Santiago Oaks Regional Park is one of our favorite local hiking spots, giving a near-wilderness feel right in the middle of town.  Very popular with mountain bikes and horseback riders, we’ve written up several of our favorite hikes there in the past (See Inner Loop and Robber’s Roost to Weir Canyon), and have also spent a lot of time at another of our favorites, nearby Irvine Regional Park, which we’ve also written about.  Combining the two parks is quite easy, and something we’ve now done a few times, with a couple different ways to hike between them.

This particular one is the shortest way to make the journey.  You could start either at Irvine Regional Park or at Santiago Oaks Regional Park, but we’ve always started at Santiago when we’ve done it (though having ice cream at Irvine Regional Park isn’t a terrible way to end a hike…).

As you enter the park, you’ll hit the fee kiosk, where you pay your parking fee (unless you have an annual pass) and usually can pick up a trail map.  Pull into the parking lot, and head east down the stairs towards the Santiago Oaks Trailhead (or you can take the Historic Dam Trail, which pretty much puts you at the same place).

Ample parking! Most of the time, anyways...

The Santiago Trail head is off to the left, across the creek, but there are doggy bags, a watering station, and a map near that kiosk there.

Crossing the creek near the parking lot. Sometimes the water level is much higher and faster. If it is a lot higher and faster than this, check with the rangers before attempting to cross the other two crossing on this hike.

Cross the creek on the concrete steps, and turn right down the main Santiago Trail.  The trail is mostly shaded and probably the prettiest year-round trail in the park.  You can check out the overlook at the Historic Dam, which is pretty cool and has a little plaque explaining the historical significance of it.

The shaded first stretch of the Santiago Trail, our favorite part of the park.

The historic submerged dam, from the overlook.

Info kiosk above the historic dam.

Oak Trail heads towards the left to get to Robber's Peak. Stay right on Santiago Trail.

Junction with Pony Trail. Take it to the right.

About a third of a mile along the trail, you’ll come to the Pony Trail.  When there is water in the creek, this is a popular trail for dog owners and people who want to play in the water.  In wet seasons, you may have to wade to cross this piece of creek.  In dry seasons, it may be completely barren.  Usually it is somewhere in between.  If you do take this route (which I recommend, especially if you want to duplicate as little of the path as possible), you will quickly come to a corral, which makes it look like you’ve left the trail and park entirely.  But if you go across the corral, you will re-find the trail on the other side, which you can then take on up the hill to the top of the big dam, passing a left turn back down to Santiago Trail along the way (which you’ll return on later, if possible).

One potential crossing at the Pony Trail.

On this day, there was an easier crossing just left of where the Pony Trail hit the creek.

Just past the creek, you'll come to this sign announcing the end of the park. Ignore it, and continue across the corral.

Approaching the corral.

The other side of the corral. Ignore the trail to the left (for now) and head straight up the road alongside the dam.

View from the top of the dam. Middle peak is Robber's Roost, which we've written about before. Peak on the right has a scenic overlook we've also written about elsewhere.

The trail to the top of the dam is paved.

Once across the top of the dam (just less than a mile in), the high point of the trail, you can stay to the right on the high route along the Santiago Trail, or take the left fork and head down the Egret Trail.  The Santiago Trail is the most popular route, but is a little too close to the backyards of the houses bordering the park for our tastes.  The Egret Trail creates a little more illusion of nature and wilderness, and takes you a little close to the reeds and riparian habitat of the Creek, but gets you to Irvine Park just as quickly.  They’re really only about 50-100 feet apart, with several unofficial connecting trails between them, so even if you start on one, you can switch to the other if you so choose at several points along the way.

Once over the top of the dam, you can hang right underneath the other dam, or turn leftward down the Egret Trail. We prefer Egret, but they'll both get you the same place.

View down Egret Trail towards Irvine Regional Park.

Egret Trail and Santiago Trail are both very exposed, and can be quite miserable in the summer or even in the middle of any particularly warm day, but in the morning, or on a cooler day, it is very pleasant.  In the spring, there are great wildflowers along this stretch, but it is admittedly brown in the late summer, fall, and early winter, like when we made this particular hike.  About 1/4 mile past the split, you’ll come to a shaded structure (that looks like it should have a picnic table or something, but didn’t on this particular day) right at the junction with another trail.  You could take Willow Trail here to get to Irvine Regional Park, but our preference is to repeat trails as little as possible, so in the interests of making this more of a loop, we will continue on Egret and return on Willow.

Shelter at the junction of Egret Trail and Willow Trail. Stay right.

You're never really far from homes along this stretch.

The trees on the horizon are the border of Irvine Regional Park.

Not too long after you hit the 2 mile mark, you’ll hit a dead end at a trail that runs perpendicular to Egret and Santiago Trails right at the edge of Irvine Regional Park.  There is a whole line of trees here at the beginning of the park, so it is really impossible to miss.  Turn right to re-connect with Santiago Trail and then turn left to head into the park.  You’ll find yourself at the southwest corner of Irvine Regional Park, not too far from the main entrance, and possibly more importantly, not far from the restrooms (flush toilets!).

The perpendicular trail at the end. Turn right and follow to the left. That cut to the right up ahead is Santiago Trail.

The skinny one to the left heads right to Irvine Park. The fire road on the right doesn't.

Irvine Regional Park!

If you want to explore Irvine Regional Park, there is a lot there, especially for kids.  You can visit the small zoo, get a hot dog or ice cream at the concession stands, ride the miniature railroad, check out the Spanish-American War Memorial, or just hang out at one of the many picnic tables to eat your lunch.  We just sat down in the shade and lush grass at the corner of the park, watered the dog, and ate our beef jerky and trail mix before heading back to Santiago Oaks.

Holly enjoying the cool grass. Restrooms are in the distance.

A little cross trail at the west end of the park, heading toward Willow Trail.

The Willow Trail junction on the left.

There are a couple ways to return to that trail at the edge of the park (really a continuation of Santiago Oaks Trail, if you look at the map), but from there, you can connect to the Willow Trail, which is actually our favorite of the four different options to return to Santiago Oaks.  Willow trail is more shaded than Santiago and Egret, and more direct than Roadrunner, which we’ll discuss when we write up the longer trans-park hike another time.  This trail has much more of a riparian feel, and when there is water in Santiago Creek, you will regularly see running water alongside the trail.

You'd think the Willow Trail sign would be actually at the junction, rather than near the junction, but no.

Beginning of the Willow Trail.

Willow Trail. More shaded than Egret or Santiago.

In a wetter season, there would be water down there on the left.

The end of the Willow Trail. In a really wet season this may be impassable. You might want to ask first...

Back at the shelter where Willow rejoins Egret. A picnic table would be nice here!

Approximately 1 mile from Irvine Regional Park, Willow Trail reconnects with Egret Trail, right at the covered shelter I mentioned earlier.  Turn right and continue down Egret Trail back towards the dam.  At the top of the dam, just before you hit the corral that connects you to Pony Trail, there is another informational sign and a junction with Santiago Trail to the right.  Take Santiago to the right here, and head down towards the creek.

Returning towards the dam and Santiago Oaks Regional Park.

Top of the dam heading back. The small trail back is just to the left of the chain link fence.

Turn right before the corral, taking Santiago Trail to the creek.

Scary warning signs. Ignore them.

You may pass a series of warning signs before coming to the edge of the creek itself.  We’ve been here during a wet, rainy year, when this crossing was basically impossible, but usually it is pretty easy.  If you are a particularly conscientious/prepared hiker, you might ask at the entrance of Santiago Oaks Park whether the Santiago Creek crossing in front of the dam is open or not, but if it isn’t, you don’t have far to backtrack to get to the Pony Trail creek crossing.  And if you can’t get across either, then you never made it to Irvine Park in the first place, did you?

The creek is usually crossable.

But sometimes not. If it looks like this, heed the warning signs!

Holly enjoying the cool water at the crossing.

These are the signs you would ignore coming from the other side.

Santiago Trail on the way back to the parking lot.

If you stay on the Santiago Creek Trail, you will rejoin the junction with Pony Trail in about a half mile.  From here, you will repeat the beginning of the trail for the last third of a mile or so to re-cross Santiago Creek at the concrete steps and get back to your vehicle.

Back in the shaded part! It's nice to end in the shade, especially on a warm day.

So this isn’t really technically a loop trail, or even a lollipop trail, but by using our route choices you only repeat the third of a mile at the beginning and end (the best part, btw), and a half mile in the middle between the top of the dam and the Egret-Willow split.  At just over 5 miles and very little elevation gain, it is a really nice mid-range hike that is really easy to get to, and provides the illusion of getting out of town, without really having to drive very far at all.

View Santiago to Irvine Inside Park Loop in a larger map

Elevation profile. Click through for clearer view.

Labor Day week (also my birthday week), we headed up to Santa Barbara for some hiking and relaxation at the Old Yacht Club Inn, where we had gotten a really nice discount through Spreebird.com (which used to be Screamin’ Daily Deals).  On our first day, we hiked up to Seven Falls, above the city.  It was a great hike, but the exposed portions of the trail were very hot, and the temperatures the next day were supposed to be even hotter–reaching 110 degrees inland, where most of our other potential hikes were located.

We decided to tour the La Purisima Mission State Historical Park up by Lompoc in the morning, and hit Solvang for lunch and possibly some shopping, before deciding whether we had time to do a coastal hike/walk somewhere on the way back.  It was every bit as hot as we feared it would be, and Solvang was downright miserable, so we left quickly after lunch, and headed back down the coast.

I had identified a popular trail between El Capitan and Refugio State Beaches, which was right on the beach, so we wouldn’t have issues with the heat.  To do the complete round trip is between 5 or 6 miles, depending on where you start and finish, but we figured if we got tired or sore (still feeling the hike from the day before a bit), we could stop anywhere along the way and turn around.

Parking lot at El Capitan State Beach.

We turned into El Capitan State Beach, about 20 miles north of the City of Santa Barbara, and paid the fee ($5 per car, I recall) to park.  There is a nice sized, well-regarded campground here, and a day use parking lot, though the state park website today warns that you should call (805) 968-1033 to check on the current status of the park.  Not sure why that is, at is isn’t listed on the official state park closure list, but it never hurts to do your research.  In the parking lot there was also a camp store, which was well-stocked with camping necessities and various beverages, snacks, and other beach staples.

Trailhead to beach from parking lot.

In the western corner of the parking lot, just to the left of the store, you’ll find an interpretive sign and the trailhead/pathway/stairs to the beach.  Head on down to the sand and go west (right).

The trail down to the beach, as seen from the parking lot.

Trail to the beach.

There is really not official trail for the first half of this walk/hike.  You merely head up the sandy beach towards Refugio.  During lower tide periods, there is plenty of dry sand to walk on, if you so choose.  You may also choose to walk amongst the waves and on the wet sand, but see the note on footwear below for a note of caution before you do.

On this particular day, the beach wasn’t crowded at all (but we didn’t expect it to be, on a mid-week day after Labor Day), but the few people that were on the beach were almost all clumped near the parking lot and lifeguard towers, and as we headed west, there were hardly any people to be seen.  It was a beautiful day, with nice views of the Channel Islands offshore, blue waters to our left, and steep bluffs to our right.  And while it was over 100 degrees inland, it was incredibly pleasant walking on the beach.

View of the "crowded" part of the beach to the left.

View of the "trail" portion of the beach to the right.

Wide, sandy stretch of beach trail with cool bluffs alongside.

More sandy trail, this time with birds!

One of the potential stairways/paths up the bluffs to the campground area.

It wasn't always easy to stay dry, but we didn't really care (see footwear note below).

Didn't notice when we first took the picture of this sand castle, but doesn't it look like a happy monster with his hands in the air?

And this side looks like an evil sand monster! Don't know if this was intentional, or simply a result of wave and wind erosion...

Approaching the final passable point.

Continue along the beach for roughly a mile and a half.  In an area called Coral Beach (or Canada de Corral on my Delorme GPS Maps), we saw a family on the beach near a trail up the bluffs, but walked on by them to see how far we could get on the beach, rather than the bluffs.  Unfortunately, we only made it around the next corner before we realized that the water was too high on the bluffs to continue.

Oh hey! A perfectly decent path up the bluffs! We ignored this. You shouldn't.

Cool rocks around the last point.

More rocks, less beach!

Yeah, I think we'll turn around now...

Rather than double back, we decided to scale the bluffs on a make-shift path in the final little cove we were in, and managed it without too much difficulty, but it would have been a difficult descent, and we really recommend you take the established path up the bluffs at the end of Coral Beach (but perhaps after exploring around the point as far as you can go, because it was cool back there).

Scaling the bluffs on our unimproved, unadvised, improvised path.

Kinda steep. And very unimproved.

A look back down into the cove we climbed out of.

The not very improved path from the bluffs to the bike trail.

Whether you take the established path or the improvised path, you will soon come to the paved, striped Pacific Coast Bike Path that runs along the coast from Canada to Mexico, though only certain stretches of this are separated from vehicle traffic like this piece is.

Now THAT'S a trail! The Pacific Coast Bike Trail, to be precise.

Random view from the trail to the beach and bluffs.

The brush along the trail is often over head height, preventing any views in some areas, but at other times, there are great views of the coast and the beach.  There were a couple of dirt side trails that led out to nice promontory points that had particularly good views.  This trail is also almost immediately adjacent to the train tracks, which you might not even notice until a train passes by 10 or 20 feet away!

High brush alongside the trail.

Cool dude fishing on the cool bluffs overlooking the cool ocean.

Train! It's quite close to the bike trail through here...

Colleen’s feet were hurting too much from the grinding of the sand in the wet sandals (see note on footwear below) for us to make it all the way to Refugio, so we had to stop short of our goal after about 2.2 miles.  We had only gone about a half mile on the paved trail, and were only about a half mile from Refugio Beach, but that meant an extra mile round trip, and we knew from experience that if her feet were torn up already, adding another mile to the distance was not a good idea.

We discussed whether to take the paved path all the way back to El Capitan, or whether to return to the sand, and decided that if we went back on the sand, she could take her sandals back off and walk barefoot the rest of the way, which was not an option on the paved trail. The correct path (as opposed to the bogus one we took up) down the bluffs back down to the beach was just past where we’d come up and was well-marked and easy to find.

Heading back towards the trail down to the beach--you can see the white sign at the entrance in the distance.

Sign and trail entrance up close.

Sign up really close. REMAIN CALM!!!!

Relatively steep, but relatively improved, trail back to the beach (the one we skipped earlier).

As we returned back down the beach, we noticed the tide had gotten visibly higher, and was coming much closer to the bluffs, and in quite a few places, was coming all the way up to the cliff faces.  We regularly had to time quick dashes between waves on the narrower portions of the beach, but it wasn’t quite high enough to be a serious danger.  If you think about it, you might check on the tides ahead of time, and try to hit it before low tide, or at least avoid an extra high tide or storm surges that might make the beach disappear entirely.

Back on the beach. Note that I am carrying both pairs of sandals on my backpack, because that's the kind of chivalrous guy I am...

Look back east towards where we started--water is a bit higher!

Yeah, definitely higher water. But still some sand.

And now it is gone. Time your movement down the beach between waves, if you care.

Another shot of the intermittent trail.

By now the sun was getting much lower on the horizon at our backs (this is one of those weird California beaches that runs east-west, even though it seems like all beaches should run north-south), giving us some different colors and shadows than we had on the trip out.

Pretty sunset-ish light and colors behind us.

Look back from the trail up to the parking lot.

While we wished we could have made it all the way to Refugio, it was a relatively arbitrary stopping point, and one could easily go further or turn around sooner, like we did, and still have a good time.  We really enjoyed the walk (despite the sandy sandal issue) and would recommend it to others looking for something that doesn’t require any special equipment and can be done on even the hottest days.

A note on footwear:  We wore our hiking sandals initially, and made the mistake of letting the waves wash over our feet.  This resulted in wet, sandy sandals that started to grind the skin off our feet.  We decided fairly quickly thereafter to ditch the sandals and just walk barefoot across the sandy portion of the trail, which was great!  You always have to worry a bit about oil balls on your bare feet in Santa Barbara, but we didn’t have any issues.  When we left the beach for the paved bluff path later, we put our sandals back on, but they were so wet and sandy that they kept rubbing our ankles and toes to the point that even with moleskins, Colleen finally couldn’t take it any more and we had to turn around before reaching our goal.  My recommendation is to start in bare feet, carrying your sandals.  Put on dry sandals when you climb the bluffs, and then take them back off when you return to the sand later.  You could also wear hiking boots and socks the whole time and just do everything in your power to stay dry, but what would be the fun in that?

Boring and probably inaccurate (most of the hike was literally AT sea level) elevation profile of the walk, but you can click through to read it better if you want.

View Beach Hike El Capitan to Refugio State Beach in a larger map

On December 30th, Jeff and I met (slightly surpassing) our goal to hike 200 miles in 2011.  We have trekked through some pretty spectacular scenery this past year, all of varying difficulty, topography, climates and ecosystems.  While we don’t regret any of the trails we’ve traversed, some are much more likely to be revisited by on future hikes.

This New Year’s weekend, the two of us agreed upon a handful of hikes that stand out as our absolute favorites of 2011.

Favorite Hikes of 2011

These are listed in no particular order.

Mount San Jacinto via Mountain Station

Mount San Jacinto Summit

A great 10 mile hike to Mount San Jacinto, the second highest peak in Southern California. It’s not easy, but achievable for anyone in decent condition if you take the route from the Palm Springs Tram. Jeff and I completed this hike on July 2, 2011, and we both agree that this is probably the most diverse beautiful trail we have ever hiked. We plan to do it again in 2012 — bringing friends along this time.

• Date Hiked: July 2, 2011
• Distance: 9.85 miles round-trip
• Elevation Gain: 2,409 feet
• Kid-Friendly: No (but rare exceptions)
• Dog-Friendly: No

Mount Baldy via the Notch and Devil’s Backbone

Devil's Backbone

A great hike to a great Southern California peak. This strenuous (6.3 mile, 2,300 ft elevation gain) hike to the the top of Mt Baldy it totally worth it, and is quite popular. We first did this hike in 2009, and repeated it this year with a group of friends. This is one of those super cool fun rugged trails that we would welcome doing every year.

• Date Hiked: June 18, 2011
• Distance: 6.34 miles round-trip
• Elevation Gain: 2,315 feet
• Kid-Friendly: Yes (if experienced)
• Dog-Friendly: No (unless you hike up to the Notch)

Mount Baldy Notch Full Moon Hike

Baldy Moonlight Hike

During the summer months (no snow), the Mt. Baldy Ski Lift runs a Moonlight Hike & BBQ package on the first Friday before the full moon each month. For $20 per person, you get a decent multi-course BBQ dinner at Top of the Notch Restaurant on Mt. Baldy, killer views, and the way cool experience of hiking at night by moonlight.

We couldn’t fit this into our schedule until the final hike of the season (October 7th), so we aren’t planning to publish our write-up until closer to next season (when it’s warmer). But Mt. Baldy announced last week a special date this coming Friday, January 6, 2012. We were freezing cold at the notch the night of October 7th (we had to eat outside because of our dog), so we can only imagine how cold it will be up there this Friday.

• Date Hiked: October 7, 2011
• Distance: 4.4 miles round-trip
• Elevation Gain: 1,352 feet
• Kid-Friendly: Yes
• Dog-Friendly: Yes

Ice House Canyon to Timber Mountain

Ice House Canyon

Ice House Canyon is a beautiful hike, and if you do the full loop we did, has a tremendous variety of terrain and scenery. If you’re in halfway decent shape, it’s a great trail! Since Jeff and I started hiking together in 2008, we kept hearing about Ice House Canyon, so we were thrilled to tackle it in 2011 — even though our knees were shot by the end.

• Date Hiked: June 4, 2011
• Distance: 11.9 miles round-trip
• Elevation Gain: 3,388 feet
• Kid-Friendly: Yes (if experienced)
• Dog-Friendly: Yes

Devil’s Chair via Devil’s Punchbowl

Devil's Chair at Devil's Punchbowl

A great 7.74 mile dog-friendly hike into a geological wonderland called Devil’s Punchbowl out to the Devil’s Chair, right on top of the San Andreas Fault. Located where the Mojave Desert meets the Angeles National Forest, the rock formations and landscape are amazing, and if you pick up the visitor’s guide at the visitor’s center or research it in advance, quite educational!

• Date Hiked: April 9, 2011
• Distance: 7.74 miles round-trip
• Elevation Gain: 622 feet
• Kid-Friendly: No (unless experienced)
• Dog-Friendly: Yes

Bonita Falls in Lytle Creek

Bonita Canyon Falls

Bonita Falls on the South Fork of Lytle Creek: A short, but deceivingly difficult, 2.8 mile hike to the 2nd highest waterfall in Southern California. Lots of boulder hopping and some stream crossing leads to a beautiful waterfall less than a mile off the road in the San Bernardino National Forest.

• Date Hiked: February 21, 2011
• Distance: 2.8 miles round-trip
• Elevation Gain: 660 feet
• Kid-Friendly: Yes
• Dog-Friendly: Yes

Hikes We Wish We’d Done (Again) in 2011

Sure, I can add feats such as Whitney and Half Dome on this list, but those were never realistic options for us — so, why bother. And although they’re on our “in the next couple years” list, we also knew from the start that Santiago Peak, San Gorgornio, and Wilson wouldn’t make our 2011 cut.

But, the following are hikes we either attempted or meant to do, and just didn’t fit into our hiking schedule last year.

• Bridge to Nowhere: We hiked this super cool spectacular trail in 2009, but the heavy spring rains and high water levels, and then the hot summer temps and thunderstorms kept us away this year. Next year, with friends.
• Mount Baden Powell: We attempted this beautiful hike in May, but the late heavy snow (up to our thighs, no trail visible) this year forced us to turn back about 1 mile from the summit. And we just never fit it back in before summer temps and thunderstorms kicked in. Next year, with friends.

If I was forced to live in a city for the rest of my life, but allowed to choose which city it would be, it would be Santa Barbara.  I still sorta regret choosing UCLA over UC Santa Barbara back in the day, but I do enjoy visiting whenever I can.  So when I saw a “Screamin’ Daily Deal” for an extremely discounted stay at the Old Yacht Club Inn bed and breakfast, I grabbed it and booked it for my birthday week, right around Labor Day.

In doing our traditional pre-hiking trip research at Trails.com and other places, I found the Seven Falls and Inspiration Point Trail.  Our plan was to do both parts–the beautiful falls and pools, as well as the scenic lookout point, with views of Santa Barbara and the Channel Islands.  The total was billed as less than 4 miles, which seemed quite reasonable, based on descriptions of oak canopies and a shaded trail.

Roadside parking.

To get to the trailhead, you get to drive right by the Santa Barbara Mission, which is always a treat for history geeks like us.  You climb up the base of the mountains on Mission Canyon and then Tunnel Road, through some very nice neighborhoods.  On weekends and holidays, you will almost certainly begin to see cars parked on the side of the road considerably before the trailhead at the end of the road.  We found a parking spot about a third of a mile (and 150 feet in elevation) from the trailhead, but there were quite a few people parked further down the road.

Signage at the end of the road.

Signage and gate at the trailhead.

The trailhead was very well marked and pretty much impossible to miss.  Just walk around the locked (at least the day we were there) gate across the paved road, and head up the canyon.  We were there in the early afternoon, which we usually try to avoid, but on most days in Santa Barbara, it never gets that hot, so we weren’t too worried.  Unfortunately, it was a particularly hot week, and the wildfires from a few years ago had burned away any trees that might have lined the trail, so the canyon road was completely exposed to the afternoon sun, and it got uncomfortable quickly.

The very exposed fire road/trail ahead up the canyon.

A look back towards the Channel Islands over a burned tree along the fire road.

We kept thinking we’d hit that shaded area soon, and it would become comfortable, so we kept looking for our turnoff up towards the creek bed.  We had a brief false hope at the metal bridge, where we thought we might be turning, but it was clear from our GPS (and lack of signage or obvious path) that we weren’t where we needed to be yet.

The creek passing under the metal bridge. If you wanted to, you could probably go all the way up the creek from here, but we went on to the trail we were told to follow.

Turn left at this trail junction.

Signage at the junction.

Fortunately, it was only one more bend to where we’d been promised the trail “descends into the  forest” and we’d be sheltered from the sun.  Unfortunately, much like the fire road, the stretch of the forest at the beginning of this trail had also suffered serious fire damage, and there were very few trees that still provided any level of shade at all.

You can see how this used to be a nicely shaded trail, but not after the fire!

As we cooled off under one of the few shady spots there near the beginning of the trail and realized there may not be any shade anywhere along the trail, we discussed turning back.  Right about then we encountered a couple of hikers returning from the falls, and they looked wet and refreshed, and they assured us that the trail would quickly go down to the creekside and become much more shaded.

Single track trail heads down to the creek here. Sign to my right points to the trail on the left.

Sure enough, within 500 feet or so, there was a single track trail that headed off to the left and quickly started to descend into the canyon.  Just as quickly, there were real trees with real leaves to protect us from the afternoon sun.   And about 650 feet or so from the trail junction, we were at the water’s edge.

Approaching the creek. This last 50 feet or so is pretty steep. The people on the other side of the creek are coming back from either the Inspiration Point hike or the "high road" trail up to the falls.

Water was murky on this day, but you could see how it would be a nice swimming hole earlier in the season when the water is moving faster.

This late in the season, the water right there at the crossing was sort of murky and still, but it definitely cooled down the trail.  Early in the season, this is probably a popular place to wade and relax on the rocks and in these pools.  Right across the creek was the trail we had originally intended to take to Inspiration Point, and also the “high road” trail along the north side of the creek we had originally intended to follow up to the falls.  But after observing the landscape on the way in, and talking to some other hikers returning from those paths, we decided both those alternatives were too exposed for our comfort, and that we’d be better off just following the creek bed up towards the other falls and pools.

Heading upstream from the crossing.

We knew that meant some bouldering and scrambling, but we actually enjoy that, and figured we would at least follow the stream as far as we could before we turned around.  It really was a beautiful stretch of creek, with a series of rapids, falls, and pools, some higher and deeper than others.  We encountered quite a few people along the way–this was definitely not a good hike for enjoying the peace and quiet of God’s green Earth.

Most of the trail was either bouldering or scrambling up smooth granite rock faces.

Sometimes it was easier just to walk through the water, rather than trying to stay dry (we wore river sandals on this hike).

We really enjoyed the choose-your-own-path aspect of the hike.

There was a family with several kids and a dog playing on this fall and swimming in the pool below.

We saw a couple of families with younger kids at the lower pools, sliding down the mossy waterfalls and playing in the water with their dogs, but the biggest crowd was at/near the end, where the highest falls and deepest pools came together.  This area was a natural playground for the college aged kids, with a dozen or so of them laying around sunning on the rocks, swimming in the water, and jumping off the falls into the deep pools below.

This was the tallest fall, with a big pool below that people jumped into, and a big pool above it that people swam in.

People swimming in the hole above the large falls.

From the top of the biggest fall, I could see a series of other falls and pools further upstream, but it was impossible to access those falls without either scaling the sheer wall on either side of the canyon, climbing up the slippery face of the waterfall, or backtracking a bit and going up the dirt trail up above the canyon to go around the falls.  I did jump into the pool and tried to climb the waterfall, but just couldn’t get a handhold to let me up to the next pool.

Getting up this wall to the next hole was harder than it looks! Note also people at the upper pools, which we couldn't/didn't get to.

We saw several groups of people who had taken the “high road” trail coming down the sets of falls from above, who encountered a similar problem coming down–they’d managed to stay dry thus far on their hike, but now were confronted with either jumping off the top of the fall into the pool, or backtracking up the canyon to the trail to bypass this choke point.  Almost all ended up stripping down and jumping in the end, and in retrospect, if we’d gotten up there earlier in the morning when it was cooler, we probably would have done that.  That would have allowed us to hike up the canyon above the falls and creek while it was still cool, and then come back down along the water when it was warmer.

It was definitely a younger crowd there at the falls, but we enjoyed hanging out a while and even swimming a bit before heading back downstream.  By the time we left, the shadows were getting longer and the heat of the (less) exposed trail wasn’t nearly as bad going downhill back to the car.

A look back up the canyon on the way back home.

Despite our early misgivings, we really enjoyed this trail, and had we left earlier in the day, it would have been a great trail to take the kids on.  Packing a picnic lunch and spending some time playing in the various falls and hopping up rocks would have made for a great family day in the outdoors.  Our dog also would have loved this trail.  Because we were staying in a bed and breakfast, we left her behind, but she would have totally enjoyed it, and we felt guilty every time we encountered another dog playing in the water.

On another note, we were doing this very late in the season, so most of the falls were very mild (and look even milder in these pictures!).  Earlier in the year, especially after a rain, these falls would be much more impressive, and the creek much more difficult to navigate, I’m sure.  It would certainly be impossible to do without getting very wet.  You could tell how high the falls and water level can get during the spring, and we would love to come back and see it this way.  The way we hiked it was only 3.1 miles round trip, but the unimproved trail makes it feel further than it really is.  If you wanted to add more mileage, you could add on the trip to Inspiration Point, or go up the hill to the “high road” to visit the upper falls, but we weren’t interested in either on this particular day.

Elevation profile for the Seven Falls hike. Click through for larger version.

View Seven Falls, Santa Barbara, CA.kml in a larger map

On a recent Fall day, the local tv weather bimbettes had predicted rain all night and the following day, so we really hadn’t planned to get in a hike, even though we were both off work.  But when we woke up at 930am (much later than “serious hikers”, I know, but we are rarely serious), there was still no rain.  We had some coffee, and fired up our computers, and after re-checking the weather, decided that a nice cool, dry day was the perfect opportunity to check out one of our local hikes that we thought was too exposed to hike on a warmer SoCal day.  Our late wake-up, also meant that it had to be relatively short and relatively close, as we had evening plans to deal with as well.

Our answer was to revisit the Whittier/Brea/Puente Hills area right in our back yard.  We had previously hiked a piece of Hellman Wilderness Park on the far western end of the range, and enjoyed it, so we planned to come back and hit several other hikes along that stretch.  On this particular day I had chosen to hike a short loop in Powder Canyon (links to a pay site), immediately east of Schabarum Regional Park, and basically the easternmost park in the hills.  This is a part (as is Hellman Wilderness Park) of the Puente Hills Landfill Native Habitat Preservation Authority, as you can see from this map here.

Parking area along the street on Fullerton Road.

There are trails that will take you from one end of the range to the other, but on this particular day, we were just hitting a short loop of it in Powder Canyon, just off the 57 and the 60, where Harbor Boulevard basically ends.  There are several access points to Powder Canyon on the  north side of Fullerton Road, just west of Harbor Blvd (it is easier if you get on Fullerton Road from the northern junction with Harbor, rather than the southern one).  From that northern junction, we parked on the street at the first trail access sign, though in the future we’d probably park by the stables in the dedicated parking lot, the road to which is the middle access on this road.

Trailhead and kiosk off Fullerton Road.

Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign?

Area map on the kiosk right next to the entrance off the road.

There was a kiosk with a map right here where we parked, but unlike the trailhead by the stables, there weren’t trail maps available to take with you.  The trailhead is nicely shaded, and while it isn’t well-marked, it is basically a fire road, and pretty obvious which way you need to go.  Within a few hundred feet is a road splitting off to the right, but you’ll just want to stay straight.

Split in the road/trail almost immediately past the kiosk. Stay left.

Trail starts in the shade of the oaks before heading uphill into the more exposed sections.

Trail sign letting us know where we were...

At the quarter mile mark, just as the trail starts to seriously climb, you’ll pass a trail junction with a sign indicating that you are on Black Walnut Trail (we actually thought we were on Powder Canyon up until now!), and indicating that you can turn left down a single track trail labeled as Nogales trail (which is actually how we came back to the trail to complete the loop).

Beginning of the exposed part. And the steep part.

A lot of this section has this sort of shrubbery along both sides. Not quite shade, but not quite barren, either.

Heading towards the transmission pole ahead.

At about 2.5 miles and a 400 foot elevation gain, so this is not a hardcore hike by any stretch, but ALL of the climbing is done in the first 3/4 mile (as you can see in the elevation profile below), and most of it is exposed to the sun, so we can’t quite call it easy, either.  On this particular day, the sun surprisingly did break through, and even though it never got hot, it was still quite warm in the direct sun as we made the climb, so be aware of this possibility.

Road splits off to the right a short ways to head up to the tower.

Just shy of the 3/4 mile mark, there is a fork in the trail/road that heads up to the right.  The right fork is not part of the loop, but we highly recommend taking this spur up to a plateau with a big transmission tower on it.  From here, you’ll have the best views you will get on this trail, with unobstructed shots of the San Gabriel Valley and the entire San Gabriel Mountain Range.  This is also the highest point on the hike.

That's the target for the lookout.

Great views of San Gabriel Valley and Mountains from the tower.

Return to the main trail and  turn right, where you will begin to descend, though much more gradually than you climbed.  At the one mile mark (including the side-trip to the tower plateau), you will start to enter a shaded canyon, with very nice trees and vegetation on both sides of the trail.  You’ll make a sort of a hairpin turn in the trail, and from there it is a straight shot southwest towards the junction with Powder Canyon Trail at the 1.5 mile mark.

The trail starts to head downhill after leaving the tower. You can see houses on the hills from most of the first half of the hike along the ridges.

The trail enters a more shaded canyon as it heads downhill.

Nice shrubberies! And trees.

If you turned right, you would hook up with the Skyline Trail that connects the entire trail system all the way to Hellman Wilderness Park, but we turned left to complete the loop.  This is the nicest stretch of the trail, with sections being fully beneath the oak canopy, and almost all  the sights and sounds of civilization suddenly gone.

Approaching the junction with Powder Canyon Trail.

This whole stretch was tree-lined and nicely shaded.

At the 1.7 mile mark, we passed a junction with the Gray Squirrel Trail, which we found out later would lead to the westernmost trailhead/parking area on Fullerton Road for this trail system.

Gray Squirrel Trail junction on the right. Stay straight.

Gray squirrel, watching the trail with its beady little eyes...

More oak canopies along Powder Canyon Trail.

We emerged from the shaded trail part of Powder Canyon right about at the 2 mile mark, and very shortly thereafter came to a horse corral, parking area, and an information kiosk with a map of the area, as well as paper trail maps to take with you (at least on the day we were there).   The parking area is not large, but certainly larger than the street parking area where we stopped, so we would probably choose to park here in the future.

The corral at the other Powder Canyon trailhead.

The road from the corral and parking area back to Fullerton Road.

This is what the entrance to that parking area looks like from Fullerton Road.

Just past the corral and parking area was the southern junction of the Nogales Trail.  Having a decent map now, and remembering having seen it at the beginning of the Black Walnut Trail, we abandoned our original plan of just hiking to the street and finishing the hike along the pavement, and took the Nogales Trail uphill back to the Black Walnut Trail.

Nogales trailhead junction.

Short single track trail back to Black Walnut Trail is scenic, but mostly exposed.

This stretch was exposed to the sun again, but it was only about 500 feet long and maybe 50 feet in elevation we had to climb, so it wasn’t bad at all–certainly better than walking the last stretch along Fullerton Road.  We turned right when we hit the junction with Black Walnut Trail, and within 1,000 feet, we were back at the truck again.

Black Walnut Trail junction.

Almost back to the truck, but Holly is still ready for more.

Overall this was a surprisingly nice hike, considering how little we had planned for it and how close it is to, well, everyone!  Its location not far from the 60 and 57 freeways makes it convenient to Orange, LA, and San Bernardino Counties puts it in the middle of everywhere, but despite that fact, it did feel relatively wildernessy at times.  So if you’re looking to stretch your legs and don’t want to walk around the same paved park path you usually do when you don’t have time for a “real” hike, you might consider heading to Powder Canyon.  We hear it is nice in the Spring when the wildlowers bloom, and we can vouch for how nice it is on a cool Fall or Winter day, but you might want to avoid it when the sun is blazing at full strength…

Powder Canyon elevation profile (click through for bigger version).

View Powder Canyon in a larger map

If you’re looking for Fall colors in Southern California and some nice views on a clear day without a ton of work, one great choice is Stoddard Peak below Mount Baldy.  We had tried to do this back at the end of March, and while the shaded beginning was enjoyable, and the clear views from the peak were outstanding, way too much of the hike was totally exposed, and on a warm early spring day, a lot of it was not pleasant at all for Colleen or the dog.  There were also swarms of little gnats that increased the unpleasantness to the point where we never even made it to the final peak, because some in the hiking party were just no longer in the mood for the relatively difficult path to the summit.

Not having finished the hike to Stoddard Peak annoyed us greatly–especially the fact that we had agreed that if we were to write it up, we would have to call it “Stoddard Peak Ridge”, because we hadn’t actually made it to the peak.  So this past week, on a day after a good rain, when it was predicted to be cool and clear, we thought it would be a perfect day to make another attempt to make it to the peak, and for the most part, we were right.

The hike itself is just over 6 miles and just under 1,000 feet in elevation, so it is a nice mid-range trail that will get the blood pumping, but on a cool day, is within reach for anyone with a decent range of fitness and a willingness to do some brush-busting and perhaps a bit of scrambling in the dirt near the end.

Snow-capped Mount Baldy to the front, Barrett-Stoddard Road on the right.

If you don’t know how to get to Mount Baldy, what the hell is wrong with you?  But if you head on the 210 east, get off on Baseline, turn left, and then turn right at Padua, the first right.  Head north up this road past some great houses with river rock fences until you get to Mounty Baldy Road, just before you hit the base of the hill.  Turn right, and you’ll shortly begin up the canyon.  You’ll go through two old tunnels, and shortly thereafter you’ll see a sign for Barrett-Stoddard Road on the right side.  Turn right into the small parking lot if you want to be safe, or go further down the dirt road past the small hydro-electric plant and park there if you feel comfortable (some do, we haven’t).  You need to have your National Forest Adventure Pass on display if you don’t want a ticket.  We did see some broken auto glass in the parking lot, a vivid reminder never to leave valuables visible in your vehicle when parking at a trailhead.

Parking lot right off the road. Looks mostly sunny, but you can see that the fog is moving in on the horizon.

Fall foliage from the parking lot, with snow-capped mountains in the back. we wouldn't be seeing these for much longer...

You start on a short descent (about a third of a mile) down the dirt road past the hydro plant and across the bridge over Baldy Creek, the lowest point (altitude-ally speaking…) of the hike, at about 3687 feet elevation.  On a warm day there are some awesome swimming holes and small waterfalls to play in all the way along the creek under the bridge.  Some are right under the bridge, but others are more easily reached by following the crumbling remains of Old Baldy Road due south from the parking lot.   When we were here in March, there were quite a few people playing and relaxing in the water, but on this chilly November day, the creek was quite empty.

View of the Baldy Creek pools under the bridge.

People heading down crumbling Old Baldy Road towards the pools last March.

As you head up the old Barrett-Stoddard Road from the bridge, it begins a steady, but not steep, climb that really never stops until near the top–when it actually gets quite steep (see elevation profile below).  At the very beginning, you can still hear (and occasionally see) Baldy Creek below, but after a half mile the trail heads east up the mountain, away from the creek.

When we left home in Orange County, we could clearly see the snow on Mount Baldy and the surrounding range, and it looked like it would be a perfect day for clear views.  As we got closer, we saw some fog/low clouds in the valley in front of the range, but figured it would burn off.  Even when we parked, we had great views of Baldy, and were looking forward to what we’d be able to see from the summit.  But shortly after we crossed Baldy Creek, the fog moved in above us, obscuring the peaks we were headed towards, and at some point not too long later, it sat down on top of us, which really brought out the greens and yellows of the foliage in our pictures, but totally eliminated any decent views into the valleys or the neighboring peaks from this point forward.  You will be able to see the difference in the quality of the photos between the foggy day and the sunny day in some of the comparisons below, with better long range photos on the sunny day, but better close-ups on the foggy day, without the bright sun washing the colors out.

The private road turn in March. Note the washed out texture of the trail.

Private road turnoff in November. Much better detail in the photo.

About this time, you will also cross the county line, leaving Los Angeles, and entering San Bernardino, but the line is unmarked, with no warnings whatsoever that you have entered the 909.  Shortly thereafter, you will encounter a dirt road posted as private on the right (stay straight) and a driveway on the left (stay straight) just before you hit a cute little group of cabins right on a couple of creeks that cross the road at about the 3/4 mile mark.  Both times we were able to cross the creek and stay dry by rock hopping, and the second crossing even has a little pedestrian bridge on the right side, but it was very narrow and appeared to be overgrown with poison oak (there’s a LOT of poison oak near the water crossings on this hike), so we rock hopped instead.

Hey! Fall colors!

First creek crossing, in November.

First creek crossing, in March.

Fairy tale cabin at the creek crossings. Sign says "The Lord helps those who help themselves, but the Lord help anyone caught helping themselves around here."

More cabins amongst the fall foliage.

Second water crossing. Note the overgrown pedestrian bridge on the right. Pretty sure that's poison oak there...

Crossing the creek via rock-hopping instead.

Looking up the creek.

From here, there is a great tree canopy, and the fall colors were beautiful!  A lot of the trees are evergreen, but there were enough colored trees and leaves that stood out brightly amongst the darker greens.

Continuing past the cabins.

Just shy of the one mile mark you come to a locked gate, intended to prevent motor vehicle traffic.  It also says no shooting or hunting beyond that point, but that didn’t concern us today.  Walk on past the locked gate and continue up this very shaded section of trail.  Enjoy it, especially on a warm day, because it doesn’t last long!

Just past the gate in March.

Just past the gate in November.

Close-up!

Somewhere around the 1.25 mile mark, you’ll leave the shade and hit another exposed section.  You’ll briefly hit another area of shade with another smaller water crossing about a half mile further, but from there is just one more very small spot of shade just before the final climb.  On this most recent cool November hike, this wasn’t a big deal at all, and on an early morning hike it probably wouldn’t matter, but on our warm March 31st hike, it really got warm in the afternoon sun and we desperately needed the final shade spot at the 2.5 mile mark for a rest and cool-down before the last stretch.

Great stretch of trail.

A look off the trail.

Exposed does not mean boring, though.  On the hot clear day, there were nice views of Mount Baldy and occasional views into the Inland Empire, and into the canyons and meadows below the trail.  Even on the foggy day, there are varieties of plants, flowers and rock formations that keep it interesting and relatively scenic throughout.

On a clear day, Mount Baldy looks like this from the trail here.

More trail shots.

Great colors.

Blackberry leaves, turning colors! They seemed to be mixed amongst poison oak at the third creek crossing, but we may be wrong.

The third crossing in November. Overgrown with poison oak. Or berries. Or something.

Same crossing in March. Advantage March, this time...

More pretty colors.

Ibid.

In March, you could see how exposed the trail ahead was.

Cool rocks on the trail (taken on the way down, as the fog was starting to lift).

The fog really was pretty cool.

In March, heading towards the final shaded area.

We thought this section was Lord-of-the-Rings'ish.

Sitting under the last shaded area before the summit in March.

Shortly after the last shady part, you’ll emerge onto Stoddard Flat, a wide, flat (duh) area.  But as the main trail appears to head due south as you come onto the flat, you’ll almost immediately look for a faint, single track trail heading off to your right, up the hill there.  The first time we hiked this, we weren’t sure whether that was the right path or not, but a nicely placed geocache we had downloaded happened to be located right there at the junction, and the geocache description confirmed that was the right place to turn (This is the third or fourth time that a well-placed geocache has pointed my the right direction when we weren’t sure where we were going).  There are usually some rocks here at the junction as well, and we placed several more there in an attempt to make the turn a bit more obvious.

Stoddard Flat, in March, when we could actually see it.

The brushy, steep trail to the first false summit is behind me (in March).

The same trail junction in November. Can't quite see the first summit, but you can see the rock pile there where you need to turn.

This is the worst part of the trail, by far.  It is much steeper and is very narrow, requiring you to bust through the brush, frequently crashing through bushes on both sides of you as you head uphill.  Some of them are quite prickly, and after a rain (as it was in November), it can get you quite wet as well.  If you are sensitive to being scratched and scraped, you may want long pants and a long sleeve shirt or jacket for this stretch, even if the weather might otherwise call for shorts.  I braved it without, but Colleen chose to don her jacket this time after getting scratched up pretty good last March.  Fortunately, you’re only climbing about 100 feet or so in elevation and it is over with pretty quickly.

Heading into the brush. Yes, this is the trail.

Colleen busting through the end of the brush, well covered to prevent scratches and getting soaked by the wet brush.

In March, you could see how Barrett-Stoddard Road continues towards Rancho Cucamonga. Someday we may try this...

You will hit two different false summits on the way to the real one.  The first one is what you see as you start up the trail through the brambles, but by the time you get to the top of it, you’ll definitely see the next, taller one.  The trail along the ridge here between the two minor peaks is quite easy (the trail isn’t well marked, but every little path leads to the same place), and the second false summit has some really nice boulders to relax on.  Unfortunately, it is still completely exposed, so on a hot day, it is really, well, hot.  And on our March visit, there were swarms of gnats that really made Colleen completely miserable.  From here, on a normal day, you can see the actual Stoddard   Peak about 1,000 feet away, but on this particular day, we couldn’t see it at all!  When you can see it, it really doesn’t look much higher than the peak you’re on, really maybe only 20 feet or so, but getting there can be a bit tricky.

In March, we could see the second summit from the first summit. In November, we just trusted that it was there...

Ridge trail is much easier than that first stretch.

From the second summit, you can see the actual Stoddard Peak in the distance. On a clear day, anyways...

But this is what it looked like on this particular day, through the lens of my wicked awesome Peaks app on the iPhone.

On a clear day, this is what Mount Baldy looks like from here.

There is no obvious easy way to get to Stoddard Peak.  Both require a bit of tricky scrambling down a fairly steep piece of sandy ground.  This is where we quit in March, as Colleen and the dog had reached their fill of heat and gnats, and I wasn’t certain that the rest of the trail to Stoddard Peak wasn’t all difficult, so we just turned around here, within sight of our goal.

Squeezing through the low road to Stoddard Peak.

You can kinda sorta see Stoddard Peak in the background here, and the lack of a trail I'm on to get there.

This time I tried a lower path to get from the 2nd peak to Stoddard Peak, but it was just as messy as the higher trail I found.  But feeling fresher than we did in March, neither were as intimidating as they seemed back then, and we all forged on through.  Once you get past the first drop from the second peak, the rest of the trail was really quite easy, so we were really kicking ourselves for not having insisted on completing the hike last time.

Once you descended from the second peak, the path to Stoddard Peak was actually quite easy.

You’ll know you’ve reached the true peak when you see the metal summit sign, and a few feet away there are a pair of cans protecting a peak log/journal covered by some rocks.   In March, there would have been a grand view, but as you can see, we couldn’t see a damn thing on this particular day.  But we did rest a while on the boulders there before heading back down the mountain.

At the summit sign!

I'm proud to be at the summit, but Holly is already looking for new challenges.

Peak/Summit log is in this can near the summit marker.

Climbing back up to that second peak wasn’t nearly as difficult as climbing down from it, and while the steep climb back through the brush required some careful foot placement to avoid slipping, once we were done with that, the rest of the hike back was a breeze.

In March, we took the time to rest again for a bit at that first/last shady spot a half mile or so from the summit, because we knew it was going to be a while before the next one.  In fact, I wound up carrying our dog for part of it until the next shade and water crossing, because while she can do a 13 mile hike on a good day, she does not dig hot and exposed hikes at all.

On the way down, the fog starts to lift, giving us a view of Mount Baldy Road.

This time, it wasn’t an issue, as the temperature was perfect for hiking, somewhere between 50 and 60 degrees.  And as we feared, sitting at the peak, as we started on down the hill, the fog started to lift!  We began getting nice views of the valley and Mt. Baldy Rd. below, and even some views of the Inland Empire from the trail.

As we returned to the parking lot, the clouds and fog cleared almost entirely, so we snapped a few pictures of the summit (and the two false summits) we had just climbed, and grumbled about how nice the view probably was now…

This picture is taken from Mount Baldy Road, on the way home. from left to right, you can see the trees in that final shaded area, the first summit, the second summit, and at the right, Stoddard Peak!

We frequently have trouble with our knees on the way down mountains and hills, but most of this trail has a moderate enough slope that it really didn’t bother us like it usually does, again, making it a nice option for folks who don’t do a whole lot of hiking.  We thought that for someone that hardly hikes at all and has bad knees  who just wants to see some decent fall foliage, you could really  park the car by the bridge at Baldy Creek, and just walk the mile or so past the cabins to just past the locked gate and turn around, hitting the best parts of the hike.  And if you’re really in bad shape or just hate hiking/walking at all, you could even probably drive all the way to the locked gate and just walk around through the wooded part for a bit and snap a few photos, as long as you weren’t afraid to drive through some shallow water crossings, but there isn’t anywhere to park for any length of time up there.

View

Stoddard Peak.kml in a larger map

Stoddard Peak Elevation Profile (Click through for larger view).

Last Fall, we enjoyed eating and drinking our way across Tennessee, Kentucky, and North Carolina, but we really wanted to get some legitimate hiking in on at least a couple of days.  We had a beautiful (and surprisingly affordable) cabin to use as our base of operations, right at the entrance of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, just south of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge.  We had intended to hike to Abrams Falls on our first full day in the Smokies, when we did the driving/walking tour of Cades Cove, but ran out of time.

View along Newfound Gap Road.

Spectacular Fall colors!

On our second full day in the Smokies (6th day overall), we finally got a little bit of exercise on our walk/hike to Clingman’s Dome.  Clingman’s Dome is the highest point in the Smoky Mountains, and is accessible via Newfound Gap Road, which is the lowest pass over the Smokies.  Newfound Gap Road (also known as Highway 441) comes right out of Gatlinburg, and the Gap itself is 15 miles from there, and 20 miles away from Cherokee, in North Carolina, and both sides of the Gap are beautiful, scenic drives.

Yet, evidence that Winter is fast approaching.

The parking lot at Newfound Gap.

The frequently crowded (even in the off-season, when we were there) parking lot at Newfound Gap gives nice views into North Carolina and Tennessee.  There are restrooms here and paved paths around the lot to allow you to take in the views and capture them on film.  There are also two trailheads to the Appalachian Trail here.  In fact, this is the only place a road bisects the Appalachian Trail on the 70 mile stretch through the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.  From here, you can actually take an 8 mile, 1600 ft elevation gain hike to Clingman’s Dome and attempt to hitchhike back to Newfound Gap (supposedly not too difficult), or simply (or not-so-simply) do the 16 mile round trip hike.

State line sign at the parking lot.

I don't even know why this is here, but if you are looking for a scenic place for a protest, this would be lovely.

The United Nations apparently thinks this place is important, but we liked it anyways.

More signs! We were headed to Clingman's Dome today.

View west into Tennessee.

View east into North Carolina, with an interpretive sign in the foreground, explaining why they were called the Smoky Mountains. They really do interpret the hell out of this park...

But on this particular day, we drove, rather than hiked, the seven miles up the road to the Clingman’s Dome parking lot, and then took the steep 1/2 mile paved hike to the observation deck.  The parking lot was quite full, so it was actually 1.4 miles round trip for us, and about a 325 foot elevation gain to get to the top.  It isn’t a lot of mileage or elevation, but it was quite steep, and at a starting elevation of around 6300 feet, we were kinda winded.  We blamed it on all the fried Southern food we’d been eating and the lack of exercise over the previous week and the high altitude, but we did manage to make it to the top nonetheless.

Looking back down the paved trail. You can what we've climbed already.

The cool (and snowy) observation deck.

We were there the second week of November, and they had just received the first real snow of the season right before we arrived in the area, and there was still quite a bit of snow left along much of the road to Newfound Gap and Clingman’s Dome.  And on the final man-made path up to the observation deck, there was enough snow that we really had to hold on tightly to the handrails to avoid slipping and sliding back down the corkscrew ramp like a bobsled run!

It was slick enough that you really had to hold on to the rail to prevent slipping.

The views from the top were beautiful on the day we were there.  I know it can be foggy (thus the name “smokies”), but it was a nice clear November day for us.  They claim you can see up to 100 miles and to seven states from the observation deck, which seems unlikely, but the views were still pretty spectacular.  They also had visual aids on all four sides of the deck, showing you exactly what peaks and natural features you might be looking at, which, as a geography geek, I always appreciate.

View to the south, towards Georgia.

View to the north towards Kentucky.

Looking west to Tennessee.

On the day we drove the entire stretch across Newfound Gap into North Carolina, we saw these playful elk right alongside the road in Cherokee.

We had a breathtaking sunset drive back across Newfound Gap from North Carolina.

Sunset in the Smokies!

Beautiful sunset colors over the Smokies.

Bright touristy lights of Gatlinburg visible from the road on the way back.

But the next day, we were determined to go back up to Newfound Gap and hike a stretch of the Appalachian Trail.  The entire Trail runs 2,181 miles, and over 70 miles are within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, but we were simply hoping to hit a four mile or so stretch from Newfound Gap to Charles Bunion, which is one of the most popular stretches on the AT (that’s what the cool kids call the Appalachian Trail).  The trailhead north, where we were headed is right there in the parking lot next to the restrooms (the southern stretch towards Clingman’s Dome is across the street).

Appalachian Trailhead in the parking lot at Newfound Gap.

We once again enjoyed the scenic drive up to the gap, and even got there on time for once, and began to make our way up the trail. Pretty quickly, we ran into snow on the side of the trail, and the trail itself was quite muddy from the melted snow.  Within a mile, we started running into patches of icy snow on the trail, and shortly after that, the ice and snow was nearly constant.

Beginning of the AT.

Another early piece of the trail. Just a few isolated snow patches here.

A little more snow and a little more mud.

And a little more mud.

A lot of mud.

Snow now starting to obscure the trail.

Great views east into North Carolina.

We tried to soldier on through it, hoping that we’d hit a more exposed piece of trail that would allow us to continue, but instead, it just became more and more treacherous.  We encountered a through hiker who was actually doing the entire trail from north to south, and a couple other day hikers who were also turning around after continuing to encounter snow and ice.  We did see one guy with crampons on, who was very pleased with his purchase and moving easily, but we were just inching along at this point, fearing that we would fall and injure ourselves on the ice.

More ice and snow.

Treacherous footing!

It's not getting any better.

Yeah, we're done here.

So eventually, common sense won out, and we decided we should just turn around and head back.  We were disappointed that we weren’t able to complete a more substantial leg of the trail, but did thoroughly enjoy the scenery of the short stretch we completed, really just enough to make me want to purchase the t-shirt below, on our next day in Gatlinburg.

We returned to our vehicle early enough that we were able to hit another one of the most popular hikes in the Smokies, the hike to Laurel Falls–but that’s another blog post…

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Clingman’s Dome and Appalachian Trail in a larger map

Clingman's Dome Elevation Profile (click through for bigger version).

Last Fall, we vacationed in Nashville, Tennessee and Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  After hitting a piece of the bourbon trail and the Makers Mark Distillery in Kentucky, the Jack Daniels Distillery in Lynchburg, and Music Row in Nashville, we were looking forward to seeing some of the wilder parts of the region and do some actual hiking and outdoorsy stuff.

We had rented an amazingly nice and reasonably priced cabin in Wears Valley just outside the National Park entrance, and after a day driving around Cades Cove, and a day in North Carolina, we planned to spend a day hiking a piece of the Appalachian Trail, but our longer hike was thwarted by snow and ice, so we ended up with a lot more time at the end of the day than we expected.  So on the way back from Clingman’s Dome and Newfound Gap, we stopped at Laurel Falls, which was listed as one of the most popular hikes in the Park, but with a roundtrip total of less than three miles, we thought it was beneath us–or at least not worth taking a whole day to schedule around.

Part of the beautiful drive between Newfound Gap and Laurel Falls.

More of the beautiful colors--it is a bit blurry because Colleen was taking the pictures through the windshield of the car as we drove.

We were there in the second week of November, and though we had missed the peak of the Fall foliage season, the leaves were still quite colorful and we really enjoyed all the drives we took through the Park.  There is a pretty clearly marked trailhead and parking area just about two miles east of the Sugarlands Visitors Center.

Well marked trailhead. We could have hiked all the way to Little Greenbrier School, but drove there later instead. (Don't mind the bears!)

The trail is equally well marked and impossible to get lost on.  There was also an interpretive guide with points of interest along the way there available at the trailhead (but seems to be strangely unavailable online).  The fall foliage was beautiful as we walked up the paved, wheelchair (with assistance) and stroller accessible path.  You fairly quickly get far enough away from the road that you don’t hear a constant road noise, but even on the off-peak mid-week day we were hiking the trail, you were rarely alone in the wilderness, as you might expect on such a short, scenic, and accessible path in the most visited Park in the National Park system.

The beginning of the paved trail to the falls.

It was nice to be in the midst of the fall foliage, rather than simply driving by it.

Close-up of the leaves.

If you look at the elevation profile below, that last half mile to the falls looks like more of a climb than it felt.  We did feel the climb a bit ourselves, but we had already done one hike that day, and I assure you, at a little less than three miles and only about 330 feet in elevation gain, anyone in a moderate state of fitness can manage it.

Sign near the beginning of the steeper stretch of the trail. Were we afraid? Hell no!

A look out onto the valley below.

A view of the falls ahead, and the lower falls, plus the bridge across the creek. You can also see how steep the drop is off to the left of the trail.

The falls themselves were very nice, but I’m certain they are much nicer earlier in the year when the water is flowing a little higher.  For a comparison, see our pictures below versus the one from the Great Smokies website.

Our picture of the upper falls.

Someone else's much more impressive picture of the falls (http://www.thegreatsmokies.net/laurel-falls/).

Looking down from the bridge to the lower falls. This picture really doesn't do it much justice.

The trail was short and sweet enough that even after driving up to the Appalachian Trail and taking our Laurel Falls hike, we still had time to stop by the Little Greenbrier School on the way back to the cabin and even hit the local bbq joint for some wings, fried okra, and fried green tomatoes to pick up some munchies to go with dinner!

Elevation profile for Laurel Canyon Falls. Click through for larger view.

View Laurel Falls, Great Smoky Mountains National Park in a larger map

On our first full day in the majestic Smokies last Fall, Jeff and I took a self-guided driving tour through the Cades Cove Historic District…after a long lazy morning sleeping in, drinking coffee, rocking and porch-sittin’ on the deck of our beautiful Smokies cabin.  Cades Cove is the single most visited location in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Yeah…usually the very type of spot we try to avoid on vacations, however I am a big time history buff. So, we decided to suck it up and venture out to the cove for a beautiful sunny afternoon.

The lines of cars started immediately upon entry into the Cove.

Cades Cove is a serene scenic valley located in eastern Tennessee, near Townsend, in the western Appalachians. First settled by Euro-Americans in 1818, farming and logging provided the most economic opportunities for the small community until the establishment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (chartered in 1934 and dedicated in 1940) pushed the last stronghold of residents out through eminent domain in 1937.

So do the spectacular views and Fall colors.

The majority of visitors choose to see Cades Cove via an 11-mile long one way driving loop through the community, although some people choose to take it in on foot or bicycle. In fact, between early May through late September of each year, only bicyclists and pedestrians are allowed on the road from sunrise until 10:00am. The park suggests two to four hours to complete the tour — leaning towards the latter on weekends and during the peak summer and fall seasons.

The John Oliver Place, early 1820s. John and his wife were among the first Euro-Americans to settle in Cades Cove, arriving in 1818.

The Cades Cove Primitive Baptist Church, built 1887 after a split among Tennessee Baptist churches in the 1830s and 1840s.

Inside the Primitive Baptist Church.

Be sure to wander around the cemetery located next to the church.

The Cades Cove Methodist Church building was built in 1902, despite the congregation being established in the 1820s.

A service or Bible study was going on during our visit.

Like the Baptist church, the Methodist church has an adjoining cemetery.

Did I mention lines of cars, and lots of tourists?

And more spectacular scenery and Fall colors!

The Elijah Oliver House, built by the son of John Oliver.

A visitor center is located at the half-way point of the scenic loop, and is definitely worth checking out.  For one thing, it offers the only restrooms and food in the historic district.  But, aside from those necessities it houses a very well maintained and managed historic interpretive and reenactment community of buildings — all relocated here by the park — and volunteers.  The gift shop is stocked with some really cool locally produced goods and foods, as well as books chronicling the cultural, culinary and artisan history of the area.  And during the fall months, you can watch historical interpreters make and sell traditional sorghum molasses.

Sorghum molasses making near the visitor center at Cades Cove.

The Gregg-Cable House, located on the visitor center grounds, built 1879.

A look inside the old smoke house at the visitor center.

The Cable Mill Barn near the visitor center.

The John P. Cable Grist Mill, at the visitor center, built in 1868.

A closer look at the overshot wheel at the Cable Mill.

The mill is operated April-October by the The Smoky Mountains Natural History Association.

The mill flume diverted water from a nearby stream to power the Cable Mill.

A look at some old style farming equipment.

Again...did I mention the crowds of cars on the tour?

We saw quite a few deer in the cove throughout the day.

By this point, we no longer stopped at each building. Instead, Jeff would slow down for me to snap a photo out the car window.

A final look at the natural beauty of Cades Cove.

We enjoyed a spectacular sunset-lit drive back to Wears Valley!

Even if you aren’t as much of a history nerd as I am, you definitely must stop by Cades Cove on any first time visit to the national park. The scenery is spectacular, but more importantly, the cove represents the long drawn out contentious battle between the National Park Service and the type of hearty proud Appalachian folk who fought against being driven from lands they cultivated and called home for generations.

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Exploring the Smokey Mountains in a larger map

Last autumn, Jeff and I took what had previously been a long-time dream vacation for both of us — a trip to the Smokey Mountains and Appalachia.  Next to our Banff honeymoon (because it was, after all, our honeymoon), this trip has to rank as my very favorite vacation.  I have been fascinated with Appalachia since first studying about it as a child, and I remain drawn to its topography, history, people, music and way of life.  This romantic trip out to the Smokies exceeded both of our expectations, and didn’t break the bank for us.  We both agree that if there weren’t a million other places we would still like to visit, we would gladly return to the Smokies — and this particular cabin — every year.

After a good friend of ours, who had recently moved to Nashville, talked us into flying out to stay with her for a few days, I immediately started researching lodging options near Great Smoky Mountains National Park on the eastern side of Tennessee.  Jeff and I both had our hearts set on finding a peaceful private romantic cozy cabin set in the heart of Appalachia.

We struck gold when I repeatedly came across internet listings for Great Cabins in the Smokies (excellent SEO on their part!).  I instantly fell in love with all of their 1 bedroom listings, and poured through their customer reviews, so I took advantage of their handy dandy online chat service to “talk” with a reservation specialist to help me pick the right cabin.  The helpful agent (Jamie) assured me that Alone Time would be the ideal cabin for our stay — it is located in slower more peaceful Wears Valley, is their closest property to the national park, and offers the most privacy.  And when I mentioned that other nearby rental companies were listing Fall/November specials (Great Cabins wasn’t yet, in early September), Jamie gave me one night free.  We could not believe such a great deal for 5 nights during Fall foliage season!

Incredible Views

Quaint, friendly, beautiful Wears Valley, Tennessee -- nestled at the base of the Smoky Mountains.

Wears Valley, near historic Cades Cove, touts itself as the quietest less touristy of the Tennessee Smoky towns. And it did not disappoint.

The country road, Lyon Springs Road, leading up to our cabin, from "downtown" Wears Valley.

The Alone Time Cabin, as well as the rental offices for Great Cabins in the Smokies, is located in picturesque unincorporated Wears Valley.  Since we were driving in from Nashville, we spent the day exploring scenic Highway 40 (saving the southern route through Chattannooga for our return trip).  We arrived in Wears Valley, and the rental office to check-in, just in time to see the reflection of the setting sun turn the entire Appalachian foothills bright orange.

Our cabin is accessible from “downtown” Wears Valley (which shuts down by 5pm) via a short drive south along Lyon Springs Road.  Tucked up in the forested foothills, we had total privacy (you had to really “try” to see the closest neighbors from the back porch).  And we were surrounded by gorgeous changing leaves and visiting wildlife, including a bear.

The cabin’s proximity to the national park, the scenic byway, the Appalachian Trail, and to both Gatlinburg and Chattanooga make it an excellent base camp for exploring the Smokies — including the fabulous local cuisine (you can read our culinary write-ups on our food blog).

Surrounded by breathtaking Smoky Mountains fall foliage.

Fall in the Appalachians!

Fall in the Appalachians!

The entrance to our cabin is accessed via this terrific cozy wraparound porch (note the bear-proof trash cans).

The porch wraps around to the back of the cabin, where rocking chairs, a nice big clean grill, and an awesome hot tub are located. The only thing missing?...neighbors (NOT!). Total privacy.

Hubby successfully mastered the art of porch sitting on this vacation.

The perfect way to finish off days filled with hiking and exploring.

While sitting in our hot tub to take in the sunset out final night in the cabin, this black bear wandered right underneath of our deck and out behind the cabin. Totally worth the price of admission!

Warm Cozy Interior

The cabin itself was something out of a dream — the perfect layout and decor for both of us.  The furniture and atmosphere were just so unbelievably cozy.  And the cabin was positively spotless.  The full kitchen helped us keep meal costs down, although we certainly ate our fair share of local southern cuisine, too.  And the hottub and fireplace were the perfect ways to wind down after busy busy days of hiking, driving and exploring the region.

The dining room.

Sitting nook under the stairs. Note the phone -- this is where we connected out wireless MiFi router.

The kitchen.

View of the family room and the kitchen.

View of the family room, fireplace and front door.

We looked forward, every night, to relaxing in front of the fire after a busy day of sightseeing. Here I'm making like an Appalachian woman and hand quilting with a bourbon...when in Rome.

Looking upstairs to the game room loft.

The master bedroom.

The bathroom, with full vanity.

A pretty good sized shower!

Looking down on the kitchen and dining room.

Looking down at Hubby getting our cabin paperwork squared away before lighting the fireplace.

Friendly Neighbors

And, if you're staying there on a Sunday morning, be sure to attend service at the Wears Valley First Baptist Church if you want to meet the friendliest most helpful people in all of Wears Valley.

As I mentioned before, if Jeff and I didn’t already have a long wish list of places to visit, we would vacation back here in a heartbeat every year. There is just so much to explore within a day’s drive — including beautiful changing seasons. And having recently received a 20% off coupon from Great Cabins on the anniversary of our vacation, a return trip became all the more tempting again this autumn.  Our only regret this trip was not planning enough extra days to simply sit at home in the cabin, on that terrific wraparound porch, and just soak in the peaceful quiet.

We highly highly recommend Smokey Mountains National Park and Great Cabins in the Smokies as an option for your next family vacation, or your next romantic escape! And we particularly recommend the immaculate Alone Time cabin for couples, or couples with small children (we would need to rent a full 2-bedroom unit if we were traveling with our teenagers).

You can see a few of our other posts of activities/hikes in the area at this link here…

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