Car Camping, 4/3/15

[63ChevyII]

My wife and I are thinking about car camping Friday night. I'd prefer the campsite being near a place I can hike early Saturday morning and possibly get some nice sunrise shots. After breakfast, we'd hopefully be able to go on a nice family hike.

Any suggestions regarding where we should camp? I'm hoping to find something within 60-90 minutes of the Riverside area. Does anyone know if the road to the fire tower on Black Mountain is open? What about the road to Aspen Grove TH (We'd stay at Heartbar)?

This will be my son's 2nd camping trip. He are some pics from his first trip:

Hiking with Kids: Car Camping and Hiking in Joshua Tree, May 24 2014

[Hikin_Jim]

Black Mountain is open but is said to be rough. 4WD recommended last I heard.

Don't know about the road to Aspen Grove and upper Fish Creek, but you can hike on the Santa Ana River Trail from Heart Bar. You can also hike up to the Aspen Grove trail head and head up Fish Creek.

HJ

[zippetydude]

If you're staying at Heart Bar and you'd like sunrise pics, I'd recommend Onyx Summit. I recently explored the area, and the view to the east is amazing. You can probably drive all the way to the summit since there's so little snow, but the PCT crosses through the area and you can explore that if you're in the mood for a hike. Another option if you can get to it would be Coon Creek Jump Off. That has some great views from the jump off, and if you take the PCT south from there you will also find some very nice views from the ridge line. This one would offer the better choice of hiking, whereas Onyx Summit would offer spectacular sunrise pics.

As far as the little one, you could walk up the South Fork trail to Horse Meadows (it's outside the Wilderness so you won't need a permit). That would offer some nice photo opps, and if you turn left and go past the cabins, you will find a large meadow off to the east, beyond a stand of trees, which is pretty and not well known. At the far side of this meadow there is a stream that flows year round - I think it's a diversion of the South Fork of the Santa Ana River. In any case, the low flow and pretty surroundings might make it a place that a little fella would love, since kids always love water.

Post pics wherever you end up going!

z

[Hikin_Jim]

you could walk up the South Fork trail to Horse Meadows, and if you turn left and go past the cabins, you will find a large meadow off to the east, beyond a stand of trees, which is pretty and not well known. At the far side of this meadow there is a stream that flows year round - I think it's a diversion of the South Fork of the Santa Ana River.

Zip,

That's Frog Creek. The creek bed is natural, but you are entirely correct, water from the S Fork is diverted into the creek via Jenks flume. It's an interesting walk to find where the flume leaves the S Fork and follow the flume down to Jenks Lake. The section you saw, Frog Creek, is pretty rough. I climbed the major ridge to the east and walked the ridge top down to Jenks Lake road.

HJ

[63ChevyII]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I went to ReserveAmerica for Heart Bar - Status: Closed through Thu May 14 2015.

[Hikin_Jim]

Is S Fork CG open? That's a nice one and it has a "tents only" section (if you are so inclined). The Lost Creek Trail takes off from right there, and the Santa Ana River Trail passes through. If you haven't ever done the Lost Creek Trail, it's a really nice trail, and more than likely you'll have it to yourself. Some sections are a little exposed, so best done early if it's going to be hot or avoided altogether if really hot.

If S Fork isn't open, you can always do E Flats. There's a "secret" route that you can use if you don't mind a bit of XC to get to the Lost Creek Trail from there. You can also get to the Poop Out Hill road.

HJ

[zippetydude]

Odd with this dry year that they haven't adjusted the opening date. Perhaps they have and just haven't updated the site yet. Either way, I'm pretty sure East Flat is open, and since it's free that's a bonus. It's real close to SF, so you could hike there with the Frog Creek option. If the banks of the ravine leading down to the creek are kinda steep, wander along the edge a little bit and you'll find a place where there is a path going down to the water.

As far as pics, if you're thinking about a pretty sunrise from a little known vantage point, I'd still recommend Onyx Summit.

z

[Andy]

Our family tent camped at Barton Flats CG (which opened for the season on Friday) over the weekend and had a great time. It got down to the high twenties at night but our 2yo daughter whined the least out of all of us Incidentally, the host mentioned that he'd been there all winter, just hunkered down in his camper

[Hikin_Jim]

the host mentioned that he'd been there all winter, just hunkered down in his camper

Brrr

HJ

[zippetydude]

Barton Flats is great. There are big trees and nice showers and fire rings - makes for a very nice car camping experience. I can never keep track of when they open - seems like it's different every year, possibly dependent on the snow level. I would totally agree with that as a recommendation!

z