Silver Fish Trail/Stone Cabin Flat
Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2025 3:12 pm
Last week I was out in the Duarte area, so I decided to check out the Silver Fish Trail, with the ambitious idea that maybe I could drop down through upper Fish Fork to the falls.
I got started around 2pm and it was quite hot. I found a little rattlesnake. There's not a lot of shade on the way up to Mt. Bliss. It's about 4 miles and 3,300' of elevation gain to get to the top, on a well-maintained fire road. I passed a guy on a mountain bike suffering up the road. About a mile after the summit (I didn't bother going to the true summit with the powerlines, I was more interested to see the canyon), Silver Fish Road branches off to the right. I had brought a machete and was prepared for a bushwhacking battle, but surprisingly the road was pretty clear. The roadbed is almost entirely intact, except for one washout not far from where it splits from the main fire road. There were dozens and dozens of bear droppings. I was a little disappointed I didn't see one. This was once a very well maintained road. There are multiple sections that cross side canyons with big drainage pipes underneath, and even cement dams/retaining walls to keep the road intact. I eventually made it down to Stone Cabin Flat, which is filled with some massive old oaks. It was looking pretty spooky by the time I got there. There was once a fire here, but it seems like most of the oaks survived. This tree bore the mark of some strange forgotten symbol... or was it just the tree's weird growth? Anyways, I finally made it down to some flowing water. Pushing on a bit further, as the last of the evening twilight faded, I looked at my watch and realized I had already gone 9 miles. Time to turn around. The 3.25 miles of Silver Fish Road I'd traveled so far had been surprisingly free from major obstruction. There are a few downed trees and some growth, but overall it's fairly open and even bikeable as far as I went (and from a distance it looked like it could continue that way for a while). After crossing the stream the road had more taller weeds and there was a big downed tree covering it at one point, but there wasn't much to slow hiking progress from a normal pace.
On the way back to the stream, I saw a PVC pipe sticking up to the side of the trail. Walking towards it, I found a bunch of fencing that must've been attached to it at some point. There were also a bunch of reeds unique to that area that I didn't see anywhere else around. Poking around more, I found a game camera, and a recently cleared roughly 10'x10' area of dirt (to pick up tracks?) The game camera and dirt made sense, the fencing and pvc not so much. What gives? Anyways, I refilled my water bottles and made the trek out in the dark. I found a bunch of toads, and also an unfired round.
As I was finishing around 9pm or so, I saw fireworks start going off all over the place down below, telling me the Dodgers had won the World Series.
If you'd like to watch the video version, it's here:
I got started around 2pm and it was quite hot. I found a little rattlesnake. There's not a lot of shade on the way up to Mt. Bliss. It's about 4 miles and 3,300' of elevation gain to get to the top, on a well-maintained fire road. I passed a guy on a mountain bike suffering up the road. About a mile after the summit (I didn't bother going to the true summit with the powerlines, I was more interested to see the canyon), Silver Fish Road branches off to the right. I had brought a machete and was prepared for a bushwhacking battle, but surprisingly the road was pretty clear. The roadbed is almost entirely intact, except for one washout not far from where it splits from the main fire road. There were dozens and dozens of bear droppings. I was a little disappointed I didn't see one. This was once a very well maintained road. There are multiple sections that cross side canyons with big drainage pipes underneath, and even cement dams/retaining walls to keep the road intact. I eventually made it down to Stone Cabin Flat, which is filled with some massive old oaks. It was looking pretty spooky by the time I got there. There was once a fire here, but it seems like most of the oaks survived. This tree bore the mark of some strange forgotten symbol... or was it just the tree's weird growth? Anyways, I finally made it down to some flowing water. Pushing on a bit further, as the last of the evening twilight faded, I looked at my watch and realized I had already gone 9 miles. Time to turn around. The 3.25 miles of Silver Fish Road I'd traveled so far had been surprisingly free from major obstruction. There are a few downed trees and some growth, but overall it's fairly open and even bikeable as far as I went (and from a distance it looked like it could continue that way for a while). After crossing the stream the road had more taller weeds and there was a big downed tree covering it at one point, but there wasn't much to slow hiking progress from a normal pace.
On the way back to the stream, I saw a PVC pipe sticking up to the side of the trail. Walking towards it, I found a bunch of fencing that must've been attached to it at some point. There were also a bunch of reeds unique to that area that I didn't see anywhere else around. Poking around more, I found a game camera, and a recently cleared roughly 10'x10' area of dirt (to pick up tracks?) The game camera and dirt made sense, the fencing and pvc not so much. What gives? Anyways, I refilled my water bottles and made the trek out in the dark. I found a bunch of toads, and also an unfired round.
As I was finishing around 9pm or so, I saw fireworks start going off all over the place down below, telling me the Dodgers had won the World Series.
If you'd like to watch the video version, it's here:
