San Gabriel Mountain Adventures - Fish Canyon Falls
Fish Canyon Falls!
So we drove out the 210 freeway to Irwindale, CA. We drove north through Irwindale to the small town of Duarte right there at the foot of the mountains. We found the Fish Canyon trailhead right next to the Encanto equestrian center near the mouth of Fish canyon. Unfortunately for us the mining company, Vulcan materials, who are mining at the actual mouth of the Canyon had blocked off the old original trail that went directly up the canyon bottom and had diverted the trail to climb WAY up and over Van Tassel ridge before dropping back down into the canyon. It made the hike quite a bit harder, but the views from the ridge were actually pretty darn nice.
Sign at the Fish Canyon trailhead
Climbing up and over the ridge
Blooming Lupin and Black Sage
Overlooking Fish Canyon from Van Tassel ridge
From the ridge we dropped WAY back down into the lush green canyon bottom. We found a bunch of old ruins from the people that used to live up there back in the early 20th century. We kept hiking up the canyon. It was really quite beautiful... the stream, the cliffs, the wildflowers, little waterfalls and pools here and there, and the lush greenery contrasted with cacti and chapparal. Then all of a sudden we came around a hard bend in the canyon and there it was... Fish Canyon Falls!
Poison Oak along the trail... remember 'leaves of 3 let it be'
Bull Thistle flower
Virgins Bower aka the "Fluff balls"
A sign with some history of the canyon
More history...
One more sign about the history
A staircase hiding in the lush greenery
Prickly Pear cacti flower
We made it to the falls!
Fish canyon falls is a beautiful 5 tier 100+ foot tall waterfall!! (Ignore the reports of it being 4 tiers and 80ft... I've been to the top and there is a 5th tier that you cannot see from the bottom of the falls.) We hung out by the falls all day, enjoying the beauty, swimming in the pools, and jumping off the rocks into the water! ...Eventually the time came and we had to make the hike out. It was so nice and peaceful there by the falls it was hard to leave. But we had to go. We headed back down the canyon passed all the old ruins. Climbed back up and over Van Tassel ridge and back down to the trailhead by the equestrian center. Putting an end to yet another spectacular adventure!
Fish Canyon Falls
Fish Canyon Falls
A sign about some of the interesting flora in Fish Canyon
California Monkeyflowers along the trail
Enjoying the views on the hike back over Van Tassel ridge
And it ends like it started, with sunflowers and views over the city.
Thanks for reading!! 
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@adambarratt and
Beautiful images - my favorites are the Fish Canyon view from Van Tassel ridge and the waterfalls.
The staircase was a nice find, I'm sure many would not have spotted it at all. Good eye for detail!
Awesome hike... love the waterfall... hate the poison oak... that shit will make a hike miserable
This canyon is FULL of poison oak. If I get it it's usually pretty mild, but I took another friend (Ray from the helicopter rescue post) here way back in the day and he got the rash so bad he went to the hospital for it!! I really just think he had no self control and just itched it to where it spread all over. But I know some people can get it way worse than others.
I get it bad...add that I have zero self control against scratching it and it's a disaster for me
I'm lucky to be the opposite. I don't get it very bad so I'm able to keep from scratching and spreading it.
And what's even worse than poison oak is the Poodledog brush. That stuff looks kinda like weed, smells like some funky skunk, but will ruin your day! There was a story of a PCT hiker in our area here who tried to smoke it and had to go to the hospital because of being poisoned.
How many miles is it to the falls? does the trail go any further beyond the falls? You need to take me there sometime it really looks beautiful and the falls looked pretty awesome.
Also you'll have to show me that Poodledog brush sometime I'm not fimiliar with it.
It's around 3.5 miles to the falls. The trail ends there at the falls. It's a mile shorter (and a LOT less elevation gain and loss) if you can get access through the quarry. Poodledog brush mostly grows in areas that have burned. It'll give you a horrible rash. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eriodictyon_parryi
awesome hike! I love how u can spot all the flowers and plants, I never able to know what is what. the waterfall look refreshing.
Thank you! I'm all about learning all the different plants. I started by learning about the trees, then I got some books about wild edibles and that expanded my knowledge a lot. And from then on whenever I see an interesting plant I don't know I'll take a picture of it and look it up. Here in my area it seems like I know almost every plant when I go on a hike now days. I'm sure there are still plenty bushes and flowers out there that I don't know. And I'm still pretty weak on knowing the mushrooms, but I'm working on that. And get out of the western USA and I don't know much at all. lol. The waterfall was so awesome!! One of my favorites for sure.
Did the staircase go anywhere or are you adding in a little david paulides in there?
It went to a cement foundation and some old stone walls, from back when there used to be cabins up there. Would've been an awesome place to live.
I just remembered what your talking about here! The random staircases in the wilderness. I had forgotten about that.
In such a dry place you wonder where that water comes from. I know, just pointing out the wonders of mountains.
Did you bring your hand held suction dredge 😉?
Ha! I wish. I still need to make myself one of those. Been meaning to for awhile now, just haven't got to it yet. Vulcan materials gets tons of gold from mining at the mouth of the canyon. They claim it's just a byproduct and that they are mining for other materials, but with the large amounts of gold I've heard about them getting I'm sure it's more than just a byproduct.
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Lovely views from the top, awesome waterfalls to explore and lovely mixed flora share thanks for taking us on the hike @derekrichardson
It's really my pleasure. The hike, taking photos, writing it all up, getting to share it with other people... I enjoy it ALL!
Fantastic as usual!
Thanks dude. I really need to do some sampling in this canyon. There is lots of good bedrock to check. And this is literally 1 canyon west of the SanGabriel river. And Vulcan materials gets a bunch of gold from their operations there.
The falls look so good as does the whole area in general, really nice photos.
It is a really beautiful canyon that's for sure! I'm glad you liked my photos. Stay tuned for more mountain adventures to come!