Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

South Fork Trail

The easygoing descent of the South Fork Trail doesn’t take much effort. You simply put one foot in front of the other and let gravity do the rest. The well-graded trail descends (or ascends if you’d rather get more exercise and reverse the directions given here) some 2000 feet in elevation, in between Angeles Crest Highway and the South Fork Campground near the town of Pearblossom in the Mojave Desert.

Narrow, but seldom steep, the trail follows a natural, swaying contour as it curves around more than a dozen ravines indenting a steep canyon wall. South Fork creek (a tributary of Big Rock Creek) murmurs far below, accompanied by the doleful trills of canyon wrens.

The one-way version of the hike is not difficult, but it does involve a car shuttle or a drop-off-and-pick-up arrangement. Here are driving directions for the two trailheads:

SOUTH END: Exit Interstate 210 at Angeles Crest Highway in La Canada Flintridge. Drive 39 miles north and east to the Islip Saddle trailhead, at mile 64.1 on Angeles Crest Highway.

Sponsored
Sponsored

NORTH END: From the Antelope Valley Freeway (Highway 14) south of Palmdale, exit at Pearblossom Highway. Follow Pearblossom Highway for 14 miles to the small community of Pearblossom. At Pearblossom, turn right on Longview Road. Go south 2.5 miles and turn left (east) on Fort Tejon Road. Drive 2.1 miles to Valyermo Road and turn right (south). Continue 2.9 miles and turn right on Big Rock Creek Road. Drive 3.5 miles more and look for the dirt-road turnoff for South Fork Campground, on the right. Continue one mile into the campground itself.

The shortest way by car between the two trailheads is via Angeles Crest Highway and Big Rock Creek Road, to the east of South Fork Trail.

From the upper trailhead (Islip Saddle) follow the trail contouring to the north, not the sharply ascending Pacific Crest Trail, which climbs northwest toward Mount Williamson. Traffic noises fade quickly as you begin descending through a heterogeneous forest of Jeffrey pine, sugar pine, incense cedar, live oak, and bigcone Douglas fir. As you descend, the high-country forest thins; pinyon pine, manzanita, mountain mahogany, and blue- and white-blossoming ceanothus clothe the dry and rocky slopes.

The trail loses elevation faster than the South Fork creek, so by 4.4 miles you’ll be traversing a sheer slope only 200 feet above the stream. A couple of short switchbacks at 4.9 miles take you down to meet the alder- and sycamore-shaded creek. Cross over to the other side and continue walking through South Fork Campground until you reach the trailhead parking area just below (north of) the campsites.

South Fork Campground is one of Angeles National Forest’s more pleasant and secluded drive-in campgrounds. During April and May, flannel bush, or fremontia, blooms on the broad, alluvial terraces along the creek, opposite and downstream from the campground. Considered one of the showiest of California native plants, the fremontias here stand up to 15 feet high and bear thousands of large, waxy, yellow flowers.

If you have time for further exploration, climb southeast from the campground on the Manzanita Trail about a half mile to some beautiful sandstone outcrops. Or, head northwest on the Punchbowl Trail to the Devils Chair viewpoint, which overlooks a vast landscape of tilted sandstone slabs thrust upward and sideways by millions of years of seismic activity.

This article contains information about a publicly owned recreation or wilderness area. Trails and pathways are not necessarily marked. Conditions can change rapidly. Hikers should be properly equipped and have safety and navigational skills. The Reader and Jerry Schad assume no responsibility for any adverse experience.

South Fork Trail
Hike one-way from the Angeles Crest to the edge of the Mojave Desert.
Distance from downtown San Diego: 160 miles
Hiking length: 5.2 miles
Difficulty: Moderate

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Pacific Beach – car thief's paradise

Take photos of your automobile and license plate

The easygoing descent of the South Fork Trail doesn’t take much effort. You simply put one foot in front of the other and let gravity do the rest. The well-graded trail descends (or ascends if you’d rather get more exercise and reverse the directions given here) some 2000 feet in elevation, in between Angeles Crest Highway and the South Fork Campground near the town of Pearblossom in the Mojave Desert.

Narrow, but seldom steep, the trail follows a natural, swaying contour as it curves around more than a dozen ravines indenting a steep canyon wall. South Fork creek (a tributary of Big Rock Creek) murmurs far below, accompanied by the doleful trills of canyon wrens.

The one-way version of the hike is not difficult, but it does involve a car shuttle or a drop-off-and-pick-up arrangement. Here are driving directions for the two trailheads:

SOUTH END: Exit Interstate 210 at Angeles Crest Highway in La Canada Flintridge. Drive 39 miles north and east to the Islip Saddle trailhead, at mile 64.1 on Angeles Crest Highway.

Sponsored
Sponsored

NORTH END: From the Antelope Valley Freeway (Highway 14) south of Palmdale, exit at Pearblossom Highway. Follow Pearblossom Highway for 14 miles to the small community of Pearblossom. At Pearblossom, turn right on Longview Road. Go south 2.5 miles and turn left (east) on Fort Tejon Road. Drive 2.1 miles to Valyermo Road and turn right (south). Continue 2.9 miles and turn right on Big Rock Creek Road. Drive 3.5 miles more and look for the dirt-road turnoff for South Fork Campground, on the right. Continue one mile into the campground itself.

The shortest way by car between the two trailheads is via Angeles Crest Highway and Big Rock Creek Road, to the east of South Fork Trail.

From the upper trailhead (Islip Saddle) follow the trail contouring to the north, not the sharply ascending Pacific Crest Trail, which climbs northwest toward Mount Williamson. Traffic noises fade quickly as you begin descending through a heterogeneous forest of Jeffrey pine, sugar pine, incense cedar, live oak, and bigcone Douglas fir. As you descend, the high-country forest thins; pinyon pine, manzanita, mountain mahogany, and blue- and white-blossoming ceanothus clothe the dry and rocky slopes.

The trail loses elevation faster than the South Fork creek, so by 4.4 miles you’ll be traversing a sheer slope only 200 feet above the stream. A couple of short switchbacks at 4.9 miles take you down to meet the alder- and sycamore-shaded creek. Cross over to the other side and continue walking through South Fork Campground until you reach the trailhead parking area just below (north of) the campsites.

South Fork Campground is one of Angeles National Forest’s more pleasant and secluded drive-in campgrounds. During April and May, flannel bush, or fremontia, blooms on the broad, alluvial terraces along the creek, opposite and downstream from the campground. Considered one of the showiest of California native plants, the fremontias here stand up to 15 feet high and bear thousands of large, waxy, yellow flowers.

If you have time for further exploration, climb southeast from the campground on the Manzanita Trail about a half mile to some beautiful sandstone outcrops. Or, head northwest on the Punchbowl Trail to the Devils Chair viewpoint, which overlooks a vast landscape of tilted sandstone slabs thrust upward and sideways by millions of years of seismic activity.

This article contains information about a publicly owned recreation or wilderness area. Trails and pathways are not necessarily marked. Conditions can change rapidly. Hikers should be properly equipped and have safety and navigational skills. The Reader and Jerry Schad assume no responsibility for any adverse experience.

South Fork Trail
Hike one-way from the Angeles Crest to the edge of the Mojave Desert.
Distance from downtown San Diego: 160 miles
Hiking length: 5.2 miles
Difficulty: Moderate

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Not enough Readers in Mission Beach

Mayor Todd Gloria's skin color
Next Article

Yo-Yo Ma, Wagner, and Tchaikovsky come to San Diego

Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.