I had been wanting to check out Commanche Camp for a while, however I wasn’t sure what route I wanted to take to get there. The obvious choice would be to come in from the Lytle Creek side, but I have reservations about leaving my car overnight at that trailhead.  I have heard of break-ins happening to cars there and I didn’t want to take any chances. 

So Icehouse Canyon trailhead it was.  I had hiked this trail before, but a while ago.  I had only went up to Icehouse Saddle and then to the neighboring peak of Timber Mountain.  To mix it up, we decided to check out the Chapman trail which would take us through the Cedar Glen trail camp.  There was a group we passed on the way to Cedar Glen and more groups camping there when we arrived. 

We quickly scoped it out and considered it for a possible future trip.  Then it was onto Icehouse Saddle.  The Chapman Trail junctions with the main Icehouse Canyon Trail about a half a mile from the saddle.  We took a quick break at the saddle, checked some of the trail signs, and then found the one pointing us to where we wanted to go:  onto Commanche!

The trail drops down the other side of the saddle.  It was obvious this portion of the trail isn’t traveled much.  We had to negotiate several fallen trees on our way down, and there was a lot of exposure.  We didn’t see another soul once we crossed the saddle, and that meant we got Commanche Camp all to ourselves.  A good thing too, since only several tents could actually fit there.  We were also pleased to find that the creek was running.

More pictures from this trip can be found here.