Hayfork, California
In the summer of 2015, The Fork Complex fire swept through Hayfork Valley and the surrounding Trinity Mountains. It was a scary time as many locals moved from their homes into the Hayfork fairgrounds to wait out the burn. Several Bigfoot Trail hikers were also waylaid from their journey. Two years later, the consequences of the fire as still seen everywhere — including the opening of the Tule Creek Trail in part to dozer work during the fire and the efforts of the staff at the Watershed Center to re-sign the trail from Plummer Peak to Tule Creek Road.
Description of the new route is below. We are in the process of updating our map set and gpx track for a March 2017.
| 66.4 | 0.3 | Junction with road to Philpot Campground, there is a creek but the campground is not well maintained. Drop to campground |
| 66.5 | 0.1 | Reach Philpot Campground. Follow trail 12W27 north from campground. |
| 66.9 | 0.4 | Trail Junction with 12W27A which continues along creek to waterfall. Stay left and climb steep ridgeline. Trail was eliminated by dozer in 2015. We hope to work to rebuild it. |
| 67.7 | 0.8 | Intersect road 30N31, walk to the left and watch for trail 12W27 on right |
| 67.8 | 0.1 | Right on 12W27 |
| 68.1 | 0.3 | Climb to highpoint |
| 68.2 | 0.1 | Drop to 30N31, stay left and walk road (Plummer Peak Road) |
| 68.4 | 0.2 | Intersect 30N31A, walk down road and look for 12W27 dropping into Tule Creek canyon |
| 69.9 | 1.5 | Trail signage after climbing from the Tule Creek Canyon. Below junction is Upper Tule Creek Falls. |
| 71.4 | 1.5 | Cross main fork Tule Creek. |
| 71.9 | 0.5 | Junction Tule Creek Road — take a right and follow it into Hayfork |
| 75.5 | 3.6 | Left at Highway 3 Junction — follow sidewalk into Hayfork. |
A friend & I just hiked the section from Plummer Rd to Tule Creek Rd. (Dec 18, 2020). There were some little trees across the trail and a couple of BIG trees across the trail, but we (and our dogs) made it thru OK. Tule Creek wasn’t too high, we only had one day of rain recently, so we were able to cross without too much trouble.
I think there was only one spot where the trail wasn’t easy to see, but we went the way that ‘felt’ right and found it pretty fast.