Santiago Peak, Telephone Pole Ridge again

Here's a quick photo dump from our April 15 climb of Santiago Peak via the unmaintained Telephone Pole Ridge (or whatever it's called).  For more details about the route, go here.  One note is that we were able to find the elusive Upper Joplin Trail on the descent -- it's a more or less direct route from Santiago Peak to the Lower Joplin Trail.

 After hiking uphill for an hour or so, it's still a long way away.

Miguel and Brian enjoying a clear stretch on the ridge.

Brian on some of the class 1+ terrain that plagued Miguel -- ok, not really.

Miguel savoring yet another batch of bushwacking. 

 Ahhh, out of the brush and onto the road just below the top.  

 The San Gabriels were looking pretty good.  

A rare sight in the Santa Anas.

Brian, Miguel, and me on top, with the San Gabriels in the background. 

Though I usually see a wrecked vehicle on every Santa Ana hike, this one surprised me because it was on a narrow stretch of the Upper Joplin Trail.  

Conquest.

Pinos Ridge

On April 8, Patrick Moran and I hiked Pinos Ridge Trail to Pinos Peak (~4500 feet).  The beginning of the trail crosses the privately owned Lazy W Ranch, which we passed through with permission.  The fifteen or so bumps along the ridge turn it into 5500+ feet of elevation gain over ~16 miles round trip.  It's a real grind, especially on a hot day.

We tried to beat the April heat with a pre-dawn start, but the heat caught up to us on the totally exposed trail.  With about three miles to go, Patrick came dangerously close to heat stroke or something similar.  I won't get into the details of that here, but it is worth noting how even strong, well-prepared hikers can get blindsided in the hills. 

 Should I take direction from this sign?  If so, then what does that mean?

 Full moon (or close to it). 

 Lots of ups and downs. 

 Santiago Peak in the background with Bell Ridge in the middle foreground. 

 Patrick observing hundreds of jumbo ants on the summit. 

 Preparing to slog back up a big bump on the descent. 

 Old Sugarloaf. 

 Looking back at Pinos Peak. 

We had to move this bundle of joy out of the way to pass safely.  He went berserk when Patrick prodded him with a trekking pole. 

Pleasants Peak

It's taken a week for me to post this, so I think I'll just let the photos do most of the talking.  The walk to and from Pleasants Peak (4000+ feet) involved ~3000 feet of elevation gain (lots of ups and downs) and ~16 miles. 

 This grassy stretch of the Main Divide Road is clearly visible from much of Orange County.

 More of the grassy stretch. 

 I seem to see a wrecked vehicle on every hike in the Santa Anas. I jokingly asked Dave to climb inside of this one for a photo ... and he did.

 Dave and Miguel on the rather uninspiring summit. 

Indian Warrior (pedicularis densiflora)

 Knobcone pine cones growing right out of the trunk.  Weird!

San Gorgonio, Northside Chute

It had been nearly two years since my last trip to the San Bernardino Mountains, primarily because worthwhile outings there require a full day.  And this was not to be an exception.  A 2:45AM alarm was necessary to start hiking from the South Fork trailhead before 6:00.  By 8:30, we were replacing shoes with boots at Dry Lake.

The snow was mostly firm until we reached the open moraine above Dry Lake.  From that point on it was variable with an abundance of sudden postholes through seemingly firm crust.  The conditions improved as we ascended the chute.  The snow petered out a few hundred vertical feet below the crest, providing an hour of classic scree climbing (reminiscent of the slog to Mt. Russell's East Ridge).  A little after noon, we were relieved to step onto the 11,490 foot summit of San Gorgonio. 

The joy of glissading down the north side was short-lived, as we immediately found ourselves mired in unconsolidated mush.  After a solid hour (or two?) of regular, albeit unpredictable, postholes, we stumbled back to Dry Lake.  By 5:30, we were on the road, ingesting caffeine and pretzels.  Miraculously, I was back in south Orange County at 7:15PM (much better than the three hours it once took me to drive home from there).   

The numbers: 4600+ vertical feet; 11+ hours round trip.

 Patrick at Dry Lake.

 Stepping into the uncooperative snow above Dry Lake (Jepson Peak on the left).

 Approaching the chute. 

 Following a glissade run up the chute. 

Mt. San Jacinto from near the summit. 

 Patrick taking time to savor a posthole. We ascended the chute second from left and glissaded the far left chute. 

 The calm before the storm (Jepson Peak).

One last look back at Mt. San Gorgonio.

Pinos Peak via Bell Ridge

Yesterday (March 1), Patrick Moran and I took a surprisingly great hike up and down Bell Ridge to Los Pinos Peak (4,510 feet) in the Santa Ana Mountains.  Though the net elevation gain is ~3000 vertical feet, all of the ups and downs on the serpentine ridge make it 4300+ vertical feet round trip. This trail, which I heard about from a friend, is not marked on any map or guidebook I've seen, though it is discussed in some mountain biking blogs. 

The numbers: ~13 miles, ~4300 vertical feet, 5.5 hours.

 A misty dawn.

Patrick exuding some serious aura.

The snow and mist made for a refreshing hike. 

 Patrick on the summit, which we reached at 9:15.

Santiago Peak, um, peaking above the clouds. 

 Heading down.

Looking back up the ridge. 

Spur of the Moment (Mt. Baldy)

Patrick Moran and I planned to hike the Devil's Backbone Trail on Mt. Baldy yesterday.  But after walking up the dirt road for twenty minutes, the urge to get off the beaten path became irresistible.  Thus, on a whim, we ascended a trail-less spur ridge that drops down from Devil's Backbone, two ridges east of Register Ridge.  We eventually merged with the trail and followed it to the top, which we reached at 9:00AM. 

Dawn

Gaining the ridge after ten minutes of groveling

 Comfortable walking on a bed of pine needles

An unusual angle of Baldy Bowl 

Devil's Backbone Trail

The final slog to the summit

West Horsethief / Trabuco Canyon Lollipop

On Saturday (February 11), Abby and I hired a babysitter and explored new terrain (for us, anyway) in the Santa Ana Mountains.  The trailhead was at the very end of Trabuco Creek Road.  Although the first half of the road was improved, the second half was as rough as ever, so we were glad to be in our AWD Subaru . . . at least initially. 

From road's end, we hiked up Trabuco Canyon to the junction with the West Horsethief Trail, avoiding fresh deposits of horse poop along the way.  After the zigzagging ascent of West Horsehief, we intersected Main Divide Road, which we followed for a couple scenic miles to Los Pinos Saddle.  There we headed downhill on the Trabuco Canyon Trail, occasionally jumping out of the way to avoid collisions with reckless and very serious mountain bikers -- they're probably having "fun" in some remote sense of the word, but they often don't look like it.

Returning to the car, we made it about 100 feet before the front right tire exploded after being punctured by a tree root.

The numbers: 10 miles, 2700 vertical feet.

What Abby's car may have become had we not brought a spare tire. 

 Ascending the switchbacks on West Horsethief Trail. 

Getting close to Main Divide Road above the switchbacks. 

Among the conifers on Main Divide Road. Lots of varied vegetation on this hike.