I did a little cross country travelling this past weekend up in the San Gorgonio Wilderness in Southern California. One of the routes I did was a route up high Creek from the Halfway Camp area. Here is my GPS track showing the route I took from Halfway Camp to High Creek Camp.
There was some pretty heavy brush between Halfway Camp and the drop in at High Creek.
However, once in the drainage, the brush generally wasn’t bad.
It was a nice route with plenty of water.
Of interest to me were the three water falls between the drop in point and High Creek Falls. I’ve known about High Creek Falls for a number of years (it’s visible from the Vivian Creek Trail), but I wasn’t sure what I would find below High Creek Falls. I found another three falls.
A word of warning to anyone who might be interested in ascending High Creek: Each of the falls requires a certain degree of rock climbing skill (this is not hiking). The falls generally require class three moves to surmount. See backcountry travel classes for definitions.
First falls (really more of a steep cascade):
Looking down from first falls:
Yes, you need to scale straight up the face.
Second falls:
I thought the second falls was really interesting. It had these beautiful fluted grooves worn into the rock by the water.
Looking down the second falls.
Third falls:
Looking down the third falls:
Above the third falls there were some unpleasant willow thickets, but nothing horrible.
And finally, one comes to High Creek Falls, which is just below High Creek Camp. I’ve always thought this was one of the most attractive falls in the San Gorgonio Wilderness.
A very interesting trip, but again one would be well advised to consider what rock climbing skills are involved before embarking on the journey.
Regards,
