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 ).

Mount Baden-Powell hike in the San Gabriel Mountains June 7, 2009

My hiking buddies and I went on a hike up to Baden-Powell and over to Mount Hawkins. This was our fourth training trip in preparation for our Whitney hike in early September. We started out from the trail head at Vincent gap at about 7:30 am or so. The weather was cooler but the sun was out. There where about 10 cars in the parking lot when we left. The first four miles of the trail is uphill. I believe the trail ascends about 2800 feet or so. There are many switchbacks of the north east side of the mountain.

This first part did not seem to long for some reason. It certainly did not seem like the 4 miles indicated. The trail climbs in and out of pines and exposed sections. The trail is well marked but care must be taken as to not miss a switchback. There were many times I needed to remind Jim or George they missed a switchback. The trail is mostly uphill but there where a few flat sections.

The Trail splits near the top just before the peak of Baden-Powell. The trail going to the right is PCT. This is also the trail leading up to the peak from the parking lot. There is a famous tree at this junction as well that makes a great photo spot. Looking over the cliff to the east is a least a thousand if not two thousand foot, very steep drop off. We took the trail ( left trail from PCT junction ) leading to the top of the hill. It was just another 200 feet or so. There is a nice monument at the top. There are a few scattered trees near the crest but pretty bare.

We left down the north or north west side of the crest. We scrambled down some loose rock and re joined the PCT trail heading along the ridge top. We passed Mt Burnham on the way to Throop Peak. The trail in this section mostly follows the ridge line either on the north or south side. The trail is good and passes through wooded areas and more exposed areas. This I think was one of the prettier sections of the hike. The trail passes below Throop peak on the south side so all you peak baggers will need to scramble up a few hundred feet to actually reach the top. It looked like scree most of the way. Lots of fire damaged trees on this section.

We made our way over to mount Hawkins from Throop. There is a small side trail leading to this peak that we took. Really nice views from this peak. The trail in some sections was not marked or the marking was not readable. One note is that the PCT trail is marked with white metal posts about 2 feet high. If you see these, you are on the right trail. There is a trail that splits off from this and heads to Dawson saddle I believe. You want to stay to the left.

The hike on the way back was a bit harder. My friend Jim indicated that it feels more like a let down after reaching the highest point ( Baden-Powell), descending a few hundred feet, walking 4 miles to Hawkins and having to climb back up it again. He much prefers to climb to a peak and then continue downhill back to the start.

We met a few interesting groups of hikers on this trip. We met a group of 4 women all wearing light blue fleece jackets and light blue wide brimmed hats. They must have belonged to a hiking club. We also ran into many hikers with their dogs. We probably saw 10 dogs at or near the top of Baden-Powell. We returned to the parking lot at about 4:00 pm or so after hiking 16 miles round trip. There where about 60 cars in the parking lot. Our next hike in a few weeks should be Baldy.

Here is a list of the training hikes we are planning for our trip to Mount Whitney. This training schedule starts from short, lower hikes and progressively gets longer and higher. The final training hike is 22 miles with 4000 elevation gain and gets to 11,500 feet. Not as much as Whitney but hopefully enough for us. The schedule is about 2 hikes a month leading up to the Whitney hike with individual training on the weekdays and weekends.

April – Santiago peak ( done ). see post

April – Timber Mountain ( done ) see post.

May 15 or 16 Modjeska Peak, Mt Wilson or Iron Mountain. The other peaks of interest, Cucamonga, Ontario still have too much snow to find the trail at higher elevations.

June 6 or 7 Baden Powell (near Wrightwood).

June 27 or 28 Mt Baldy – There is an East approach (Devils Backbone trail) and a South approach (ski hut trail) that both begin and end at the same trail head. So we could do one way up and one way down or make this two different hikes. The Devils Backbone is 13.5 miles with a 3800 elevation gain to the 10,000 foot summit. The ski hut trail is a shorter hike at 8.4 miles with a 3900 elevation gain..obviously a steeper climb

July 18 (Sat) Bear Flats hike up to Mt Baldy (we might want to switch this date with San Jacinto )..this is one of the toughest hikes in southern CA..my work buddy’s dad trained on it as prep for Mt McKinley, and he calls it a real ball buster, bar none! 12 mile hike with a 6000 foot elevation gain!

July 25 or 26 San Jacinto

Aug 9 (Sun) San Gorgonio (Vivian Creek Trail) another all day, ball buster hike
Note…this is the weekend of United Cup, but the timing is ideal as we need to hike this weekend, take a week off then hike Aug 22-23, take a week off and head to Whitney

Aug 22 or 23 San Gorgonio (Fish Creek Trail)

Sept 4 MT Whitney

This is a summary of a hike a friend and I did on April 5, 2009. We started at Middle Fork trail head in the Lytle Creek recreation area. The intent was to climb up to Mount Cucamonga and back. The trip takes the Middle Fork Trail to Ice house notch - 7600 ft. ( 5.7 miles one way ). Then from there, take the Mount Cucamonga trail to the peak ( 8900 ft ) and back ( 2.9 one way).

The trail head was much higher than expected. I knew it was 3980 feet but it did not seem that high. There are two trail that leave the trail head. The high trail cuts across through the hill on the right hand side while the lower trail is located on the bottom of the riverbed. Both trails offer different views and perspectives. In the early morning the high trail was warmer. This was nice in the chilly mornings. I can see this would be very warm trail in the summer and the lower trail would be the preferred route. The lower trail offers close views of the river bed and trees. It is a typical river bed with large rocks, boulders, a few trees and meadows. The water was running, cold and very clear.

The trails meet a few miles up so it does not make too much difference which one to take. We came to the first campsite and we lost the trail. After a little searching, we found the trail again. The trail grew much steeper in this section. We could here the waterfalls down in the bottom of the gorge. The trail also moved along some pretty wide debris/scree fields of various size of rocks. One part was the trail was gone and we had to scramble through the debris field. A little unnerving when you look down and it falls of into the bottom that you cannot see. We went through several types of climates zones. Tall forests, I think they where cedar although they looked like redwoods, open manzanita scrubs, mature oak groves.

The trail was narrow in many places but passable. We arrived at the second camp and again lost the trail. After a short search, we found it again near the back. This campsite, and the first where situated under a large canopy of trees providing cool shade all day long. After leaving the second camp, we started the long climb up to Ice House notch. There where more an more patches of snow on the ground but still easy to find the trail. The most interesting feature was a rock that had broken off way above, rolled down a long and steep snow covered slope, slammed into the snow, bounced up and slid a ways down the snow field.

About half way up, the snow started covering the trail and we had to scramble up to the top. Ice house notch is 7600 feet. It was very windy and cold at the notch. We had to put the sweaters on. As you can see from the pictures, there as still lots of snow on the south side of the ridges. 5.7 miles from Middle Fork Trail head. Our initial ideas was to climb mount Cucamonga. The trail was completely covered with snow so the only trail left to go was to Timber mountain. We went to the top of Timber Mountain ( 8300 ) and had lunch 0.9 miles from Ice House Notch. I had part of Jim's turkey sandwich and tasted great. I usually only eat cliff bars and things like that but just a few bites of the sandwich was a treat. We thought about continuing over to Telegraph peak ( 8900 ) but again, the trail was covered with snow.

We started back down and reached the car after 2.5 hours. 4.5 hours up.

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