Trail Review: Texas Canyon
Trailhead: Vasquez Truck Trail, Santa Clarita, CA 91390
Parking: Free parking along the dirt road at Vasquez Truck Trail and Rush Canyon Rd
Distance: Approx. 1-2 miles out & back depending on trails taken
Nestled in the hills north east of Santa Clarita, this short jaunt takes you to some sweeping views and some giant rocks suitable for climbing. To get to this trail, you'll need to drive up a dirt road that can feel like an obstacle course at times. Between the pools of muddy water and the random dips and bumps in the road, it'll be slow going up. After about a mile and a half though, you'll make it to the trailhead where you can park alongside the road.
The start of the trail has a nice, big "Road Closed" gate that you can just walk around to get onto the Vasquez Truck Trail. Shortly after, about 0.2 miles in, you'll see a smaller trail veer off to the right and go down hill. That is the trail you want to take. It'll be pretty obvious because by now you'll also be able to see the giant Texas Canyon Rocks and the trail to the right is the only way you can get down there. There are one or two steeper sections which you'll want to be careful of on the way down (and which will not be that fun when going back up), but it'll even out and you'll soon be approaching the rocks. We saw a couple groups of people rock climbing on the west facing side as we came up to it. I know nothing about rock climbing, but there were ropes set up at various spots around the rock and some people had another person acting as a counterweight on the ground. Seemed fun!
At this point, you can go straight up to the rock to explore its little caverns, or you can veer off again to the left on a side trail that will take you around the south side of the rocks. To the south, it becomes a little bit of a choose your own adventure with little trails that can take you up to the other sides of the big rocks or farther out into the canyon. There are even some smaller rocks that you could climb up onto if you felt adventurous. We followed what seemed like the main trail out about 0.2 miles to a smaller outcrop of rocks which gives you a pretty good view of the surrounding canyon and the back of the giant rocks.
The smaller outcrop felt like a natural end point and so we headed back the way we came, although there did appear to be other trails that continued on to the south and to the west, and farther in the distance was a fire road that dirt bikes were traversing. You could easily extend your journey by exploring farther out into the canyon.
On the way back, we got up close and personal with the giant rocks, exploring more of the area at their base. By that point, more rock climbers had appeared and were crawling all over. I'd say 50% of the base is easily accessible and is fun to explore. The north side though seemed less accessible because of the steep drop offs in the land so just be careful as you look around.
When you're done exploring, head back up the path to the Vasquez Truck Trail and to the parking area.
Bottom Line: A short trek with a cool bunch of giant rocks and sweeping views. A fun place to explore, and rock climb if you are into that.
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