Hike: Mt. Baldy
Date: 7/2/98
With whom: solo
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Manker Flat to Baldy Notch, Devil's Backbone, to Mt. Baldy
Distance: miles roundtrip
Elevation:
This is one of my more memorable hikes. I drove down to LA for the holiday weekend and had the itch
to get on the trail. Driving to the Mt. Baldy area takes me through areas very familiar to me when
I went to school at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont. I always experience a tinge of nostalgia when
I drive through the area.
The drive up to the Baldy ranger station is a fun one, typical of a mountain road.
I tried taking some of the turns very aggresively in my car, but I experienced
some unusually severe wheel hop. When I later stopped, I checked the tires and
realized that the last time I had my car at the dealer, they put my unidirectional
tires on the wrong side of the car!
I finally arrive at the ranger station (6000' elevation) to buy my Adventure Pass and pick up
a trail map. The ranger informs me that there is still just a bit of snow on top. Cool! I've never hiked
in snow.
This hike starts out at more than 6000' elevation and climbs to the summit of Mt. Baldy (aka Mt. San Antonio)
at 10,064'. It's a 13 mile round trip hike with 3800' of elevation gain. On the weekends, you can
take the ski lift to cut out some mileage and elevation. This was not a weekend and I wanted to
take the extra distance and elevation anyway.
Early into the hike from Manker Flat is a bit of treat, San Antonio Falls. The
hike along the fire road is uneventful and I encounter a couple runners. The trail
continues to wind up this fire road as I gain a good amount of elevation. As I
get closer to the ski lodge at Mr. Baldy notch, there are some nice views back
out towards Upland.
I stop at the ski lodge to have my lunch. I brought along some Starburst that are packaged with 2
Starburst sealed in an airtight plastic wrapper. The wrapper is fully inflated and looks like it is
going to burst because of the altitude. I eat my peanut butter and jelly sandwich and was it down
with some Gatorade.
When I start on the trail again, the directions aren't perfectly clear on how
to proceed. I know I need to end up near the end of one of the ski lifts which
I can see. I start following what seems like a trail (ruts from a car). It turns
out that this is the ski run and the hill becomes very, very steep. I'm in decent
shape, but the altitude affects me and I rest frequently. My heart is beating
very hard.
Once I pass the ski lift drop off, I enounter bits of snow for on the trail. This is the first time
I've encountered snow on a trail and it's exciting. I hike on Devil's Backbone trail and there are
some fun sections with drop offs to both sides. I see no one on this section of the trail.
The stretch of the trail up to the top is completely covered in snow. There is
no visible sign of the trail. I just need to bushwhack it up to the summit. It's
not too bad and the summit is clear of snow.
I know it's very cliche to say, but it is breathtaking at the summit (and not just because of the
elevation ;-). This is the tallest peak in LA county and it's exhilirating to think that I am
literally looking down on every other peak in the county. The summit affords a view in every
direction. t's not often that I have the opportunity to this far into the Los Angeles National
Forest. It's quite a treat.
It's very windy up here and I take some time to enjoy being up here. I set up
the my camera and the timer so I can take a picture of myself. It's a long hike
back, but it goes faster because I jog a bit of the lower section on the fire
road.
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