Return To Stone Creek

I just recently hiked Stone Creek, but I missed the trail and followed the dirt road a little way up. Today we wanted to try and get at least one last adventure in before the weather turned, as well as get Roxy out again so we decided this was the trail to do.

From the parking lot. Gross! We haven't even hit winter yet and have a blanket of smog. oi.

Some pretty color already.

Yea totally taking the trail this time, which actually appears to be an old 4 wheel trail. It is pretty easy to overlook, but it is right about where the pavement ends. If you want something a little easier, you can keep following the road a little higher up. There are quite a few side trails back down to the trail if you change your mind as well.

Some wildflowers.

The creek, surrounded by leaves.

Old pipe with a bunch of bullet holes.

Pretty trees and mountain sides.

I am starting to get why this is called Stone Creek. Lots and lots of boulders to climb over and around.

Roxy needed some assistance over that slick rock.

Some nice color and the creek.

Lone pine.

Got passed by a random cowboy on a horse, which Roxy promptly decided to follow. I don’t know what her plan was if she ever did catch up to it!

Another boulder.

Some cliffs above, below it there was a dam that I didn’t get a shot of. I think that is where the dirt road ends.

Boom color!

First creek crossing. I lost track of how many times we had to cross.

Giant rock outcropping. Kind of looks like a face from this angle.

Nice and scraggly! Some of those outcroppings are hanging pretty precariously.. someone should knock em over for safety! No seriously, screw those guys. I honestly believe they did it for the sake of knocking over a boulder over the safety of other people. Why film it and act like jerks if that was not the case? (If you can’t tell this is a small rant about the idiots that knocked over one of the boulders in Hobbit Land). If you are concerned about something, talk to a forest ranger. Super easy.

A couple shots of the creek. Fall is really just about over.

Strange red band in the creek. I couldn’t tell if this was a plant, or some human caused garbage.

I picked up a couple hitchhikers. The trail was getting pretty thin, and it is starting to get dark.

Landis and Roxy decide the best way across the creek.

Leaf littered ground.

Speckled leaves.

Starting to reach the sunlight again. This particular canyon is pretty deep, and turns so in the waning sunlight of fall, it is pretty shaded once you pass a certain point.

I love sun lit forests in fall.

Illuminated seed pods.

More forest.

Back down to were the cliffs and the little dam are there are some climbers on the cliff face.

The little dam.

Some wonderful yellows.

This part of the trail was a little tougher.

Nice little cascade here though.

More seed pods.

Some more lovely colors.

Hillside.

The smog layer again. Just, yuck.

And a view back up the canyon we just came out of.

Old spillway. It seems this may have been a reservoir at one point but that is no longer the case.

This trail is thin, wild, and rugged. I LOVE these types of trails that are obviously not used as much by others. We ran into a couple people before the dam, but after that not a single soul it wasn’t too steep and had quite a few things to see and explore. I kind of wish I had explored this canyon earlier in the season as losing light for most of the hike wasn’t particularly happy. Obviously I will need to return in the summer.

Final rating 9 out of 10 Squirrels.

As for difficulty. hrm. I guess I will go with a DR3 there were a few rough spots, but none that were too terrible, actually, I have to bump that up to DR4. This is not a well maintained trail and required multiple creek crossings.

Parrish Canyon

This is a teensy tiny little trail I found while looking for another trail, and trying to hunt down some fall color. There was some color, but that is not what made this trail special.

 

Some nice orange leaves.

A nice green tunnel.

The trail quickly leads to a bridge.

View down the canyon from the bridge.

There is a thin trail near the bridge with this little sign. Blink and you’ll probably miss it.

  

 

Not too far up you reach a nice little twin waterfall.

This canyon is pretty narrow so the trail is as well.

Little cave.

 

Little creek.

Little bit o color.

Sunken leaves.

View up the canyon. Not quite as much color as I was hoping for but it is still pretty.

Some pretty purple flowers.

I like the boulders, rounded out rocks, and gnarled roots in this little alcove.

Some color and water. I was pushing on a little further even though we were running out of time in hopes of finding another waterfall. I noticed a sign just a little further and decided that would be our turn around point for the day.

Another cool little alcove.

Awww, a little snake!

And here is the sign. What what what? Native American rock art??? Seriously? Here? In Centerville? Pictographs? No way.

Yep. In Centerville of all places. I have lived here for almost 10 years and had no idea this is here, and I am constantly exploring the local trails. Here is the entire panel.

 

 

 

A couple of my favorite shots.

 

Looking back at the entire panel again. You know, honestly I probably would not have noticed these if it weren’t for the sign. Just another reminder to keep your eyes open or who knows what you might miss!

I am going to take a moment to reiterate what the signs says. If you come here, take pictures, take tons of pictures, but do not touch them. Do not trace them, stencil, or attempt to do rubbings. This is history people. The longer we can protect them the more people will get to learn from them, be inspired and awed by them. Do your part to preserve them for future generations.

*steps off soap box*

 

Well that got me all excited again! So we started looking around for any other interesting things that might be up here. While I was wandering around at the creek, Landis thought he spotted a waterfall up ahead, so we decided to push up a little further.

Lone leaf.

 

The creek again. Nope, no waterfall, and the canyon curved around. I would really like to explore further up, but we needed to get going.

A look up the side of the canyon.

 

A look back down. Some color.

 

More purple flowers.

some more color.

And back to the tree tunnel.

Dead dragonflies.

Nice view of the valley below. That was a fun little adventure. I am definitely going to have to visit here again.

I almost didn’t want to post this particular adventure because doing a few searches I can find no information on this amazing little find today. The less people that know about it, the longer it will stay protected. Luckily the trail is kind of hard to find, and is just difficult and boring enough that I don’t think a lot of people know about it, or are willing to explore it far enough.

It is a rough and thin trail, hard to find at times, but there were not a lot of people, and particularly due to the wonderful, and completely unexpected end prize this random trail gets a perfect 10 from me.

As for difficulty, its a very thin hardly used trail with some steep parts and some boulder scrambling so even though it is short I am going to give it a DR4.