The initial explorations were back in 2017:
- https://eispiraten.com/viewtopic.php?t=7529
- https://eispiraten.com/viewtopic.php?t=7548
Until the Bridge Fire made the whole project possible:
- Iron Fork Camp to above Devil's Gulch
- William Canyon to somewhere above Shoemaker Rd
- Somewhere above Shoemaker Rd to almost the second tunnel
- A bit above the second tunnel
- Second tunnel almost to Rattlesnake canyon and back
- Again, but making it to Rattlesnake canyon and descending
Other than a few impassable gaps, one chunk remains: Iron Fork camp to Fish Fork camp. This was another hot summer weekend, like the one that kicked off this project a year ago. I returned to
- Camp in Iron Fork, at the great camp that Taco and I found. Swim, and chill in the river
- Iron Fork camp to Fish Fork camp
- Take care of unfinished business in Rattlesnake canyon
Sounded like a great time, but once again, nobody wanted to join me. Fine. I had some ideas about spending two nights, but that didn't happen. Was able to muster the energy to show up at the East Fork at 11am on Sat. To nobody's surprise, it was a zoo. So much so that police blocked the road at the East Fork/backside GMR junction, so I had to park a mile down from the trailhead.
I hiked up the East Fork. It was hot and full of people. The river was nice, and it was great to get in periodically to cool down. As usual, the crowds die down as you go further. There were several people swimming in the pools immedialy past the bridge, and then there was nobody. I tried to find the backside opening to the tunnel past the bridge, but couldn't even conclusively identify where it was. I switched to sandals, and hiked upstream. There was one miner at the stone cabin on the East bank.
Last year, MtGoatMan hiked up this way. He saw the Stanley-Miller mine debris that fell down over 1000ft after being destabilized by the fire
The sprocket is gone. The pipe segments are now scattered all along the river downstream.
The canyon got nicer and nicer, and eventually I was in Iron Fork.
There were tents set up at Iron Fork camp, but nobody home. I kept walking up
More water than last year. I swam 3 of the pools. If I really wanted to, I maybe could have kept the pack dry on 2 of them. Maybe. But I had dry bags, and it was fine. Got to the nice camp, and encountered people! The two hikers from Iron Fork camp were here, enjoying the deep pools. They were out for 7 days, going out for day hikes and swims and whatnot every day! Living life right. We chatted for a bit, then went back to Iron Fork camp, and I set up my camp here. This campsite is great, right about some very deep pools:
The camp is getting a bit overgrown; I'm bringing a rake next time. There was a bat on the wall:
He wasn't happy with me taking photos, but didn't fly away either. Maybe he was hurt. At dusk I watched his bat friends hunt
I forgot to bring a lighter, so I couldn't make a fire, which was probably ok. It was super warm, and all the rocks at camp kept radiating heat long after sunset.
Got up at a reasonable time, ate some food, took a morning swim, packed up, and headed downstream. Found a honeycomb
and Ross Gulch falls
Just barely above Iron Fork camp was the start of the trail:
I see nothing. Nevertheless, I switched back to hiking boots, chugged a lot of water, filled up my one 1L bottle, and headed up. The topography says the trail runs to the left, along some sort of flat shelf, then switchbacks steeply to the ridge, then less steeply along-ish the ridge to where the level trail cuts straight across the cliff face. There is indeed a shelf here and many use trails. Some maybe are from animals, some other maybe not; it's impossible to tell. I scrambled up to a higher flat area. Nice view of Ross Mountain here
Looking across the river was the PL&P running back towards the bridge and another old trail that branches off that, and descends back to Iron Fork, bypassing the first few pools. This trail is extra useless and extra eroded and unusable, but it's still there!
From the ridge was the view straight down into East Fork
And above, some sort of antique benchmark!
For those that want to try deciphering:
I think it's upside down; there's a "1" and a "9". The trail remain indistinct amount many possibly-imagined use trails, until I got to the traverse level, on the Iron Fork side of the ridge. I walked 10ft along a perfectly-preserved trailbed, rounded the corner, and saw this:
The trail is definitely still there, I guess. It looks bad. In the other sections of the PL&P these cuts often look extremely unsafe, but when you're actually on them, they're totally fine. I tested that strategy here, said "nope" pretty much immediately, and was back on the ridge. It was hot, exposed and I was sweating profusely, but I still had 3/4L of water. Looking around, it seemed like I could climb up and around to bypass this cliff, and continue on the friendlier section of trail on the other side. I climbed up maybe 200ft, following one of a multitude of use trails that supported this idea. I went around, dropped back down, and was once again on the trail:
This was clear and passable in person, and it passed the main test: walking on this trail was much easier than walking off trail. The East Fork is waaaay down there
It continues, and is reasonable for a while
Here's a rock wall that is still here, supporting the trailbed
Trail:
Are these yucca leaves bent to clear the trail?? By humans???
I thought so when I was there, but looking at the photos now.... maybe not. I don't know. I covered a lot of ground. Rounded a corner, and saw this:
Oh wow. Directly at the center of the photo is a vertical slab. To the left of that, a bit higher and behind a tree is another slab. The trail runs across the top of that, you can see it come in from the left, and then disappear. Clearly this trip is not going to end as originally envisioned. Alarmed, I looked right, and saw Falls Gulch
So epic; had no idea that's what it looks like above the falls. I kept walking on the still-passable trail. Eventually it rounded a corner, and disappeared completely
That's clearly the end of this effort. Right? This place is epic. Back towards Iron Fork:
Falls Gulch:
The "trail":
Fish Fork:
East Fork towards Blue ridge:
Those poor trees.
I had less than 1/2L of water now. But I was so close! Can I go up and bypass this? The terrain is friendly-ish, and there are lots of use trails still, so up I go! Got to the ridge, and looked over the other side to where Fish Fork camp and the trail end are: it's a cliff. OK... But I can descend towards the toe of the ridge, that's easy. Yeah. Oh look. I have arrived!
Where have I arrived? No idea. Oh look, I can descend to the other ridge toe, to the left. That's where I want to go!
Got down to that flat area below, looked at the map. It said that I was possibly on the last section of the trail, on the final cut to just past Fish Fork camp! Looked ahead: cliff. Walked to the right: cliff. Walked the left: cliff. Had 1/4L of water at this point, still hot, exposed and sweating profusely. Definitely time to turn around. Next time I'm at Fish Fork camp, looking for the access point on that side would be interesting. I bet there's a way.
I climbed back up, and walked back the way I came. Was looking across the East Fork the whole time, seeing some ancient and completely ridiculous old trails:
Unbelievable. Eventually I finished off my water, and it was amazing to finally submerge in the pool back at Iron Fork:
Chilled here for a long time. There're some cool broken trees that reveal the cavities bored by insects and such
Switched back to sandals and walked back out to the East Fork. I love the color of the water
Sometimes it has more blue in it, and has this amazing teal hue. I walked downstream. Bam! A piece of an airplane!
The glider, maybe. Lots of tadpoles
Eventually I was back at the bridge, among excited high-schoolers that were trying to impress their lady friends with their mountain-man-ness. One of them has seen Devil's Gulch falls! I was impressing nobody as I looked over at Rattlesnake canyon, planning the next move
The jungly burned mess directly ahead conceals a series of waterfalls. And there's an abandoned bypass trail that is visible on the right. Once again, I chugged water, and started the 900ft climb to visit my friend. He's looking better than the last time
I adopted him
He wasn't yet ready, and it was real gross. But I don't want to keep coming back here
The PL&P is epic, and the window of it being mostly passable is already starting to close. Glad I did it.