Discover this 19.2-mile out-and-back trail near Banning, California. Generally considered a challenging route. This is a popular trail for backpacking, camping, and hiking, but you can still enjoy some solitude during quieter times of day. The best times to visit this trail are May through October. Dogs are welcome, but must be on a leash.
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Great hike. Fish Creek trail - lots of water at the creek crossing. 57 obstacles between the TH and the pass...walk around or over many, had to belly-over a few and even had to remove my backpack and belly under one & drag my pack through. Camping at the pass was lovely. Hike to summit was good. Not too many people. We had to traverse the rock/sand field just before the huge, impassable snow field right near the summit. Wasn't too bad going up for down. Always such friendly people at the top! Amazing views of San Jacinto. Bugs weren't too bad. We'll camp at other locations in the future.
Large snowfield too dangerous to cross about .5 miles from peak at the 11,100 ft elevation. Simply switch-backed up the draw before the snow to the flat area & picked the trail back up just before the peak. Lots of water in all creeks, springs & Dry Lake. Fish Creek Trailhead to Fish Creek Saddle has 57 downed-tree obstacles. Some simple step-overs, others quite challenging. Saddle to Summit is beautiful!!
The first thing people need to know about this trail is you definitely need a high clearance 4WD to get to the trailhead. The road is very rough with deep ruts and a few large boulders to navigate. The parking area is a decent size. There are no pit toilets at the trailhead The trail is a long 10 miles to the summit, but it doesn’t have a huge elevation gain or any serious inclines. Currently there are SEVERAL downed trees which you need to either climb over, go around or shimmy under! tThere are also several areas that are overgrown with picker brush and lush plants….. a couple places almost look like a jungle! Lol. The halfway point is around the official fish creek camp. There are a couple small creeks that you could filter water from …the first located about 2.5 miles from the trail head. There’s also a large area of snow located approx a half mile from the summit which is not traversable. You can get to the summit if you go to the right and scramble up to the summit. have fun. The view from the summit is worth every step!
I wanted to continue bagging peaks from this area. I backpacked in to the saddle and got an awesome campsite. Then I headed to the peaks with a summit pack. Didn’t start towards the peaks until 1 pm. If I were to do this again as a backpacking trip, I’d backpack in and rest up at the saddle and bag peaks the next morning. I ran out of time to summit Big Horn and Dragon before dark and that’s not even accounting for the snow, which had some sketchy parts across the trail. I turned around at the part that was about 100 feet of snow covering the trail with just a tiny ridge. It looked like there were options to go around the snow- either above or below- but I didn’t hit that section until 5:30/6 pm so opted to head back to the saddle. Alltrails had a different route to the peaks, but it was really hard to find and looked more difficult then to just take the Skyline Trail. Skyline is beautiful and well marked and with more time and better gear for snow my chances for summiting would have been better.
We hiked from the trailhead to Fish Creek Saddle on 5/27. The trail had a ton of fallen over logs that we had to go around, over, or under. We didn’t see substantial snow until just before Fish Creek Saddle but luckily there were some snow free patches that we set up camp on. We were planning on hiking to dry lake for water but found a small creek running just to the north of the saddle that we were able to refill water at. We hiked about mile past the saddle with poles and spikes but the snow was pretty steep for most of the way so we turned around. We had some great views of San Gorgonio from the ridge just after Lake Peak!
Would have given it 5stars except for the start. If you follow the directions link in AllTrails it takes you the wrong way. Once you hit the dirt road you will come to a fork and it sends you left for about 4 miles and tells you to park and hike 6 miles to the trailhead. I ended up backtracking and taking the right fork for about 7 miles to the trailhead. The road is fairly rocky in parts and one section about 5 miles in you have to straddle a 3 ft wide and 2 feet deep gully down the middle of the road. Needless to say you don’t want to fall into it. I would suggest a car with some clearance, bigger tires and preferably 4 wheel drive. I did this as an overnight camping at Fish Creek saddle campground which is about 5 miles in and then leaving my gear and hiking up to the peak and back. Then packing up and hiking out. Overall it’s a great way to do it, but you do need to bring all your water in with you cause there’s no convenient water source. I would suggest around 6l. The first section up to the campground is not great, you go through large burn areas, the trail could use some maintenance and there are a few blowdowns that you have to go around. By contrast the trail from the campground to the peak is fantastic! Great views, well maintained, really fun. I also saw a couple big horned sheep crossing the trail ahead of me which was a real treat. The views from the top do not disappoint, and the chipmunks are happy to come right up to you and say hi.
Took the dirt road up to the trailhead from Hwy 38 from the Big Bear side due to mud slide road closure from the south side. Need a high clearance vehicle to the trailhead parking (but that's part of fun). Car camped overnight at the parking lot (plenty of camping spaces). Started the hike at 7:30 and reached the summit at 2:00 (6.5 hrs.). Slight rain and hail at the summit. There was no one at the summit when I got there and saw only two other hiking groups on the entire trail. Used slightly less than 3 liters of water; 19.5 miles, 3800 ft elevation gain, and 11.5 hrs. total. Definitely long and challenging hike, but easiest and least used of three main trails to the summit.
It was a very gloomy day with dark clouds and thunderstorms. It made for a cool hiking day in the Summer. It felt unsafe at the summit because of all the thunder. We were soaked from the heavy rain. The trail is easy to follow. Not shaded the trees were burnt from previous fires.
Took a short walk up—just 2.7 one way to the first ridge. Beautiful flowers along the way. But hot—of course, I did t start til about 11:30am. I was surprised it took another half hour past the Aspen Grove trail parking area to get to this trailhead. But the road was fine and anything with high clearance can make it.
Beautiful trail with a gradual climb. Longer than the other two trails to Gorgonio. Carried 3 Liters of water and used 2L. On a Friday only one other party on trail and 5 different groups at Summit. Easy to follow Trail. Started at 6:30am, summited at 11:30am and returned to car at 4:30pm.
I drove down to Fish Creek trailhead Friday and set up camp for an early departure. Windy that night. I stepped out of the tent to get something out of the car and it blew away with my stuff in it. Reset it with logs to tie down to and slept like a baby until 4:30. Woke up and tore down camp. My friends arrived by 5:15 and we were of to the races. This is my favorite route and it didn't disappoint today. It was pretty windy, but a beautiful day. Another summit for the fat old guy. I'll try to do it again from one route or another a couple more times this year.
The hardest part of this trail is the distance. Also the elevation. Oh, and constant sun exposure. But really, the hardest thing was all the rocks I kept kicking! I swear I kicked every single rock on this mountain and broke each to at least twice! still absolutely loved this hike! It’s very gradual, especially compared to the other trails you could take up. The trail averages about 500ft of elevation gain per mile, which by the end of it you definitely feel, but during, you don’t have any major inclines to deal with. Getting here is a little difficult, should have added that to the hardest parts! You definitely need a vehicle with clearance, unless you hate you car and want to wreck the poor thing. A couple very small stream crossings, one before the first mile and one before the third. Wouldn’t really rely on these for water, other than maybe refilling at the end. A few snow patches to deal with, but nothing you need spikes for. Would take you longer to put them on and off than cross the snow. Just a handful of people on this trail, but lots at the summit who hiked up the other trails. If you want the summit to yourself, get an early start or try it on a weekday
The 7-8 miles of dirt bumpy road to the trail is doable in regular car but need to go slow. Once at the trail the parking lot is plenty for this remote area. We only saw campers, no hikers on 5/21. This rugged area burned in 2015. Damaged is still very prominent. No toilets at this trailhead. Many trees down but you can easily pass around. Once the trail meets South Fork trail you will run into other hikers. On the way up the Sky High trail you will enjoy amazing views. Before long you will see airplane wreckage from many years ago. Next you will start switchbacks. This is the last section before the summit. Took us a while since all of us started experiencing evation sickness. The top is just pile of rocks.
Beautiful hike, but we couldn't make it to the summit from the intersection of Fish Creek and Sky High. We started up that way but there was still a lot of snow from that point through to the switchbacks—not deep snow, but the slopes are very steep, there's basically no trail bed, and by midday the snow was super slushy with lots of melt water—too risky. It's probably passable with spikes or crampons if you start early and hit the summit approach in the morning. There are also patches of snow on Fish Creek after 9,000', but nothing walking carefully with poles can't handle. First few miles of the hike has lots of burn damage and downed trees to scramble over. The road in definitely needs high clearance. Still very worth the trip.
Did this hike on Saturday, November 6, 2021. i knew it would be an all day sucker as I had done this route 14 years ago at age 50 but at 64 I found it one heck of a long 23 miles (according to Strava). Beautiful hike, almost no people doing this route even on a Saturday. there were some semi icy sections on the north facing switchbacks just above the saddle but doable w no microspikes. A few downed trees in the first mile or so and at our pace a LONG day i suggest you get a super early start, pack a nice lunch, maybe 4 liters of water/Gatorade and have batteries for your headlamp. ron at harvest dot org if you have any questions.
I took a 4-wheel drive Tesla Model 3 (5.5" clearance - .15" shorter/wider tires = 5.35") on the trailhead road. As usual with dirt roads, I took a full spare tire just in case I had a flat. One problem is that they haven't run a vehicle mounted hedge clipper up there and cleared the bushes and trees from the side of the road. There are bush (burnt?) stiff dead branches extending into a narrow road and when you are trying to dodge and weave potholes and buried boulders with a low clearance car they limit your options (or you will scratch up your paint (which I did but buffout-able I hope)). There IS one "evil" spot on the road on the incline before the Aspen Grove Trailhead. I could not figure how to navigate it without scraping. The sides of road had big rocks which I couldn't move so I was forced to go over the mogul field more in the center of road. Maybe some glorified thick wood board like offroad product (recovery tracks/boards/ramps/ladders) to bridge that one spot... Due to mistakes, I broke a small plastic cover on the bottom of my car and scratched up the bottom rails a bit. My dog and I hiked to the summit with some snow on the trail (on north facing slopes). The snow probably added to the difficulty. I didn't see any other hikers on the Fish Creek Trail but there was a bunch of hunter dudes in camo outfits. Took a star off because bottom of the trail is pretty burnt.
With much of the area burned, this trail is not as nice as it was. However, the area around Fish Creek Camp is untouched by the fire as is the area around Mineshaft saddle. The trail is is generally good condition so it is possible to keep up a nice pace. The road in is a little rough, but I've definitely seen worse. There is still water in Fish Creek.
The road from hwy 38 to the trailhead is part of the adventure, my Outback made it fine, I don’t recommend it. The first section, and much of the trail is post fire. I’ve hiked to the summit countless times, via Vivian Creek. Fish Creek starts a couple of thousand feet higher, and as a result the slope is more gradual. Round trip, 20 miles, 8 hours.
