08-20-2014, 04:30 PM
[quote fireman12] how are the trails down below mesa?[/quote]
Virtually non-existent, if by below Mesa Falls, you mean the Bear Gulch Canyon itself. There are two trails at the lower falls campground and a decomissioned road access at the old Bear Gulch ski area. Forget about bushwacking into the Gulch; it's steep, overgrown and full of cliffs and deep green water. Getting around in Bear Gulch on foot is not easy. It's one place where flyfishermen genuinely get their money's worth ($600) hiring a local lodge to run it in a raft set up for fishing, especially considering that the boat ramp is a 450 vertical feet dirt slide. The slide counts as one of the trails at the campground. The access improves below the confluence with the Warm River but that is roadside, not trail access.
Above the falls, Cardiac canyon has easier access. Hatchery Ford road goes out to the last boat ramp. It's mostly class 1 and 2 whitewater around there and not nearly as rough as below the falls.
The Mack's Inn area has more access and also receives a lot of stockers to improve its "family fishing" zone status. It's also general regs; everything between IP Dam and Riverside has gear and harvest restrictions you need to observe. The Outlet section above Mack's Inn is seasonal and now ain't the season for it.
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Virtually non-existent, if by below Mesa Falls, you mean the Bear Gulch Canyon itself. There are two trails at the lower falls campground and a decomissioned road access at the old Bear Gulch ski area. Forget about bushwacking into the Gulch; it's steep, overgrown and full of cliffs and deep green water. Getting around in Bear Gulch on foot is not easy. It's one place where flyfishermen genuinely get their money's worth ($600) hiring a local lodge to run it in a raft set up for fishing, especially considering that the boat ramp is a 450 vertical feet dirt slide. The slide counts as one of the trails at the campground. The access improves below the confluence with the Warm River but that is roadside, not trail access.
Above the falls, Cardiac canyon has easier access. Hatchery Ford road goes out to the last boat ramp. It's mostly class 1 and 2 whitewater around there and not nearly as rough as below the falls.
The Mack's Inn area has more access and also receives a lot of stockers to improve its "family fishing" zone status. It's also general regs; everything between IP Dam and Riverside has gear and harvest restrictions you need to observe. The Outlet section above Mack's Inn is seasonal and now ain't the season for it.
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