this is a continuation of a prior post.

The first part of the climb up the switchbacks was ok. We stopped often to catch our breath and let a few hikers pass. We noticed that these hikers camped out at trail camp or outpost camp. About half way up, one of my buddies started to not feel well, headaches, lack of desire and an overall struggle to keep going. We stopped and gave him some aspirin. Right about this time, the sun disappeared and some big black clouds came flowing over the ridge. Within 3 minutes, it was snowing and the wind was blowing. We quickly put on our ponchos and warm clothes. By the time I had all my cold weather gear on, there was at least 1-2 inches of snow in all my pockets and exposed areas. We hunkered down to weather the storm and a few thunder claps rang out loudly in the valley. We say a few hikers running down the trail to safety and yelling for everyone else to do the same. In less than 10 minutes, the sun was shinning and we took off our ponchos. My buddy, after resting for 10 minutes was feeling much better and was able to continue the hike.

We reached trail crest ( 13,600 feet ) around 11:00 am. A cold strong breeze was waiting for us at the top. We stopped to congratulate ourselves but quickly moved on after prompting from a fellow hiker ( returning from the summit ) to get to a less exposed, warmer, less windy place. We took a break at the junction of the John Muir trail on the backside of the Whitney ridge. Here we met a pair of female hikers we saw on the trip. They were sitting at the trail merge enjoying a fabulous looking sandwich. I had sandwich envy as my trail mix was getting old. This pair passed us on the switchbacks but was worried about the weather and contemplating weather or not to continue. After seeing us older men starting off, they quickly packed up and passed us again.

We too started to think about the weather and time issues. It was noon at this time and there where a few dark clouds heading our way. The clouds where small cells that looked smaller than the event we had on the switchbacks. We did a few calculations and realized we would not reach the summit until around 1 and not be back between 7-8 pm a night. We where not looking forward to a decent with headlights and tired beyond belief. The decision was to continue on but would turn back because of weather.

The trail from trail crest to the summit is scary in some parts. The trail is cut out of rock and pretty steep in places. Some parts required climbing stairs made of jagged rock. Hiking poles where useless and required strategic placement of hands. We had a few hikers pass us on the way down and indicated they where turned back because of the storm we encountered while on the switchbacks. This was the hardest part of the trail for me. I was feeling pretty dizzy and not entirely with all my mental faculties because of the altitude. The trail was harder than what we thought and took about 2 hours.

My other hiking buddy hit the wall at around 14k feet. We stopped for about 10 minutes while my friend laid down to rest. After some confidence building, he was able to continue and we finally reached the summit at 1:00 pm. We where a bit worried that there would be no one left on the summit to take our picture. There where 4 people milling around taking pictures. We stayed for about ½ hour talking and taking pictures. Right before we left, a pair of real men appeared over the ledge. They had climbed up the face of Mount Whitney, about a 2,000 feet climb.

We stared down at a furious pace determined to make it down before headlamps where required. The trail down was just as difficult in some parts as the way up. Each step jarred my joints and rattled my teeth. Hiking up on rocks is hard. Hiking down on nothing but rock is even harder on my body. We where all pretty fatigued at this point and acting goofy in the altitude. We finally made it back to trail crest around 3:30 and started down the switchbacks.

I counted about 9 hikers that we passed on the way down that where still headed up to the summit. This was a nice feeling in knowing were where not the last ones. The hike down the switchbacks was relentless. The view was not quite as spectacular as the way up for some reason. My buddies also stopped eating as much and where we were all on autopilot. When we reached trail camp at 12,000 feet at 4:30 or so, we where all exhausted. We found a flat rock and sat down for a bit.

One of my hiking companions ran out of gas at this point. If he could, he would have stayed. But we had to keep going. The reason I believe is they where not eating and their bodies had no fuel. During the hike down, I managed to snap a bunch of pictures during our decent. We reached the Mirror lake and finally Lone Pine Lake at 7:00 pm. I finally forced my buddy to eat something and within 10 minutes was feeling much better. We put the headlamps back on and almost ran down the rest of the trail in the dark. We arrived back at the trail head at 8:30 at night full of a sense of accomplishment. We had reached our goal.

Here are some interesting observations during and after the hike.

• The beer I had back at the hotel was probably the best I ever had.
• We really smelled bad. There was no way we would be allowed in a restaurant without taking a shower.
• My feet hurt but there where no blisters.
• I ate almost all my food. I drank 5 liters of liquids. 4 liters of water and 1 liter of Gatorade.
• The ratio of men to women on the trail was about 3 to 1. Most of the women where traveling with their significant other.
• All of the people we met on the trail where really nice.
• I counted at least 10 people that did not make it to the top. One person said they did but we know they did not.
• Most of the 100 or so people with permits stayed on the mountain the night before.
• I asked my buddies, what one item they would bring the next time. The answer was (1) long, water and windproof pants, (2) a variety of foods ( he just had sandwich and way to much trail mix ) and for myself (3) a pair of gloves to keep my hands warm.
• I saw a Marmot, a Pika, many chipmunks, birds and what I think are ptarmigans along with many new plants that I did not expect to see between 12 and 14,000 feet. There where purple finches on the summit.
• I am not the fasted hiker around.
• My body is not what it used to be.

Mount Whitney Hike – September 4, 2009

Note that this entry is broken into two entries.

Here is the trip report for our hike up to the Whitney summit on September 4, 2009. We (Jim and George ) arrived at Lone Pine around 10:30 in the morning after leaving Orange County at 6:00 am. We finally figured out that we needed to pick up the trail permits at the visitor center located at the 136 intersection just before town. We collected our WAG bags, dropped off our coolers and anything else with food at the Dow Hotel where we were staying.

Eager to start the day, we drove to Whitney portal for an acclimation hike to Lone Pine Lake. We arrived around noon and started our hike. This part of the trail does not need a permit. Permits are required about ¼ mile above the lake. We hiked the 2.8 miles and stayed at the lake for 2 hours. I brought my fly rod and caught about a dozen small, very hungry rainbows. My two hiking buddies took a nap on some rocks and talked to a few fellow hikers. Yosemite man was an interesting character. He had been on the trail for 18 days. This was his last night and he decided to stay and sleep at the lake before going down the next day… I would have certainly walked the 1 ½ hours down the trail and have a burger in town.

A few notables for the acclimation hike was a marmot sighting. I have never seen one so it was a nice surprise to see these big, fat looking golden colored squirrels. He was sitting on a rock and looked very content. At the lake, there was a group of kids supervised by 2 moms. The kids where very loud and not very considerate for other hikers and campers. I commend the moms for making the hike but they needed to restrain the kids from their loud, almost yelling conversations. A small, very quite applause was barely discernable when they finally left.

We left around 5:00 pm and arrived back in town around 7:00. Had a pizza, a few beers and went to sleep eagerly anticipating the 3:45 am wake up call. My two buddies where up before the wake up call and waiting in the lobby for me to show up. It is usually the other way around. After a cup of coffee and a handful of trail mix at the hotel we started. We where very eager and could not stop talking about the days events. We arrived at the trail head just before 4:20 and had trouble finding a place to park. All the spots were taken but we did find one spot left in the overflow parking. We noticed most of the cars had not moved since the day before. We then thought of Yosemite Man and he had been there for 18 days. We took a few required pictures and headed up the trail with our headlamps.

The section to Lone Pine lake is a series of switchbacks and a very well maintained trail. We passed a few water crossings and arrived at Lone Pine lake around 6:30 am. We took the headlights off around 6:00 am or so and happy to have the little light available. The trail flattened out for a bit before ascending a small ridge that led to a gorgeous meadow at outpost camp. The trail in this area was flat, fast and nice to hike. We past outpost camp and headed up a small ridge the lead up to Mirror Lake. Another gorgeous alpine lake filled with fish.

We had about 12 hikers pass us from the start until this point. I was expecting about a 100 people on the trail based on the number of permits issued. I also expected to see all 100 starting around the same time we did. Where were all the other hikers? The weather at 7:30 this morning was in the 50’s with a light breeze. There where clouds already forming at the peaks and looking a bit ominous. The hike up to this point was very pretty as we passed pines and low shrubs on a well maintained dirt trail. We passed the last of the trees on our hike out of Mirror Lake and started hiking on mostly rock of all sorts and sizes. In some spots, it is more like climbing stairs. The trail was blasted out of the rocks in several places as it climbed up the valley to trail camp. This was the first time we started loosing breath and taking a few more breaks. We where passed by a few more hikers. We stopped and talked to a few. There were many people from out of state and a few from other countries. Most of the hikers where couples in their late 20’s or 30’s. There where several groups of mountain men ( guys that could stay out in the wilderness and build a log cabin with just their hands ).

The trail flattened thankfully for a bit just as it reached trail camp at 12k feet at 9:00 or so. We stopped for a bit, took a few pictures and downed another handful of trail mix. We were all in good spirits but starting to feel the altitude. We had shortness of breath and our steps a little shorter. Our moment of truth was upon us. This was the start of the dreaded 97 switchbacks up the side of a mountain. This is a grueling climb up to 13,600 where many hikers fall victim to altitude, too high expectations and in experience. We had no experience at this altitude but we did have our training to fall back on.

This is a trip description for the trail Marion Mountain Trail to the San Jacinto Peak. We left a little early for the trail head is about 2 hours from where I live ( in south Orange County ). There is a bit of extra time to go into the town of Idllywild and fill out a permit. See the last part of this post for more info.

The trail head is well marked. Make sure to park at the trail head and not the Marion Mountain campground. It is just a few minutes more up the road. We started off at 7:45 am with high spirits and a much too fast pace. This first section of the trail is hiking through a mix of oak trees and pines. After about 20 minutes of hiking, the oak trees area all gone and only the pine trees remain. During this part of the hike, the trail follows a constant grade with several areas where you need to step up over rocks and logs. It feels a lot like climbing stairs. The scenery was great. The sun filtered down trough the trees and we had a cool climb to the Deer Spring trail junction.

This was a very nice part of the climb. I like hiking the north and west approaches as there sun is low and not so hot. This is much better than hiking Baldy for example where the sun beats down on you relentlessly. One interesting observation for the lower part of this hike. There was a lot of logging activity. It appeared that the forest was being thinned and all the dead trees and underbrush was being removed. We could not figure out how the trees where being removed as there where no roads, mule tracks, tractor tracks etc. We ran into a few workers ( hard hats and vests ) that informed us that they where using a helicopter to transport the trees and brush to a staging area for eventually trucking out.

Near the 1.5 mile marker was an exception lookout over toward fuller ridge. It made for a very nice place to stop and snack. We continued up the trail and passed a few small streams with wetland plants around. I nice change from the woods. The trail keeps going up and up. Not as steep as other trails but up none-the-less.

After hiking for what seemed like a long time, we finally made it to the Deer Springs junction. We then passed Seven pines trail and 20 minutes later the fuller ridge trail. We started traversing a slope up a steep ridge that was covered with low shrubs. It turned out that the trail went through the shrubs. The reason I mention this is the shrubs need a bit of trimming for they almost cover the trail. They are also sharp. It resulted in many scratches on my exposed legs. I was envious of those that wore long pants through this area.

From here, we ascended over the ridge that lead into a small, flat area I believe is little round valley. There was a nice meadow area near the center with a very small stream passing through the middle. It looked like a spring fed stream. There is a camp ground here with not one… but two outhouses. Maybe one for the guys and one for the girls, I did not stop to check. The area was flat and is a nice resting stop before venturing to the summit about 1.5 miles further.

The trail from this point is a bit more exposed than the lower sections. There are still more trees than the Baldy trails however. We also started to pass a lot bigger, round rocks. The rocks become more and more present as the trail climbs to the pass. The pass is where the trail crests the ridge and starts down the south and east part of the mountain. By the way, we are still on the Deer Springs trail. Just a few minutes past this crest, we encounter an old hut that the Sierra club made way back when. We slowly opened the door and found that people were sleeping over. I wonder if they take reservations as the ski hut on the Baldy trail does. The trail to the peak from this point is no longer a trail. It is a series of big rocks. Each hiker or climber at this point, gets to decide the best way to the top. It is probably about a 50 yard boulder hop to the top. Say that 10 times fast. Just as long as you know that there is no trail, just rocks you will do fine. It took my friends and me about 8 minutes to figure this out after watching people make their way up and down from the peak.

The peak offers spectacular 360 degree views. This is what a peak should look like. The peak marker is set near the highest boulder and secured by a bunch of smaller rocks. There is room for just a few people at the very top. We stayed for about 40 minutes or so talking and see how brave the squirrels where. We stared talking to Whitney man ( he has climbed up Whitney 14 times ) and asked him how Whitney compares to this. He indicated that if we could do this one ( from Marion, not the Tram ) we should be ok.

We stared hiking down around 1:00 pm or so and made it back down the trail head around 5:00 pm. Whitney man passed us ( after taking a nap at the top ) around 3:00. It took us nearly 4 hours to get back down. It took almost 5 going up. According to the maps, this was maybe an eleven mile hike. We hiked up and down Bear Canyon in the same time. I have a hard time believing this is only 11 or so miles. This was however one of my more enjoyable trips. I highly recommend it.

Next up for us: Mount Whitney on Sept 4, 2009.

Trail head info:

There are 4 basic trails (yes, there are more…. Seven Pines etc.) that will take the would-be hiker to the top of San Jacinto from trail heads near and in Idllywild. All require a permit but only one requires you to contact the ranger station in advance. That is the Devils Slide Trail. You need the rangers to issue you a permit for this one.

Note that all trails will eventually lead to the Deer Springs trail. It is confusing at first but the Deer Springs Trail is the only trail that passes by the Peak. Marion, Deer Springs ( trail head ) and Fuller Ridge all connect to the Deer Springs trail on the west side of the mountain and continue past the peak and down the south side of the mountain. The Devil’s Slide trail joins the Deer Springs trail on the south side of the mountain and hike North West. Hmmm. Try to get a map first.

Bear Canyon Trail to Mount Baldy –

This article details a hike up Bear Canyon trail to the top of Mount Baldy and back down. This trail is probably one of the more difficult trails in the San Gabriel Mountains. The only other comparable trail ( that I have been on ) is the Vivian Creek trail to the top of Gorgonio.

The trail started at the mount Baldy visitor’s center. I parked on the street. The reason I mention this is when we came back down, the gate to the visitor center parking was locked and a car was inside with no way to get out. The trail follows a paved road along a small stream through a densely forested area were little or not sun sees the ground. We passed a series of house and cottages in various stages of their live span. Some of the houses where build in the cliffs and required a pulley system to bring items, like groceries, to and from.

The trail crossed the stream and began the never ending upwards journey. The trail follows the stream for the most part up until Bear flats. This is a moderate climb through wooded area. There is a water pipe that follows, and is part of the trail at places, to a small, green water tank. The trail leads to a small meadow that is covered with ferns and other plants associated with water. This area was recently burned ( 2-4 years? ) and is in stark contrast to the wooded trail just before.

We crossed over the creek and quickly began the second most difficult part of the hike. There trail ascends up a slope to the “Ridge”. There are many switchbacks that take the unwary hiker to the top. The air during this part of the hike seemed much more humid and hot making this section of the trail a real bear. I think the increased humidity and temp are due to the water source directly below and the exposed trail. The trail gets really steep in some places.

We finally made it to the ridge and quickly sat down indicating we would new get up again. The trail continued up the ridge line through pine covered areas. This provided much better scenery than the switchbacks from hell. It also provided more shady spots to stop and rest. The ridge trail only lasted a few hundred yards until the really steep trail started. The trail goes straight up the ridge but has sections of loose gravel and dirt. Several times I was using both hands just to get up. There are plenty of trees along with scrubs of many varieties to break up the difficult climb. After many, many rest breaks, we finally made it to the top of this “ridge”.

This next section of the trail is much more flat than the prior section. This section has fewer trees than the prior section but has outstanding views of the nearby peaks and valleys. The trail meanders its way through scree fields along sometimes steep hillsides. There are fewer trees in this region and the ones that are there have certainly earned the right to be there. A hiker can just imagine the strength of the winds that must come through this region. The trail finds its way to the top of Baldy 1.5 miles or so away. I was hoping for some sort of applause when I reached the summit from the other hikers but none seemed to notice that I had arrived from the “hard way”.

The hike back down was treacherous in places because of the steepness, loose rock and dirt. This was true particularly in the switchbacks and the path down the middle steep area.

We had a great sighting of 3 big horn sheep very near the top of Baldy on the way down. There where three big rams watching us watch them. There were much fewer hikers on this trail. We only had one hiker pass us up, we called him superman. We later discovered that he was hiking with his girlfriend that he left behind on the trail for he wanted to “get his training in”. He is not so super after all. He should not have left her on the trail alone. Not a very smart move I think.

We had 4 people pass us going down the trail while we were still going up and two people pass us on the way down. One was superman, and the other was some crazy German man riding a mountain bike down. Yes, a bike down that trail…We say two dogs on the summit along with 30 other people.

In comparison, there was about 30 or so hikers on the ski hut trail to the top of baldy. Our next hike in a few weeks will be up to San Jacinto leaving from one of the Idlewild trails.

Mount Baldy hike June 28, 2009

There are four trails leading up to Mount Baldy. They are generally known as Bear Flats, Baldy Bowl ( Ski Hut ), Devels Backbone the Pine Mountain/Dawsons Peak trail. We took the Baldy Bowl trail for this trip. We arrived at the trailhead located on the north end of Maker Flats campground. There where about 30 cars parked here at 7:30. This is a good indication of the popularity of this trail and hike.

We started out walking up the paved road and at the first turn had our first glimpse of the top of Baldy. At this point the road became a dirt road that switched back across the slope and continued up to the Baldy notch area. We continued on the road for another 3/10 of a mile according to all the trail descriptions. We came upon this little trail connecting to the trail and heading almost straight up the side of the ridge. We did not think this was it but fortunately a group of hikers corrected us and indicated it indeed was the trail. This is very easy to miss as all the trail descriptions had indicated.

We started the ascent up the trail and quickly where hiking up a trail the was always going up. No flat spots anywhere. The trail is on the north/west side of the ridge that kept us in the shade. This was nice in relation to the exposed ridges farther up. There was a bit of water running and we did see parts of san Antonio falls on the lower part of the trail. There were plenty of pines and bushes along the trail to make for pretty scenery. The trail kept going up and up.

We finally reached the Sierra Club ski hut at 10:00 am or so. This was a nice resting spot before heading up the rock field and the exposed ridges leading to the summit. This hut/shack can be rented for about 25 per day. It has some solar power and an outhouse. There where a group of people enjoying the views while sitting in the chairs outside the cabin.

We left the ski hut and crossed the bolder field. This boulder field is created from the rocks falling of the summit of Baldy and stopping some 2000 feet below in this flatter area. The trail is a bit tricky to follow and we had to hop a few larger boulders. The trail is easy to find at the base of the ridge directly across. Climbing up this ridge was hard and slow. The trail was loose dirt in spots and easy for a hiker to slip. The trees started thinning out and turning to low scrub.

Once on the ridge, we had a few hundred feet of flat that quickly turned steep again. This was the first place we could see the west ridge where the bear flat trail is. There where about 20-30 people we say on the trail that we passed or passed us. We are also amazed that a few of the hikers where hiking in low cut tennis shoes, low socks and just a bottle or two of water. I am not sure how they made it bet we did see some of these hikers at the top. This next section leading from this ridge after leaving ski hut to the top is the toughest. The trail gets steep in places, little shade to rest and a seemingly never ending trail. We started to take much more frequent rests until we finally reached the summit around noon.

There where about 20-25 people having lunch on the summit. We took the necessary pictures and sat down for about 15 minutes. The top of baldy has several crescent shaped rock shelters about 2 feet high. They are used by overnight campers to shield the wind. We finished lunch and started down devils backbone trail to the east. The trail is loose rock and steep in parts. I would not want to up this trail. This is a very popular trail in that hikers can take the ski lift to the top of baldy notch and hike the 4 miles to the top of baldy. Little to these hikers know that it is not an easy trail. The trail follows the ridge line and gets steep and tricky in parts. The part near the notch follows the ridgeline and hikers can see 1000-2000 feet drops on either side without moving very much.

We did see plenty of hikers wearing jeans, long shirts and carrying only one or two bottles of water. I am pretty sure many of them did not make it all the way.

While coming down through the ski lift area ( chair 4 ) we missed the service road that turns right and leads to the ski lodge. We scrambled down a short ridge and found the service road again. A hiker can also follow the out of bounds markers on the top of the ridge and arrive at the same place. We took the service road back to manker flats and arrived back at the car around 3 or so. It was a pretty long walk down the service road.

Next on our list is the bear flats trail. It is about 14 miles round trip, 6000 foot elevation gain and not for the faint of heart. This trail is about 3800 elevation gain. 4 miles from manker to the summit, Another 4 or so to baldy notch and way to many down the service road ( maybe 3 or 4 ).