- Road is open to trailhead. 4WD not needed. High clearance is probably a good idea. I only saw trucks and a couple of Subarus at the trailhead.
- Trail is in decent shape up to Comanche Camp. The three scree fields are pretty tolerable to traverse. Some years they have been worse, much worse.
- Crossing over Middle Fork at Third Stream Crossing Camp is obliterated by rains of 2023. Just cross where the trail first comes to the Middle Fork, maybe 15' upstream. Going further upstream isn't of much benefit.
- Looks like the upper Stone House trail has gotten some work. It's a lot easier to see than it used to be. See last photo in below link.
Middle Fork Lytle Creek (Trail 6W01) : socalhiking (reddit.com)
Full write up:
The Middle Fork of Lytle Creek is a trail for the patient and the persistent. One first has to go up a dirt road from the little community of Scotland, CA. The road is rough enough that I would not take a normal passenger sedan up it. We had a "regular" truck (not 4WD) and did fine.
The trail head has a much-graffitied outhouse and frankly is rather uninviting. The first mile and a half is really not very scenic, and you're climbing, exposed, in the hot sun. But after a mile and a half, around 4600', you get to the wilderness boundary, and things improve a bit. There are oak trees and such, and finally one gets some intermittent shade. This is not a good hike for a hot day.
At about 2.2 miles in, the Middle Fork of Lytle Creek divides into two forks, one flowing from the SW and the other from the NW. The fork from the NW is considered the Middle Fork; the other fork has no name or designation although I suppose it would be technically correct to refer to it as the SW fork of the Middle Fork of Lytle Creek. The trail crosses the Middle Fork at this juncture. The old crossing is a victim apparently of the rains of 2023. It is no longer obvious where to cross. My only advice is to cross close to the point where the trial first comes to the creek. Maybe 15' up stream is an OK place to cross. We first crossed a bit further upstream, and that proved to be a bit of a loose struggle up the opposite bank. My recommendation is to not look too far for a better crossing but to cross relatively close to where the trail encounters the Middle Fork.
It's also worth noting that it is bug city right now in this area. The nasty gnats are out in force. They don't bite, but they are annoying as all get out. A head net is highly recommended.
Across the Middle Fork lies Third Stream Crossing trail camp. This is a nice little shaded glen with room for maybe half a dozen or so tents although that might be a little crowded. From the vicinity of Third Stream Crossing, one can head back downstream maybe 100 yards or so to where the SW fork of the Middle Fork of Lytle Creek flows in. One can, particularly in dry years, work their way up the SW fork of the Middle Fork of Lytle Creek to Middle Fork Falls (sometimes also called Third Stream Crossing Falls). We spoke to other hikers that said that they couldn't get very far because it was very wet and slippery. We didn't try it today after hearing that it was tough going.
Also from Third Stream Crossing, one can keep ascending trail 6W01. The trail sees far less use past Third Stream Crossing. The grade isn't extreme, but the trail steepens and is a bit of work. The tread of the trail is often narrow and canted at an angle. There's loose rock on the trail, and there are three scree slides that one has to cross. These probably are no big deal to anyone who does off trail travel or has hiked a lot of lesser maintained trails, but for those used to well-maintained trails, it might come as a bit of a shock. One would want to be fairly careful in through here. A fall might be, um, "bad." A fall would probably end quickly but not well here. There's also a new addition to the features of the trail: An avalanche zone at about 6040' elevation. It's kind of chopped up here, so you have to make your way across some boulders and such. It's no big deal, but it's something to be aware of.
Finally, the canyon levels out from about 6100' to 6300' elevation. There are some nice shady spots in which to enjoy a respite from the labor of ascending the canyon. This year there was abundant water, which we filtered for consumption on the return leg of our journey. However, be aware that in many years that I've been here, this section has been largely dry with maybe some spots with a bit of water if one looked for it. I wouldn't count on there being water here in dry years.
Trail 6W01 starts climbing up out of the canyon at about 6300' reaching Icehouse Saddle (approx 7600') after about 5 miles from the trailhead. I wouldn't say that this is an inordinately difficult hike, but 1) there's a dirt road, 2) the trail is steeper, longer, and more exposed (think hot sun) than the route up Icehouse Canyon. As I said at the beginning of my post, this is a trail for the patient. You have to put up with the rather uninviting rough dirt road, then about 1.5 (maybe a bit more) rather hot exposed dry miles up to the Wilderness boundary. One has to also put up with a steeper-than-average trail (certainly steeper than the Icehouse Canyon Trail) that is nowhere near as well maintained as the trail up Icehouse Canyon. However, for those who are persistent, there are some really nice shady spots here and there along the trail, and this can serve as an alternate route to Icehouse Saddle. Though the Middle Fork of Lytle Creek is not quite as nice as Icehouse Canyon, it has some nice spots and is worth a visit. On the upside, the dirt road tends to keep the crowds down. So, if you've got a higher clearance vehicle, and you're willing to work for it, this might be a nice alternative to the mob scene that the Icehouse Canyon Trail has become.
HJ
