Black Star Canyon
Posted: Mon Jan 08, 2018 8:17 am
Black Star Canyon is located in the Santa Ana Mountain range, about 10 miles east of Angel Stadium in the Cleveland National Forest.
It's a limestone canyon, long rumored to be haunted, with a bloody history to fortify the claim.
Most of the year the waterfall is dry, but occasionally it flows strong, through an old mine portal cut into the cliff face.
This area is part of a region known as Silverado, close to a silver mining boomtown that sprang up in the 1800's.
Seems like Orange County wants to cover their asses in every way, shape and form. There are two cats that roam the
area. No people have been attacked as far as I know, but several pets in Silverado Canyon have been killed.
Near the parking area is the site of a second boomtown that sprang up around the same time as Silverado. This one
was called Carbondale, a coal mining settlement. The name Black Star comes from the name of the coal mining company.
Whatever is left of it is on private property, but the mine consisted of a single shaft, 900 feet deep.
The first part of this hike is an easy walk down a dirt county road. If you bypass Black Star Canyon you can go to Beek's
Place, the ruins of an old summer cabin once owned by a harbor master of Newport Beach.
There used to be a lot of crime in this area, which has largely been eradicated. Car break ins were common, as well as
a crazy guy who used to shoot at hikers, and an old, overturned school bus in the creek bed (which remained there until recently).
All of the kids, as well as the driver and school teacher were reportedly killed in that accident.
The county road is not on private property, but the ranches on both sides of it are. And they're not kidding about the
electrified fence. One of the ranches was the site of a discovery of old Indian caves, in which beautiful baskets were
found. They're now on display as the Bowers Museum.
When you get into the actual canyon there's a lot of bouldering involved in getting to the falls, but nothing you guys can't handle.
This canyon was the site of a bloody Indian massacre back in 1831, when a band of Shoshone horse thieves were chased
into it by ranchers. Nearly all of them were slaughtered, adding fuel to the modern day haunted canyon legend.
This area was once deep below the sea. These are megadolus fossils (sea worms) that date back 215 million years.
If you look hard you can also find old Indian mortar stones (metates) used for grinding acorns.
The first time I visited this canyon it was pouring rain and I was the only one up there. These California Newts were
everywhere, but you probably won't see them in the dry season. There's also a snake in this area that you won't see
in the San Gabriels called the Red Diamond Rattlesnake.
Along the county road there used to be a lot of abandoned junk and a spooky shack on the outskirts. And lots of these
semi feral peacocks. The junk has since been removed, as has an overturned bus and the spooky shack.
Unfortunately the peacocks have seemed to disappear as well.
Here's a view of the falls and the mine during the dry season. The natural slot in the rock intersects with the mine,
and recently someone has hung a rope down from the top of the cliff, that drops directly into the mine. It's possible
to get up above the falls via a small gully on the right side. As of yet I haven't been up there.
It's a little tricky climbing up to the mine, and almost impossible when the water is flowing strong. This was almost
certainly a silver mine from the 1800s, but I don't know its name. The mine is shallow, about 30 feet deep.
Here's a view from the inside. Off to the left there's a small side tunnel with a rope hanging down. This was taken
when the mine was relatively dry, but this area gets flooded after heavy rain storms.
I don't put much faith in other people's equipment, so I opted not to climb this rope, but
I've seen kids doing it on YouTube videos. It goes directly up the waterfall slot to the top of the cliff.
This is an old Indian mortar rock (metate) found at the site of an indian village further up the county road, on the way
to Beek's place. On the other side of the divide there are tin mines galore, which were almost all unsuccessful.
Black Star Canyon is not a secret location. If you want to visit it just look it up online. And if you want to learn more
about the history of this area and mines in the San Gabriels check out my website at secretmines.com
