Fish Canyon

Duarte front country

Locate the trailhead.

I went up Fish Canyon again today. The quarry guys were telling us to finish by 2 or 2:20 today instead of 3 like usual. I was sort of counting on that usual time out to have enough time to dally here and there. I went up the trail fast enough to feel the up even though it is a very mild trail. (Then again, I am rather out of shape these days.) I came upon a tributary I was suspicious was the one I'd heard the waterfall up before. I listened closely, but couldn't hear it today because everything else below it was so loud. I followed the faint trail up it anyway and found the delightful little waterfall. It turns out that if you go even closer to it than I had before when I was in a hurry to get down, it's even more delightful. The water comes down into a bit of rock that looks like a square has been cut from it.

My sketch of the waterfall along the way to the big falls. This one comes down one very flat side and has another flat side square to the falls to make a little box.

I came down again and found that the stream crossing was very shortly after my stop. There, some city trail workers were putting in some stones to cross the water that was a little wider than before. A plank from the previous "bridge" was a short distance down the stream. The falls are not very far after the crossing. I've already drawn part of them, but I did decide to do a sketch there too. This was of a log wedged into rocks and placed perfectly to sit upon and watch the water pour over the rocks and surge out from the landing although no one was taking advantage of it.

The pool below the main falls coming into Fish canyon. The water pours in with great speed and then washes out in surging waves. A log on this side of the pool serves as a great seat to witness the raw power of the water.

After I finished, I had about half an hour to get back down. I didn't quite make it by 2, but certainly by 2:20. I saw one more bit that might have made a fun sketch had I had another half hour, and they didn't seem as rushed as they implied they would be when I got down, so now I don't know if I should have believed them. I did stop to look at a concrete thing apparently meant to help measure the water flow which also happened to be where the fishermen of the day had got to. They were at least seeing fish they wanted to go after. The guys from the quarry said that last week there was a Fish and Game guy up there taking genetic samples from the various fish, which are quite small but numerous.




©2010 Valerie Norton
Posted 5 February 2010