Friday Hike Day: Heart Rock, Crestline

Pretty much the only *sign* marking the trail. haha.

It's Friday the 13th y'all! Not  that I'm superstitious but...if I was, today would be the day to convince me. haha. My GPS was a little wonky...giving me directions that included 5 freeways! Not only that, but it kept telling me to get off the freeway onto another freeway, just to get back on to the original freeway. I realized, after it was too late, it was trying to help me avoid traffic congestion. Ayiyiyi!

Once we were up the mountain, it also gave weird directions so I am pretty sure I was going in circles through an unfamiliar area. Didn't help that the trail head didn't really have markers or signs.

Thank goodness for the tree!

It's a fairly rustic trail...NO restrooms. NO water except for the creek. Signage is also at a minimum.

The trail has some rocks and tree roots, once again, making it NOT stroller friendly. For the most part though, it IS kid friendly.

Autumn might end up being my most favorite hiking season. Everything is so beautiful. Seriously. 

I was afraid I might not actually find heart rock. I didn't do my research the night before except for driving directions.

We hiked to what appeared to be the end of the trail and it was steep to get down there (last pic). I went back up exploring a bit. All I could remember was that the heart rock probably required looking upward, from what I could vaguely remember from an online picture I had seen on a hiking site.

Graffiti SUX! 

I found the water fall before I finally found the heart rock view. We had actually passed by it. It is a bit precarious to view so PLEASE use caution with your children. Hold their hands! You basically view it from a rocky cliff above the water fall.

Oh just a fern growing on the side of a boulder. 

Besides the risk of falling, the slippery slope, rocks and tree roots, the trail is fairly easy. It's not that long at all. It felt like it took us longer to drive than the actual hike. Its 'mostly shade, which at this season was very cool. We dressed in layers and were ok. 

This was the water fall. I wonder how much it flows in spring? We ate lunch here, in the shade of the mountain and it was cool. Plenty of flat rocks and a large fallen tree to sit on. The rocks are cold though.

Adventure Kids!
The end of the trail, as far as we could tell. Nice spot to sit but Heart Rock is before this.

We didn't see many signs of life, as far as animals are concerned. A few birds. We did passed a fenced in, empty pool near the start of the trail. Talk about random! lol We arrived between 9:30-10am and were the only people on the trail for awhile. Parking appeared to be free and wasn't very clear.

There isn't obvious signage so you have to turn into what appears to be a campground! The campground parking lot had a closed gate and signage strictly prohibiting trailhead parking. Follow the asphalt road a ways and you'll see the tree in the first pic. It looks like a parking lot there and I suppose you could park there if you wanted and make the walk longer. 

You don't have to park there though. Continue to follow the very narrow road farther up until you reach another closed gate. There is room to park there. The trail is off to the right.

Since the hike isn't long at all...I would make a day of it. Not much farther around the mountain and you can head to Lake Gregory, Lake Arrowhead etc. My phone went dead very fast due to the gps madness or else I would have stayed longer. I get nervous not having directions to get home. Which btw, were much easier (and what I had initially thought) on the way back only requiring a simple 3 freeways--the way we normally travel! Haha!

See ya next week!