Aspen Grove Trail Heads Through Area Recovering from Forest Fire

Explore Area Rallying from Fire on Aspen Grove Trail

Nearly a decade after the forest fire, Fish Creek remains heavily silted with ash and logs.

Day hikers can explore an area quickly recovering from forest fire on the Aspen Grove Trail.

The hike in the San Bernardino National Forest runs 3.8 miles round trip. If seeking relief from the Coachella Valley’s desert heat, this is a nice jaunt that offers cooler temperatures and speaks of renewal.

To reach the trailhead, from the Coachella Valley take Interstate 10 west toward Los Angeles. In Calimesa, follow Exit 88 onto Calimesa Boulevard. At the stoplights, turn right/north onto Sandalwood Drive and continue north onto Fifth Street. Next, go right/northeast onto Oak Glen Road then left/north onto Bryant Street. At Calif. Hwy. 38, go right/northeast. You’ll gradually gain altitude as you wrap around the peaks surrounding San Gorgonio Mountain, southern California’s highest point.

After several miles, turn right/south onto Forest Route 1N02. Past the Heart Bar Family Campground, the road turns to dirt. Next, go right/southeast onto the dirt Forest Route 1N05. That road – which is not meant for low-clearance vehicles such as cars – veers west and ends at the top of a ridge overlooking Fish Creek. Park there.

The trail heads down the hillside to the creek. You’re at an elevation of about 7415 feet.

Explore Area Rallying from Fire on Aspen Grove Trail

Go high enough, and you’ll see pines that give a glimpse of what the region looked like before the Lake Fire.

At the creek bottom, you can go either right or left. Going left means you’ll have to walk uphill for the last half of your hike. Going left means walking downhill the last half of the hike and actually gets into some forested areas.

Given this, go left/southeast. The trail largely follows Fish Creek as it flows off of Ten Thousand Foot Ridge.

You’ll be immediately struck by the devastation of the 2015 Lake Fire that ravaged the area. The creek is silted heavy with runoff ash and burnt logs. Blackened poles that used to be pine trees stretch into the distance.

Various grasses and flowers, however, already have taken root in the soil, stabilizing some of it while offering a splash of green and other colors.

At 0.3 miles in, you’ll arrive at an area where aspen trees are staking their claim. Aspen is well known for its ability to colonize areas ravaged by fire or overlogging.

Explore Area Rallying from Fire on Aspen Grove Trail

The area is recovering, however, as grasses, flowers and aspen reclaim the soil.

These particular trees are quaking aspen, a rare sight, as outside of the Sierra Nevada range the species appears at only one other location in California.

The trees are so named because when the wind blows, their leaves seem to quake or tremble, an intriguing sight. They also turn a brilliant gold in September through October.

This was the type of aspen here prior to the Lake Fire, so at least one aspect of the area remains the same.

The Fish Creek area, however, is at a crossroads. When there are not enough mature trees to seed a region in the national forest, it can turn to grass and shrublands. Compared to a healthy forest of pine and oak, there will be more erosion and less water filtration in the soil. Grasses and shrubs also offer less carbon storage than trees, further contributing to global warming.

Aspen Grove Trail topo map

Often to keep an area in the national forest looking like it once did, trees must be replanted in burned out areas.

As the area recovers from fire, it suffers from heavy erosion, so stay on the trail as much as you can. That may not always be possible as fallen logs sometimes require a small detour around them.

At 1.6 miles, you’ll reach Fish Creek Trail. Go right/southwest on it.

You’ll cross Fish Creek’s headwaters and in 0.3 miles arrive at more greenery and tall pines that survived the Lake Fire, giving you an glimpse of what the area used to be like.

The Aspen Grove Trail sometimes appears on maps as FR 2E05.

 

 

 

 

 

Image Sources

  • Nearly a decade after the forest fire, Fish Creek remains heavily silted with ash and logs.: Rob Bignell
  • Go high enough, and you’ll see pines that give a glimpse of what the region looked like before the Lake Fire.: Rob Bignell
  • The area is recovering, however, as grasses, flowers and aspen reclaim the soil.: Rob Bignell
  • The 2015 Lake Fire devasted the area around the Aspen Grove Trail.: Rob Bignell