According to Thomas Winnett, there is no established TYT trail connecting the Arnot Creek and Clark Fork trailheads – it’s basically just a road walk and you can make your own route. I was excited to have my two oldest kids came with me on this short but interesting hike.
We parked at the Arnot Creek trailhead where Greg and I left off on section 4, walked a short ways down the dirt road and then cut over at the Liahona Camp gate for what I thought would be a short off-trail adventure. It turned out to be less than a minute before we saw Forest Road 7N83 / County Road 992200. After a brief stop to look over the bridge at the creek, we headed up the road.
The road is a consistent gentle ascent of 375′ over 3.5 miles to the road’s end where Clark Fork Trail begins. It stays fairly close to the Stanislaus River which is fairly shallow and rocky the entire way.
In about a half mile we came to Camp Peaceful Pines and directly across the road from it, the outskirts of Sand Flat Campground. We had briefly seen a path down the hill below us which is closer to the river. Apparently it begins at the campground and ends a short ways away.
This campground was far larger than I expected and it took us some time to traverse its length. After passing a warning sign concerning snow plowing, we came to a wall of granite that my daughter decided she needed to climb. Without a crash pad or rope, I didn’t want her getting to far above me but she did a good job.
The road eventually got briefly above the trees and gave some nice views of the surrounding hills – much of the scenery still barren from past fires. We had not been gone more than an hour when we passed the halfway point, but it was probably closer to 30 minutes of hiking plus looking around and snacking.
The Stanislaus River was not high but there was plenty of water – even enough to fill several inviting swimming holes. It was not hot enough in late September to take advantage of these, but we did do some rock hopping and explored the river banks for a while before getting back to the hike. There were also a dozen or so rills coming down on the north side of the road – I am guessing from a recent rain because the snow pack has been gone for some time.
After we got back on the road we came upon a Garter snake that we watched slither off into the bushes. Shortly after that we spied the remains of a serious landslide across the river – I would have loved to have seen that happen! My son also found a gigantic Dandelion which he and his sister took turns blowing all over the road.
At this point my son decided to take a rest as his foot was hurting. I told him that was wise as we still had a 3.5 mile hike ahead of us. Fortunately it was all downhill and we’d make much better time with no stops. So my daughter and I hiked up the final 1,000′ or so of road ourselves.
As we neared the road’s end we saw The Iceberg, a, 8,350′ rocky giant looming over Iceberg Meadow (which would be the end of today’s hike). This can be approached via the Disaster Creek Trail. Along the way we discovered two ancient toilets! Very exciting!
After two (total) hours of hiking, we arrived at Iceberg Meadow which is the literal end of the road. A barbed wire fence let us know we were not welcome to frolic in the meadow, but off to the south side of the road was the Clark Fork Trail. This would be the start of my next backpacking trip. About 1,200′ down the trail is the Carson-Iceberg Wilderness boundary, and then you follow the Stanislaus River all the way to Clark Fork Meadow where I had done a recon trip in 2023.
After a bit of time exploring the river nearby, we headed back down the road, reunited with my son, and made it back to the car in one hour. The weather held and we made it back without injury, then it was on to Frosty’s in Jamestown for dinner!
Backcountry Pilgrim 