EISPIRATEN

Big difference between this last weekend and the previous one along hwy 2. Snow coverage at about less than 1% to Islip Saddle and way more people vs last week at about 95% coverage and not many people.
I started down Bear Creek at Islip Saddle off to the side to avoid a potential drop....but in the end there was nothing to be worried about.
The atmosphere was a rocky ravine surrounded by all manner of trees, including big oaks. Eventually I encountered black tubing, which I suppose is no surprise. But I did find surprising how much farmable land was around....a lot of flat land with suitable soil. The operation, which looked to be inactive with like new tubing, was drawing water from 2 creeks.

I didnt have much of a view at all until I got to a wide section of the river. I kept going until a turnaround point, which if I kept going I was going to encounter the drop in to Bear Creek that Brennan suggests. I explored water tributaries a little bit, and found quickly 2 waterfalls. The tributary that comes from Jarvi vista looked nice, but I suppose the only waterfalls were well upstream and I already went there before.

Returning I went the wrong way at the very end, but wasnt too worried since I was already 1/3 up this steep ravine of misery and could see it was an plausible exit. The final 3 ft was iffy, but I got up to Hwy39. Hwy39 and one bigger landslide and a couple of rockfalls, but looked to have been improved fairly recently. I think one of the watersources has been diverted, but I I suppose it could have been cemented over years ago.

Some pics..
Here is what Hwy2 looks like with snow on it. Hey, I walked from Glenwood day use area down below near 3 points lol. 3 hours later, the plows had removed any trace and opened the highway.
The 'drama' was that some campers didnt plan for the snow that had occured and that the highway was closed now. They got out by following the plows.


Onto this weekend at Bear Creek...this is what it mainly looks like..


The only obstacles ...2 small cascades.

Returning....black striped rock...thats Islip!, not Hwy2.
Hwy2 drainage...less steep.

Thanks for the report. Were you looking for something in particular, or were you just wanting to explore a new-to-you canyon? Seems like in every report from trips in that area people mention finding black tubing. Is that your impression? Could every canyon over there have been cultivated at some point?

Thanks. There's so much to explore in that massive watershed. There were a lot of snow plows heading up the 2 yesterday from La Canada. I hope they will open it up to Wrightwood again.

dima wrote: Thanks for the report. Were you looking for something in particular, or were you just wanting to explore a new-to-you canyon? Seems like in every report from trips in that area people mention finding black tubing. Is that your impression? Could every canyon over there have been cultivated at some point?

I think the farmers are onto that area....good soil, etc
The tubing was rather new...probably a year? More nuanced as well. Instead of just tossing the tubing in the water, it was dug into the ground and covered it up. They used these bands to connect or fix tubing too. The tubing was really really long...I gave up after a few mins looking for where it lead to....far as the eye can see.

I was down there to check it out based on the curiosity of if it could be used as an exit back to hwy2 for Jarvi canyon.....which it can, but not keeping pace with Jarvi. It is 2000 elev gain/loss, not too much harder than Upper Eaton.
As a forest, its pretty good. Standard fare, but add in some gnarly oaks.