Modjeska Peak via Harding Short-Cuts

Walking the Harding Truck Trail from the Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary to the summit of Modjeska Peak (5,496 feet) is around 12 miles one way. Factoring in the 4,000 vertical feet of elevation gain makes that a long, foot-pounding hike. In December 2013, Dave Gillanders and I decided to make the route a little shorter (and more interesting) with three substantial shortcuts.

The three shortcuts are shown on the map below:

The Harding Truck Trail is yellow. The short-cuts are red.

The entrances to the short-cuts are not obvious, so you need to pay close attention. And even though the top short-cut is a maintained trail, both ends are difficult to find from the road.

I should mention that this is not a good route on a hot day. I personally wouldn't even consider doing it if forecasted temperatures were above 80 degrees.

Here are some pics from our hike:

Dave on the first short-cut. 

Dave on the summit. 

Santiago Peak as seen from Modjeska Peak

Heading down the top short-cut. You can see that this one is an actual trail.

Modjeska Peak

At 5496 feet, Modjeska Peak is the second highest peak in the Santa Ana Mountains of southern California.  Unlike Santiago Peak (5687 feet), the summit of Modjeska is not covered with telecommunications infrastructure, which makes it a much more appealing destination.

By 5:45 on Thanksgiving morning, Zach Cyrus, Patrick Moran and I were walking up the unpaved Harding Truck Trail.  Four hours and over eleven looooong miles later, we arrived at the summit with Miguel Forjan, who had biked up in under 2.5 hours.  By 12:45 the last of us (namely, me) had returned to the parking lot at Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary.

The numbers: 20+ miles (including some short-cuts), 4000+ vertical feet, 7 hours round trip.

 Sunrise

 Cliffs and trail above Santiago Canyon.

 Patrick and Zach heading up. 

 Mt. Baldy

 A car that had seen better days.

 Looking back down Harding Canyon.  The Harding Truck Trail is visible on the upper left. 

 Zach wondering when this road would ever end.  We missed a key short-cut, adding about 1.5 miles to an already very long walk. 

 Zach on the final stretch. 

(L-R) Patrick, Miguel, and Zach on top of Modjeska Peak.