This 20 mile hike begins at the Black Star Canyon Trailhead and ends at the Maple Springs Trailhead. We used the car shuttle system to complete this hike, meeting at the Maple Springs Trailhead, leaving a car there and carpooling to the beginning of the hike.
This is a great hike with lots of points of interest: A coal mine, school bus, historic Indian site, Beeks place, doppler radar, Pleasants Peak and amazing views are things that you will experience along the way.
The hike begins at the parking lot just past the large steel gates.This is Black Star Canyon Rd. The first 2 miles are on a wide level fire road. Along the way you will see a closed off coal mine on the right and shortly after an old abandoned tractor and an old school bus in the creek are visible on the left.
New Bridge on Black Star Cyn Rd
School bus in the creek
A little past the the 2 mile mark you will see a house to your right, this is Black Star Bills house. If you see him say hi and keep on walking. When you reach the large concrete cylinders make a left and continue up the road. Making a right and dropping into the creek will take you to Black Star Waterfall
The next 3 miles are a gradual climb consisting of a few switchbacks and several hundred feet of elevation gain. (aprox 800ft) for the most part this section of the trail is exposed with very little shade and hardly and trees but around the 5 mile mark you will notice a bunch of Oak Trees on the right. This is the site of the Historic Indian village. This is a wonderful place for a break and an even better place to do some exploring. There’s a large amount of grinding rocks here which indicates that there was a large group of Indians that called this place home. There is a great lookout point located in the southwest section of the site.
Entering the Historic Indian Site
Grinding Rocks
Historic Indian Site
After a quick break and a small snack we continued on to the next of many points of interest on this hike. Next up, Beeks place, which is at the 8 mile mark. Beeks place sits on the Main Divide Rd and offers amazing views of Orange County, The San Gabriel Mountains and IE.
Entering the Cleveland National Forest
Beeks Place
We continued right, passing Beeks place and headed to our next destination, The Doppler Radar which is just over 1 mile from Beeks place.
Break time at the Doppler
On our way to Pleasants Peak we stopped at Little Pleasants Peak to check out the views
view from Little Pleasants Peak
Our next stop was Pleasants Peak (4,007 ft) This peak is much like the Santiago Peak but on a smaller scale of course. 360 views are not possible because of the many communication towers that call this place home but a quick scramble up the ridge provide awesome views!
My beautiful wife an I before leaving Pleasants Peak
Leaving Pleasants Peak
From here we still had 8 miles to go! We thought it would be all down hill from here but we were mistaken. The rest of this trek on the Main Divide consisted of rolling hills once we reached the 17 mile mark we reached the junction with Main Divide and Silverado Truck Trail. We took the Silverado Trail (straight ahead) for the remaining 3 miles to the car. Making a left will take you to Bedford Peak.
On our way down the Silverado Trail we had amazing views of Santiago Peak as the clouds rolled in.
Santiago Peak from Silverado Trail
Happy Trails,
Alex G
RECAP:
- ****STAY ON WIDE FIRE ROAD THE FIRST 17 MILES****
- First 8 miles are on Black Star Canyon Rd
- Make a right at Main Divide towards Beeks Place and continue for 9 miles
- At 17 mile mark go straight past the brown rails and take Silverado Trail for 3 miles to Maple Springs.
- Once on Silverado Canyon Rd make a right towards the Maple Springs parking lot
- 20 MILES
- 3,400 FT ELEV. GAIN
- HISTORIC INDIAN SITE
- DOPPLER RADAR
- PLEASANTS PEAK(4,007FT)
- 8 -10 HOURS TO COMPLETE
- >>>>NO SHADE<<<<<
- CAR SHUTTLE
CLICK HERE FOR MAP OF HIKE
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