Black Star Canyon is Beautiful!

On our second day of no rain last week, 2/8/19 (all other 5 days, we got rain), I headed back to Black Star Canyon. After having turned back because of the heat during the summer, I vowed to return in the wintertime.  

Wintertime is here, and Black Star Canyon did not disappoint. My goal was to hike up Black Star Canyon Road to Beek's Place. Having researched it some on the internet, I figured the trip would be about 15 miles long. I had just enough time to fit that hike in. I was hoping for a total time of 5 hours. That did not happen. Of course that did not happen because I always get side-tracked on little detours. 

First detour: 

A trip down to the top of Black Star Falls. After some miles zig-zagging up Black Star Canyon Road I began to hear a roar -- a roar, even listening to music on my ipod (which I don't usually listen to very loudly). My first thought, though I really couldn't believe it, was that the roar was coming from Black Star Falls. But I had been marching for much too long, surely, I had long passed the falls. The roar intrigued me, but was presumably the first opportunity to make it down there seemed too time-consuming, and I wasn't positive it was a good route anyway. So, I headed back up to the road. 

And then Black Star Canyon road meandered away, zig-zagging again up the mountain. A bit later, I heard that fierce roar again. That's when I realized that I was standing atop a thin single track that headed down from Black Star Canyon Road, off toward the roar, off toward two giant boulders in the not so far distance.  

The first trail I took off of this track took me just to the left of the right boulder in the picture above. As I approached, it became evident to me that I was indeed above the falls, the sound was just so fierce. But just when I thought that I was getting closer, my trail ended at a cliff, an abrupt clift, too scary to even consider approaching. In fact, I backed off immdediately and headed off to another single track that I had spotted on the way down. 

Friends, I found the creek. And it was rushing hard and loud. I was surrounded by boulders, and slippery footings. So, I took a seat on top of a nice solid boulder. I could not see to the bottom of the falls, and I have no idea if there were hikers below. They could have been yelling and I would not have heard them because the water was so loud. I'm not even sure how close I was to the falls. I didn't want to chance venturing closer. I felt this was a time for extreme caution. And besides, the spot that I had found to take it all in was really just spectacular.  

Second detour:

After the falls, I found another enchanting single track off of Black Star Canyon Road (there were actually many different distractions, but I had refrained mostly). This second detour took me through a meadow out onto groups of boulders that led to the edge of the valley.

After that second detour, I began heading down into an immense green valley. The road followed Black Star Creek for quite some time, crossing back and forth over it here and again. Finally, the road headed away from the main creek, but not too far afterward, I came upon another creek that undoubtedly met up with Black Star Creek. There were actually little creeks all over, our rains have been near constant. 

At about 9 miles traversed, I arrive to the ruins of Beek's Place on The Main Divide. I spent some time going through the ruins. There were two buildings, both just one room with fireplaces and plenty of windows. There view was spectacular -- white capped San Gorgonio Mountains and The San Gabriels covered in snow. After a little detour on top (detour #3) to get a better view of The San Gabriels, I finally decide to head back. I was way behind in schedule. But that was okay -- it was Friday, my day off.

Black Star Canyon to Beek's Place, Cccccold in the morning, approx. 37,000 steps (supposidly) 17.17 miles, 2,684' elevation gain. It was gorgeous out there. Black Star Canyon is beautiful! Green, green, green.