This morning, my dog and I explored some of the last remaining trails in the area that we haven’t checked before, including Gatos Spur, Old County Rd, and Los Rasalies Ravine Trail.
We were hoping for the snow due to the precipitation overnight, but there was just a teeny-tiny layer of frost in some places.
Nevertheless, the area is as stunning as always! I still think that this is one of the best places to explore in the proximity of one hour from the City of San Diego.
Ended up hiking a bit over 10 miles, and it was well worth it!
Not many people, too, as we started pretty early in the morning (about 7 am), and it was Christmas Day.
Wrong sub maybe, but according to the Cleveland NF website, Black Bears do not occur here. It was a huge Grizzly Bear hotspot before 1900! My idea would be that it gets far too warm in summer, and there are not as many options for food as there are in ANF - fewer wild fruit trees, nut trees, berry bushes and carrion. Also not many permanent water sources. Additionally, the range is somewhat isolated from others with bears - the San Gabriels, and San Jacinto/further south into SD County. Thoughts?
If you want to see cool old oaks, this is the route for you! You'll also see a variety of mature riparian and chappral biomes, along with some grasslands. Did a little loop in the San Mateo wilderness yesterday and today. The San Juan/Chiquito trailhead parking lot across from the Candy Store was closed due to the 23,500-acre Airport Fire, and you can see why when looking at the last picture—hillsides got totally blasted. The road to Holy Jim is closed too of course. On the upside, the Candy Store is now making hand pies, which are delicious... and their business is awful with the closure—go give them some $$! Parked along the side of the road overnight with no problems. Before yesterday, I had only gone from the Bear Canyon trailhead down to Sitton [EDIT: Jim's right, typo! Sitton!] Peak via Four Corners, and the other direction to the "Dino Junction" with the toy dinosaur on the signpost. So this was a real treat.
Trail conditions
Water was plentiful in the creek and scarce elsewhere. Blue Water Trail was hella steep from mile 8 to 9.5, where it dropped from 2500 feet to 1100 in a mile and a half. The last half-mile was particularly steep. Trail was navigable throughout. Oat Flats trail and the 4-5 miles to/from Bear Canyon trailhead all had great tread. After Oak Flats down to the creek, and up from Tenaja Falls to "Dino Junction" were bit overgrown but definitely passable—just wear leggings or pants to protect from thorns. Probably will be a different story once the spring growing season starts. Took the easier route back up the Tenaja Falls trail which, I have to say, was much better than going back up the steep Blue Water or North Tenaja trails! I would do that again in a heartbeat and skip Blue Water.
I stayed overnight at Fisherman's Camp and surprisingly, there was one other person there. It was pretty quiet on the trail after you got past four corners. I have to say, Fisherman's Camp looked pretty tired. Maybe there are some sweet campsites hiding under all those leaves? I didn't poke around too much, but I saw obvious and better (IMHO) camping opportunities hiking up to Tenaja Falls under sweet oak trees, and along the Tenaja Falls trail when you start walking up above the canyon. Oh, and there's definitely tick activity in the area. I found one crawling on me at 4 AM, luckily hadn't latched on yet. Minimum overnight temps were probably a bit under 40 degrees—my campsite buddy said it felt colder to him, but I didn't see any frost, so wasn't freezing.
Hi all, new here. Looking to go on a one night backpacking trip with my partner. Just moved to Orange County and also a beginner to backpacking. Not looking for anything too strenuous, maybe 2-3 miles out from trailhead.
I’ve only gone on a couple of one nighters in JT. Would not call myself experienced. From what I’ve researched you can camp basically anywhere in Cleveland National Forest if I get a permit.
Looking for a spot to hike overnight tonight or soon. Avid hiker tryna hike for a good amount of time or till sunrise.
Looking for spots by oc/la possibly with parking nearby.
Any recommendations? Lmk please
Any tips lmk as well
Specifically the Trabuco Ranger District outside of San Mateo, which doesn’t allow camping because they hate recreation.
I was planning a backpacking trip and wanted to know what I was getting myself into. Obviously no open fires but a stove would be nice to have if that also doesn’t have extra fines. Really just want to make sure this isn’t jail time if I get caught and I’m having a tough time finding this info.
The trail is a bit overgrown but pretty straightforward nevertheless — just make sure to follow the creek, and you should be fine!
There are numerous recent trail reports about bugs and ticks, but we were lucky enough not to deal with any of them.
I saw some people stop at the first waterfall (see photo #9), but if you continue to follow the riverbed, you will find a few more and will eventually come to a stop at the top of the biggest of them all.
We saw a rope that is assumingly used for climbing to the top of the nearby cliffs, but it seemed pretty sketchy, if not dangerous, to me.
By the way, does anyone know the names of these falls?
