The Buck Creek Camp Conundrum

Buck Creek Trailhead Sign

About every 5 years the Mt Pinos Ranger district volunteers submit Wilderness Camp surveys to the Forest Service. This work is very important as it gives them a record of how much use the camp is getting, what the current condition of the camp is and what if any maintenance is required. Often times a Trail Survey will be done in conjunction as well to record trail conditions leading to and from these camps, so that work crews can return with all relevant information needed to maintain the trails. Thanks to my friend and forestry mentor Mark Subbotin I have been trained to do this work and very much enjoy participating in these projects. Next Camp up on the list was to be Buck Creek. Now I sort of have a love hate relationship with this area. I love being there but I hate getting in as access requires a walk or bike ride along the steep 3 mile closed HardLuck or Buck Creek Road from the east and or a high clearance vehicle (which I do not have) from the west at Stewart Mountain. This day would prove to be all Good though since Mark has the Los Alamos Gate keys and the volunteer agreement with the Forest Service we were able to drive all the way to the lower Buck Creek Trailhead(18W01) at the now closed  HardLuck car camp.You can thank the endangered Arroyo Toad for all these closures. Now on to the Conundrum. Buck Creek Camp is literally all over the maps. Looking at several one might wonder where the actual original Buck Creek Forest Service Camp was really located and where does it sit today. Here are some examples of the madness below. Not the best quality shots sorry, however you click on the photos to enlarge them.

(Left) 1967 Los Padres National Forest Map(Courtesy of Craig R Carey) shows Buck Creek at the lower camp east of the drainage as does the 1978 to the (right). 

Also worth noting here is both maps above show Hardluck Camp at the confluence of Buck and Piru Creek.(HardLuck Camp and the road leading into it was permanently closed and no longer maintained in the summer of 2009, due to it's close proximity to Piru Creek which provides habitat for the Arroyo Toad). What remains of this once 26 car camp site is not at the Buck/Piru Confluence but is further North as Pictured below on the newer maps. More on this later.

(Left) 1984 LPNF Map shows Buck Creek at the upper Camp near the spring as does the 2016 FS Topo map to the (right). With HardLuck now showing in the location where it currently resides.

2016 National Geographic Map (left) shows Buck Creek at Lower camp but west of the drainage which conflicts with the older maps and 2014 Tom Harrison Sespe Wilderness map (right) well he has the camp even further up the trail with what appears to be not near any of the other map locations and he has removed HardLuck completely.

Hike Los Padres has Buck Creek at the upper Camp by the spring as Does California Trail Map. I have more evidence of the shenanigans going on above but I will spare you the extra photos and details. I'm sure by now you can smell what I'm stepping in here. So armed with all this I was of course very excited to get this camp survey complete and get some answers as to what's really going on here. This is how the day went. Hopefully your still with me.

View of Hardluck from atop the water tower

We Parked the cars at At Hardluck (pictured above) just adjacent to the cars is the Buck Creek Trailhead sign from which this hike begins. The first 2 miles follows parallel to Piru along an old jeep track with a very slight downhill grade to the Confluence of Buck and Piru Creek. 

 Vehicles Prohibited sign and Flat Camp spot at the OG Hardluck

It is here according to the old maps that the original Hardluck Camp was situated and I found plenty of evidence besides being on the old maps to back this up. First being long ago you could drive in all the way to this spot (see no vehicles beyond this point sign above). If you could drive all the way in here most likely you would have camped here. The area also has a couple flat spots that appear would have been perfect drive up sites. Not pictured we also found the cement in the ground with hole in the middle that was probably the Original Buck Creek Trail sign as this would have been your starting point for (18W01). For whatever reason this Camp would eventually be decommissioned  and the new larger Hardluck was installed where our route began.

Spillway at The Piru & Buck confluence

Cable Car at OG Hardluck

There once was a lot of action going on at this very spot. Pictured above is the Cable Car which still stands today that can carry goods across Piru Creek to a platform and tower that may have been a weather or water gauging system again still standing but doesn't appear to be in use. Also pictured above is the spillway that was most likely put there to keep invasive fish from Lake pyramid out of Piru Creek where the wild trout program is ongoing. 

Another view of the Flat at OG Hardluck Camp

From here your route begins the southwest accent into the buck Creek drainage at around the 3 mile mark and approximately 1 mile from the The Piru/Buck confluence you arrive at a guerrilla site most likely used by hunters. The camp has a rock fire ring, some make shift benches and sits above the creek on a flat. 

Hunters Camp on flat above Buck Creek

The Buck Creek Drainage is a very beautiful part of the forest. Oaks and Big Cone Spruce dot the landscape and the canyon provides tons of shade. The water in Buck is cold and clear. In my opinion you would be hard pressed to find better local forest water quality. I always filter my water however I know a few guys that drink directly out of this creek. The pools are crystal clear and very inviting. Water was flowing nicely along the whole length of our route.

Water Flowing in Buck Creek

For a trail that receives little use and even less maintenance the lower portions are fairly easy to follow. There are are spots where the trail disappears under heavy tree fall and poison oak but with good observance and route skills is very easy to pick back up again. 

Fall colors in the Los Padres

Unnamed drainage before the second guerrilla  site 

At about 4.5 miles from the trailhead you reach the next guerrilla camp site which is situated under massive oak tress across the drainage pictured above. The site has a rock fire pit and complete shade. Seems it had some recent use as we cleaned up empty gas canisters and plastic bottles left behind. 

Second guerrilla site at about 4.5 miles in

After leaving the guerrilla site continue about a mile along buck creek trail further upstream. At around the 5.5 mile mark you come to what I'm gonna call the original Forest Service Buck Creek Camp. The camp now has 2 sites as the original one lies buried under a large fallen tree.  Here are the coordinates for the the Original Buck Creek Camp. N34° 38' 40.7" W118° 51' 03.5"

Old buried  USFS stove parts

Stove, fire pit and T stakes smashed by the tree

Parts I dug out and and evidence of the original stove that was placed here many years ago

The original Buck Creek Trail Camp

At one point this camp had a table, I'm assuming burned up in the Day Fire. The evidence of the USFS service stove and how this location appears on the old maps confirms for me that this was indeed the original Buck Creek Camp site. While on this trip I was not able to make it further upstream to the upper camp shown on later maps due to time restraints. I am fairly confident that any of the other camp sites listed on maps are just guerrilla sites. At some point in the past Whenever the error occurred on the forest service Topo's probably created a domino effect and subsequent map makers just followed along with the information at hand. Due to budget constraints very few USFS workers are out in the field so errors would have become very common. To fully validate my conclusion I will however come back in  from Stewart mountain and take a look at the upper site listed by the spring. Less than a couple hundred feet below the original site a new camp area has been set up  complete with fire ring and a pile of wood to be used once fire restrictions are lifted. The site is closer to the creek and very well shaded. (See pictures below) The new site is very nice and accommodating I can imagine many hikers would just use this one and possibly pass right by the original one not knowing it was even there.

New site just below the original

Steve doing his best to look presentable (left) and (right) the remains of Carcass found at the original camp. while the site sees little human use at least the mountains lion are still enjoying the place.

To recap as mentioned above most of the trail is easy to follow. From a little over 4 miles in and beyond it starts to get messy. With Lots of overgrowth and poison oak in places. I noted with way points for my trail survey at least 40 downed trees along the trail with most being beyond the second guerrilla site. On the way out we flagged the creek crossing's and most of the hardest parts to follow. We also did some clearing of the smaller downed trees. A return Sawyer trip will hopefully be in the works to clear the larger trees. Tread work will also be needed along with a good amount of brushing to get the trail back in tip top shape. For now though we left the trail in much better condition than we found it and is worth a visit should you feel inclined. I have included my track below for download and a map. Just over 11 was the total mileage for the day out and back. Camp survey and partial trail survey was completed and to me the mystery solved of the original Buck Creek and Hardluck camp locations.

Download GPS Track (GPS Units)

Download KMZ File (Google Earth)

Hard Luck Camp and upper Piru Creek

This mission had two objectives. First one being to complete the Second leg of the Piru Creek Project. I've now seen everything the Creek has to offer from Lake Piru to Above Lake Pyramid and ending just passed the old now closed Hard Luck Campground. Second objective bring Tony Marchese back to Hard Luck where he has so many great memories camping and hunting with his Dad. Logistically this is not the easiest site to access. Established in 1961 Hard Luck Camp and the road leading into it was permanently closed and no longer maintained in the summer of 2009, due to it's close proximity to Piru Creek which provides habitat for the endangered Arroyo Toad. This once 26 car site Camp served as the starting point for Buck Creek Trail(18w01) and Upper Piru creek. You basically have two options now. Hike in from the west via Alamo Mtn(8n01) and Stewart Mtn (6n10) Route, or From the East Gate near Los Alamos Fire Station along the 3 mile now closed Hard Luck road. We chose the latter. Remembering our past mistakes from Lower Piru and hiking in on long, hot, and boring paved roads and how much it sucked. We decided this time to add mountain bikes to this section of our itinerary. Tony picked me up at my house early the morning of and we loaded our packs and mountain bikes in the car for the drive up to Los Alamos Campground where we would leave the car parked overnight.

The weather that weekend was forecast to be hot so in order to stay cool we outfitted the bike I would be riding with saddle bags in order to carry our Ice Mule coolers loaded with beers :) After finding a nice place to park for the night we paid the fees and off we went. From the campground parking lot it was only about .7 miles to the locked gate

From here the next 3.5 miles uphill and then downhill to Hard Luck is rather grueling, especially on a bike carrying a heavy pack. Granted it was still much nicer than walking. I did take note of how bad it would be on the way out from the treacherously steep hill we just went down. Coming into Hard Luck we crossed Piru Creek which still had a decent flow of water for being so late in June. We spent a little time investigating what was left of Hard Luck and Tony Got to relive those old cherished memories with his pops from all those years ago.

We continued our ride along the trail as long as we could before it was no longer passable on a bike. Eventually we found a nice spot to stash the bikes. After a quick break we locked them to a tree and off we went on foot. 

Leaving Hard Luck your awarded with some really nice views of the surrounding valley and  mountain ranges. While here I did do some fishing in the upper creek, I didn't catch anything this time around but I really wasn't trying very hard either. Upper Piru is a wild trout program and only artificial lures and barbless hooks may be used with a 2 trout possession limit.

Our original plan was to follow Piru Creek until it ran into Lake Pyramid. Hoping to camp for the night near the Lake. At about 6.5 miles in we came to the junction of Piru and Buck Creek and surprisingly Buck Creek had a decent little flow of clean cool water coming in. Before heading completely off trail and down into the Piru drainage  we did do some exploring up Buck Creek and found some nice good sized pools to soak in. Note the trail from here up Buck Creek is not in very good condition, it appears then disappears in quite a few places. I would imagine it would be quite difficult to make it all the way up to Buck Creek Trail Camp. Lots of Bush whacking and trail searching involved. I'll have to return another time and explore that one further.

Heading Down Piru very close to the Buck creek junction in the middle nowhere comes this man made gaging station. This in stream structure acts as a barrier to upstream fish migration of non native species under most flow conditions. There has in the past however been reports of anglers catching Large Mouth Bass up and around Hard Luck.

The geology here in the Piru canyon is fascinating. Conglomerate rock formations form steep canyon walls, full of holes with nesting birds in them. At the right time of day the canyon provides a good  amount of shade, something we really needed at this point as the June heat was kicking our butts. I spotted a few turtles hanging by the station structure here as well. 

We followed the drainage for approximately 2 more miles before reaching the Lake. Water flow in the creek got lower and lower the closer we got to Pyramid and eventually stopped flowing altogether. About a half mile before landing on lake we got the pleasure of tromping through wet muddy marsh land and to make matters even worse there was no nice dry place to camp and absolutely no shade by the lake. Tony went for a swim and I cracked a cold one and pondered our next move.

At this point we still had plenty of Daylight left so we decided to head back and camp near a spot we noticed by junction with Buck Creek. Our camp had a nice rock wall to sit on and store our gear and good flowing water from Piru. It was actually a really beautiful spot and had a good amount of wildlife around as well.

As I mentioned plenty of times it was Hot, so damn hot I really did not sleep well at all. I was at one point tempted to go lie in the creek during the middle of the night and sleep there but fought back the temptation as that would not be very environmentally stewardedly of me. Eventually it cooled off enough for me to drift off. The next morning we woke, had coffee and breakfast and high tailed it back out the way we came in. Luckily the bikes were still at the stash spot. (not like there is anybody else out here who would have taken them). I stopped a few more times on the way out for a little fishing but again was skunked. Note: the bike ride out is an ass kicker. Basically straight up hill, its slow going and brutal. Once you reach the top of the ridge though its nice and all downhill back to Los Alamos Campground. Besides the heat and ugly bike hills the trip was great I had a blast. There is still a vast upper section of Piru Creek I need to explore before I can say I have travelled the whole length but section 1 and 2 are officially in the books. Our total distance for this trip was about 19.5 miles.

Download GPX File (GPS Units)

Download KMZ File (Google Earth)