounded the bend on Big Tujunga Canyon Road near the entrance to the trailhead, I was greeted with what must have been 70-80 cars lining the road on either side of the canyon. No conceivable parking space good or bad was available. Near the gate leading into Trail Canyon, a group of what must have been 30+ hikers congregated waiting to assault the canyon. Dejected, I drove on with no back-up plan in place.

At the intersection with the Angeles Forest Highway, I took a hard right and continued on to Clear Creek thinking that perhaps I'd drop into Switzer or maybe ascend Colby Canyon instead. No dice. Switzer was a zoo with cars filling the over-flow lot just east of the main entrance. The dirt lot at Colby Canyon was similarly full.

As a last ditch effort, I continued up the ACH to Red Box thinking that maybe I'd hit Lawlor or Strawberry. But when I got there, the temps had dropped to 50, the wind was blowing pretty good, and I was ill-equipped for the cold because I had dumbly thought I'd be marching up Trail Canyon in the 60+ degree sunshine shielded from the wind.

Now fully exasperated, I turned around, drove home, and did some work in the yard.

Stats for the day:
Miles driven: 104
Miles hiked: 0
Elevation gained: 0
Pictures taken: 0

best tr ever

awwwww! sorry it didn't turn out as planned but you made me laugh

Uncle Rico wrote: ↑At the intersection with the Angeles Forest Highway, I took a hard right and continued on to Clear Creek thinking that perhaps I'd drop into Switzer or maybe ascend Colby Canyon instead. No dice.

Funny you should say that. I've been noticing these strange new signs posted in various locations.

Damm meet up groups doing trail canyon. Hidden Falls in delta cyn. Was a nearby option. As was silver canyon. Or lots of relatively easy hikes

First the snow, now the waterfalls?!

AW wrote: ↑First the snow, now the waterfalls?!

Modern Hikers.

mattmaxon wrote: ↑Hidden Falls in delta cyn. Was a nearby option. As was silver canyon. Or lots of relatively easy hikes

I thought about dropping down to Fall Creek, but it was cool and breezy there as well so I just went home to wallow in self pity.

HikeUp wrote: ↑

AW wrote: ↑First the snow, now the waterfalls?!

Modern Hikers.

Ohh...was Prana not having a sale then?
I shouldnt complain too much....

Gold Canyon might've been a nearby option? What a bummer. Reminds me of the time I parked near the Dawson Saddle trailhead, not another car in sight, very early morning, ready to bag me some peaks, and just as I'd set off up the trail, I hear a faint, "Help". So I stopped. Waited. Wasn't sure which direction it had come from. Started hiking again, thinking, did I really hear that? Male voice yells "Help" again, a little louder this time. I yell back "Hello?," and turn around, heading back to the trailhead. A few seconds later I hear, "Over the road". I begin jogging back to the ACH, head up the road a ways, and at a point where the ACH makes a hard right curve, I see a man, bloodied face and arms (broken nose probably), attempting to crawl up the steep gravelly incline. About fifty feet behind him, the back end of his car rested against a pine. The pine probably saved his life. There's a woman I can see sitting in the passenger seat. I'm able to help the man the last few feet up the incline. I give the man some water and he explains that they were driving the road the previous night and he lost control on the curve and thought he was a goner, but about sixty feet down they slammed into the tree and came to an abrupt stop. He couldn't believe they were alive! This was either 1993 or '94. I didn't have a cell phone; neither did he. We flagged somebody down and help came within an hour. I was the first car up the road that morning that had stopped at Dawson Saddle, near where they went off the road. The man had heard me park and shut my car door and so crawled out of his wreck and started yelling "Help!"

Like you, Uncle Rico, I did a lot of driving that day, about 150 miles, but didn't end up going on a hike. Gave the man and his wife my water and the food I had, as they were pretty hungry from being stuck in that wreck overnight.

The falls they are a-flowin'




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EnriqueFreeque wrote: ↑Gold Canyon might've been a nearby option? What a bummer. Reminds me of the time I parked near the Dawson Saddle trailhead, not another car in sight, very early morning, ready to bag me some peaks, and just as I'd set off up the trail, I hear a faint, "Help". So I stopped. Waited. Wasn't sure which direction it had come from. Started hiking again, thinking, did I really hear that? Male voice yells "Help" again, a little louder this time. I yell back "Hello?," and turn around, heading back to the trailhead. A few seconds later I hear, "Over the road". I begin jogging back to the ACH, head up the road a ways, and at a point where the ACH makes a hard right curve, I see a man, bloodied face and arms (broken nose probably), attempting to crawl up the steep gravelly incline. About fifty feet behind him, the back end of his car rested against a pine. The pine probably saved his life. There's a woman I can see sitting in the passenger seat. I'm able to help the man the last few feet up the incline. I give the man some water and he explains that they were driving the road the previous night and he lost control on the curve and thought he was a goner, but about sixty feet down they slammed into the tree and came to an abrupt stop. He couldn't believe they were alive! This was either 1993 or '94. I didn't have a cell phone; neither did he. We flagged somebody down and help came within an hour. I was the first car up the road that morning that had stopped at Dawson Saddle, near where they went off the road. The man had heard me park and shut my car door and so crawled out of his wreck and started yelling "Help!"

Like you, Uncle Rico, I did a lot of driving that day, about 150 miles, but didn't end up going on a hike. Gave the man and his wife my water and the food I had, as they were pretty hungry from being stuck in that wreck overnight.

Well that's fucking amazing. Good on ya dude.

EnriqueFreeque wrote: ↑ Like you, Uncle Rico, I did a lot of driving that day, about 150 miles, but didn't end up going on a hike. Gave the man and his wife my water and the food I had, as they were pretty hungry from being stuck in that wreck overnight.

Wow. Great tale Enrique. Who knows what would have happened to those folks had you not happened along that morning. Good justification for missing a hike. Well done, Sir.

Thanks for the pic/vid robnokshus. The falls look great. Guess I'll just have to live vicariously through you until I get another chance to get up there.

This has happened to me a number of times. I almost always leave with a backup plan now in case I can't get where I want to go or get overwhelmed with mindless hordes. I feel ya, bro.

Not to resurrect a dated thread or anything, but I finally did get into Trail Canyon. Here's the post-mortem and some pics.

http://wildsouthland.blogspot.com/2017/ ... anyon.html

Cool....hard to photograph when it splits into two eh? Very few can pull it off.
Which did you think was more scenic- the full wintertime waterfall or the split springtime waterfall?

Nice photos, Uncle Rico. I particularly like the last shot here of the prominent craggy face of Condor Jr's southwest ridge, you've captured it pretty well. Over the years, I think one of the highlights of that particular trail has always been looking across the canyon and contemplating that impressive face. In case anyone's ever wondered, the ridgetop above it can function as a descent route from Condor Jr. It rejoins the trail near the early side canyon where the trail works up and around to the last main cabin ruins. However, it calls for some careful footwork on descent, so it's not really much of a time advantage over the main ridgeline. There's a somewhat airy section from that pointy white shark-tooth rock down to the notch saddle that's a bit loose and all, but it's doable with caution. Makes for a memorable route with amazing views, but I think I'll take the trail next time.

Nice to see you made it out there. Enjoyed your TR.

On a side note; WD40 works wonders on poison oak. Kills the itching immediately and keeps it from spreading.