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 ).