Beeks Place

Trail: Beeks Place Via Black Star Canyon

Miles: 15.6

Type: Out and Back

My Time: 5 Hours

Elevation Gain/Loss: 2382 ft.

Difficulty: Moderate

Parking Permit: Yes, Adventure Pass

Location: Cleveland National Forest

This is a long grueling hike that is a fire road 95% of the time with a few sections even being paved. I started at 7 AM and was able to manage to stay mostly shaded for about the first 2 miles. After that I was completely sun exposed. To be completely honest, there isn’t anything really pretty or spectacular about this hike…I only chose it because it’s a 15 mile round-trip hike. Which on this specific day I just wanted to get some miles in. Before you reach Black Star Canyon Falls there is a weird old school looking cabin house off to the right. It is kind of eerie. Looks as if it was run down, or something from a scary movie!

You could choose to go off to Black Star Canyon Falls instead of going all the way up here to Beek‘s Place. This would be a much shorter hike and possibly involving a waterfall. But…in order to get a flowing waterfall, you will need to make sure you go after a decent rainfall. A few years back we hiked to the falls. While we were hiking it started to rain on us…which led to a nice double waterfall. But I have seen many pictures from people who go in the summer and it is all dried up! Unless you are attempting to get a 15 mile hike I would recommend doing Black Star Canyon Falls after a rainfall. It would be more of a rewarding end my opinion. The 360 view from Beek’s Place is cool, just not my favorite. Mostly due to the cities surrounding this area giving you a lack of nature feel.

There is ample amount of parking at the trailhead. And there is essentially zero elevation gain for about the first half to 1 mile. On my ascent I saw two hikers going to Black Star Canyon Falls, three mountain bikers coming down and two going up…that is it! On the way back down I passed a lot more bikers as the morning went on, but no other hikers. So this kind of describes the type of trail and what to expect. I did see a few single track trails occasionally but wasn’t sure if they would connect back to the main trail I was on. Well on the way down I saw a trail and double checked AllTrails to make sure it would connect. I started down this trail and soon I was not on the AllTrails mapped trail. I was halfway down so figured I would keep going as I could see the main trail, knowing I was headed for it. Well turns out this was a water runoff which I should not have been hiking. The grade was so steep and loose dirt! I had to be extra careful and lower myself by using bushes, roots and whatever I could manage to use. Once I made it down the steep part, I had to duck underneath some overgrown bushes to finally get out of here. It was doable, and I got back to the main trail but pretty sure it took me longer to hike it safely than it would have taken me to go the regular way.

When you are almost to the top there is some old ruins. A couple small little hut looking things and an old radio tower. I would say the most rewarding part of this hike is the view of Mount Baldy and surrounding peaks. It took me 2 1/2 hours to get up and the only time I stopped was to pee about 3 times! Ton of lizards were on the trail, and more on the way back down as it got much warmer. I also saw plenty of hawks which is pretty cool. Overall I wouldn’t hike this trail again. But if you decide to, bring plenty of water and sun protection!

As always pack it in and pack it out!

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