Herman Creek Narrows

A descent through a short, but beautiful narrows on Herman Creek. It's like a mini-version of its more impressive cousin, Eagle Creek to the west. While the narrows are cool to visit, the pay-to-play on this one is a bit high. You'll probably spend more time hiking and bushwhacking than in the creek.

Drive up through the Herman Creek campground and continue bearing right at all junctions to find the trailhead. (The road into the campground is closed/gated in the winter season. If the gate is closed, just park on Frontage Rd adjacent to the gate. It's a 5min hike up to the trailhead.) Follow trail 406, passing Camp Creek at ~2.5mi. At 2.9mi reach a minor drainage. Beware poison oak along the trail. Start your descent down this small, brushy creek until you reach the first obstacle after a few minutes. There is a lot of loose rocks and woody debris in the creek post-fire.

Minor unnamed tributary There was barely any water in this creek in Sept 2021. Might be more fun earlier in the season. (There's also another sizeable falls immediately upstream of the trail that we did not have time to investigate.) A few minutes below R0 you'll enter Herman Creek. It may be possible (?) to exit up the steep hillside DCL to the trail just before you drop in. This might be a good escape route if Herman Creek is running too high. Herman Creek Narrows There are some nice ledges just downstream DCR which is a good place to suit up if you haven't done so already. The next rappel (into the narrows) comes immediately. This is a beautiful water-filled corridor with a little swimming along the way. There are a couple of short downclimbs along the way, but no substantial obstacles in lower water. Take your time as the narrows are short and sweet. Just ahead Camp Creek enters DCR with a couple nice waterfalls visible. Ahead, Herman Creek passes through one last set of narrows, then opens out.

From Camp Creek, continue down Herman Creek about five minutes until it's easy to exit up the bank DCR. If it's not easy, you haven't gone far enough. Climb up onto a relatively flat forested bench. This is a good place to de-wetsuit. (This is the same exit as Camp Creek.) From here, the exit back up to the trail is an off-trail bushwhack. It takes, perhaps, 30min. Don't attempt to go directly uphill back to the trail per cliffs. The easiest route is follow the bench northwards staying about the same elevation until you reach a small crest just before the next unnamed tributary creek to the north. From here turn right and make your way up a short distance to the trail. This is the best route out with minimal elevation gain, but the area is full of briars that have grown up post-fire, so you'll need to thread your way through. Try to avoid gaining the elevation too early. Once back on the trail, return the way you came. It's a bit over 2mi back to the trailhead.