Fish Creek Camp 5-29-2020

[MikeH]

Hi all,

Spent the night at Fish Creek Camp on 5/29/2020.  We had plans for a family trip to go to the saddle, but my wife and daughter ended up not being able to go so it was just me and my son (and Mika the husky).

Once on the trail, it was obvious my son wasn’t going to make it to the saddle. Blame it on quarantine conditioning.  He huffed and puffed the 2 miles to FC Camp. Figured we’d check out the camp and if it was even remotely full, we’d just hang out for the day and then drive back home.  It was empty.  Only one other camper showed up later in the day.

Anywhooo… you want to know about the trail and camp conditions.

Road was in normal rough-ish shape.  Saw a Honda Civic at the parking lot when we came back.  I wouldn’t take my Civc on this road, but their’s obviously made it.  Must have been a rental.  🙂

Trail was in good shape with a few downed trees.  Only a couple marginally sketchy ones to get around in this stretch.

Camp was in great shape.  Quite a few places to set up a tent or two. Even though we packed out a small bag filled with trash we found on the ground, the camp was remarkably free of trash.

If you use the camp entrance trail as a marker, there is water starting about 500-600 ft NE of the entrance (see map pic below- orange arrow/ triangle is start of stream). Plenty of water to filter from (for now). Then there is water if you continue further up the trail as it crosses the stream.  I probably would not count on the lower stream to be going much longer.  The upper one was flowing much better.

Temps were in the 70’s during the day and 50 or so at night.  Bugs weren’t too bad.  Found one tick crawling on my pack when we were packing up in the morning.  Hopefully that was the only one. 😉

Here’s some pics:

Start of lower stream… stronger flow just a bit farther down.

Stream/ spring location (orange arrow/ triangle)

Nap time for my tired son and Mika…

 

 

[Hikin Jim]

Nice pics.  My daughter and I were hiking out the day you came in.  If you saw an old guy with a young daughter, that would be us.

That pic of the downed tree you posted I think was the worst of the lot from the Aspen Grove/Fish Creek junction up to Fish Creek Saddle.  That would be a nice one to have a trail crew assigned to.  🙂

And boy do I hear you on the “Covid conditioning.”  Somehow walking on the urban flat doesn’t prepare one for walking in the rough at high elevation, right?

HJ

 

[MikeH]

Ha…. small world.  We got to FC Camp at 10:00am.  Don’t remember seeing anyone else on the way up.

Agreed… that tree was the worst one we saw on this trail.  Only thing that made it marginally sketchy (besides trying to navigate through it with a dog attached to me) was the loose soil on the downhill side.  My son made it pretty much a straight shot.  I took the low road (dog went under the branches).

If you ever see a very young-looking 52 year old 😀 with a leashed husky on the trail, feel free to say hi.  I’ve used your website/ caltopo and other information many times over the years and would love to say thanks in person.

[Hikin Jim]

Oh, and my profile pic is a decade or more out of date.  We’re both quite a bit older, and I don’t pack her any more; she can walk quite well as a matter of fact.

HJ

[shawnsisler]

Question on down tree hazard. Do you have the gps coordinates or roughly know how far from Fish Camp or Fish Saddle or which switch back it is near?

It would really be helpful in determining the ability to get to it. Also wondering what the tree trunk diameter is which seems to be about 14 inches.

Thanks for all your help,
SGWA volunteer

[MikeH]

Hi Shawn,

I don’t have a GPS coordinate.  I’d be totally guessing but I’d estimate this particular tree is approx halfway between FC Trailhead and FC CAMP.

Maybe 1-1.25 miles in from the trailhead?

14″ sounds about right for the diameter.

[shawnsisler]

SGWA Patrol was able to trim branches and cleanup trail along down tree.

[MikeH]

Excellent.  Thanks Shawn (and everyone on the trail crew).

[Guru]

Was there any snow on this fish creek route to the summit? If so, would i need to carry microspikes?

[MikeH]

When I was at Fish Creek Saddle (3 miles or so past Fish Creek Camp in this post) the week or so before there was quite a bit of snow heading toward San G.  I’ve read reports of people turning around.

There was no snow on the trail from the trailhead to Fish Creek Saddle.

Check out my post about Fish Creek Saddle to get an idea of the snow around camp.

It’s been pretty dry and warm so I imagine the snow has melted quite a bit, though.

[steven]

About how long did it take by car to get to the trailhead from the main road and then hiking from the trailhead to FC campsite?

[MikeH]

Steven,

It’s about 7 miles from the main road to the Fish Creek Trailhead.  Depending on your vehicle, you’ll want to take it slow.  You probably won’t ever go over 15-20 mph or so – not including going very slow around blind corners and over larger bumps.  Took me 45 minutes the first time and about 30 minutes coming back and each time after that.

Hiking from the trailhead to Fish Creek Camp is about 2 miles or so.  Will take most people a little over an hour.

As an alternative, you can save the long(ish) ride to the Fish Creek Trailhead and stop at the Aspen Grove Trailhead which is only about 2 miles in.  This will add 2 miles (one – way) to your hike.

I’ve never hiked from there, but will probably try that way next time.

[Author]

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