Pacific NorthWest - Trip Reports & GPS Tracks
Mount Outram (Manning Park, BC) 5-31-2008
On Saturday I met up with a good friend Vince and his hiking companion "Dan the Man" to hike my first peak of any significance in Canada, Mount Outram. The start of the hike at 2000 ft was just within the entrance of pristine Manning Park easily located by the large Marmot sign. The hike was great. It started by hiking along the "Engineers Road" which is a well constructed road into BC dated back to the 1890s. From there we turned north and followed the signs to Mount Outram. The trail switchbacked up through lush, green forest laced with young ferns, freshly leaved trees and ice cold melt water creeks. Soon we started encountering patches of snow, and by 5000 ft we had to put on the snowshoes as the snow was getting deep and was soft and slushy. The hike kept going and going and soon we were above the trees and hiking in mixed patches of large rocks marked with red arrows, lush meadows and more snow. There was many cairns also marking the way. Even with the snow it was hard to loose your way. Eventually after 6000 ft of elevation gain we reached the south summit. From there it was a easy class 3 scramble to the true high point at the north summit. The views were amazing. Snow capped mountains in every direction. The weather could not be better. We made the summit is roughly 5 hours. It only took us 3 hours to descend, as it was easy to take shortcuts over the deep snow and eliminate many of the switchbacks. We were back to the car after 8 hours and had a very enjoyable hike. Highly recommended. More Info:
San Gabriel Mountains - Trip Reports & GPS Tracks
Mount Lowe and Inspiration Peak Loop 3-2-2008
On Sunday I decided to get out for a quick hike, as I told my family I would be home by 11 am to go to the beach. I got to the end of Lake Ave. trailhead by 6 am and was the first one on the Sam Merrill trail. I made it to Echo Mountain in 45 minute, another 45 minutes to Inspiration Point via the Castle Canyon trail. The canyon was beautiful and green, much of the chaparral was in bloom and I loved having the trail to myself. Once I made it to Inspiration point I climbed what I thought was Muir Peak (elevation 4668 ft) but later found out that Muir Peak is further down the ridge (elev. 4688 ft). Damnit! I then hiked back to Inspiration Point and on to Inspiration Peak. I was making good time so I continued on to Mount Lowe. I reached the summit 2.5 hours into my hike. From there, I took the west trail down to the Mount Lowe fireroad and on to the Mount Lowe Campground. I decided to take the scenic route down and followed the fire road (old railway) down to the Cape of Good Hope, where I crossed over to Echo Mountain and continued down the Sam Merrill trail to my car. I made it back is just over 4 hours and was back home by 10:30 am. Nice quick hike! 14 miles and 4600 feet elevation gain. Continued:
Iron Mountain via Southwest Ridge 2-10-08
The first foreshadow of what was to come was that the river was much higher than usual. I asked Tom if maybe we should reconsider and hike the standard route, but Tom was committed and wanted to continue. I was happy to know that we were both determined to make this route work. We started hiking along the river following the trail that has developed. Soon we came upon 2 gold prospectors and their daughter (~12 yrs old). They each had a small sluice box strapped to their obviously heavy packs and were attempting a hair raising river crossing. Tom and I were able to scramble around the rocks and made it past them with our feet still dry, however they had poorly chosen the location to cross and were wading waist deep into very fast flowing water. I was nervous that one of them would get knocked over and washed down the river, but they made it. We continued on and I started thinking that these prospectors might know where the mother lode was located; they certainly were continuing on with determination (More on the mother lode theory later). We were soon forced to cross the river as well and there went my hopes of dry feet; there was no way to cross without wading in. However, by choosing good places to cross we never waded in water higher than knee deep. We ended up crossing 4 times and then reached Allison Gulch heading off to the north (just past the Swan). Continued:
When we stepped out of the warm ski hut at 8,280 feet and confronted the conditions outside, I gave our chances of summiting Mt. Baldy (10,064’) about equal to the odds of the NY Giants beating the Patriots in the Super Bowl later on that day. We faced perhaps a more formidable adversary than a pro football team with a perfect record: Mother Nature in the dead of winter dumping snow and howling with winds strong enough to knock you over. But like the Giants, we put on our game faces and set out to score an upset. This is our Super Bowl story told by the four SP member participants.
Being family men and all, we didn't want to do something stupid like climbing with more than minimal avalanche danger. So we evaluated carefully whether our goal of summiting Mt. Baldy on Super Bowl Sunday was just within the bounds of adventure or whether it courted being the subject of an evening news rescue story. In the end, we decided the worst it would be is a cold, wet, lung-busting 4,000 feet of hiking and climbing in wintry beauty at its best. We were not disappointed in any respect. Continued:
San Servaine Lookout and Buck Point 01-20-08
Now that we had reached the fireroad (1N34) the hiking was easy. Good thing, Coco and I were tired of listening to whining about the brush on the way up. For some reason Tom choose to wear shorts through the worst of the brush and then decided to zip on his pant legs just as the brush ended. I didn't understand that and assumed that Tom was one of those types that enjoyed being miserable. While I thought I did an expert job of navigating by staying on the actual firebreak an avoiding most of the brush, nothing seemed good enough for some of our fellow hikers. But now that the going was easy all I heard were grumblings about having to loose so much elevation on our way to San Sevaine Lookout. We went east down 1N34 fireroad just past San Sevaine Flats when we spotted something running across the road. Tom and Augie thought it was a rabbit, but as I investigated and spotted the “so called” rabbit stalking away and then turning around and staring at us with sharp, pointed ears. I figured that it was a Bobcat. Yes, it had a small, slightly fluffy little tail, but that was where the similarity with a rabbit ended. It was pretty neat watching him calmly walking around about 20 yards from us. I yelled at him to see his reaction, he didn’t even react, we were not apparently worthy of his reaction. Continued:
Burnt Peak, Sawtooth and Liebre Mountains 01-06-08
Circle Mountain 12-31-07 **MY 100th HPS Peak!**
It is December 31th, 2007 and I am standing on top of Circle Mountain with my beautiful family. This is my 100th peak (explanation follows in next section). There are other reasons to celebrate too, this is my daughter Farrah's first peak, my daughter Kenzie's 9th peak and my wife's 6th. I had set a goal early this year to hike 100 peaks prior to the end of the year, and I have just barely managed to meet this goal. It is nice to be able to share this experince with my family, and I am really enjoying the time on the summit. My daughter and I sign the summit register, I take a short video, have a short play session in a small patch of remaining snow, and head on our way. I have promised my daughter a parfait (as Kenzie says, that is a fancy way of saying Sundae) at a restaurant in Wrightwood and we are all hungry. Circle Mountain is an easy peak, other than a few very steep sections the hike up and down is uneventful. I am carrying my 3 year old daughter on my back and my wife is carrying our 3.5 month old in a carrier on her chest. Since I accidentally parked at the wrong location the hike was a little longer than necessary, 4 miles and 1200 ft gain. Long enough for both mine and my wife’s back to get sore hauling our precious cargo. Continued:
On Dec. 28th, 2007 Tom had planned a peak bagging trip to help me obtain my goal of 100 peaks and explore some relatively close mountains near Frazier Park. We meet just off the I5 at 7:00 am and headed off. It was lightly raining and we were nervous as we were not prepared for rain. We started off for what we thought was going to be a drive-up summit of Cerro Noroeste, however we quickly ran into a closed gate and had to change plans. Instead we headed off for Brush Mountain (#94) which was a short hike. Tom had just bought a Honda Element and we were prepared for the rough roads and potential snow for these hikes. The drive up to Brush was straightforward until the final section. It was really steep and washed out. At this point we decided to hike to the top rather than risk getting the new element stuck. It was raining a little harder as we quickly hiked to this uneventful summit. We could not find the summit register, but did not look hard. There were some neat ice formations near the summit, but no views. Continued:
Mount Burnham, Throop Peak and Mount Lewis 12-23-1007
A few days before Christmas Tom, his dog Coco and I decided to attempt a winter hike near Mount Baden-Powell. We drove out past Wrightwood to Vincent Gap at the gated end of the Angeles Crest Highway (ACH). It was a beautiful, clear morning but not too cold. We were the only car at the usually busy Vincent Gap parking lot. Since we were hiking on the north side of the mountains we were expecting snow and cold, and we were not disappointed. We followed a snowboarder and skier’s tracks all the way up to Mount Baden-Powell. At first the snow was only a few inches deep, but it got progressively deeper as we ascended. Near the top the snow had drifted into some very deep areas and our progress was a lot slower than usual. It took us over 2.5 times longer as usual to reach the cold, windy summit of Baden-Powel (2.5 hours). Since the summit was so exposed and windy we quickly left seeking a warmer rest stop. We headed west along the ridge towards Mount Burnham until we found shelter from the wind for a nice snack. Whereas the north side of the ridge had deep drifts of snow, most of the south side was barren. A lot of difference sun exposure can make. We followed the ridge along the south side when possible all the way to Mount Burnham (#91) and then on to Throop Peak. It was still tough going, since often we were forced to hike along the ridge and deal with deep powder snow. Post holing is very tiring, especially while ascending. Plus we had to loose and regain a lot of elevation in order to attain Throop, the saddle was lower than I expected. Once on Throop (#92) we ate lunch, enjoyed the amazing clear views and then descended to the ACH via Throop’s north ridge. There is a trail most of the way, but for a good portion of the ridge we had to trudge through deep snow until we descend to lower elevation and the snow decreased. I really enjoyed this ridge, it was gentle and scenic. I recommend this route. Continued:
Gobblers Knob and Wright Mountain
Lookout Mountain and Sunset Peak
Winston Peak, Winston Ridge and Akawie Peak
Mount Disappointment and Deception
Monrovia, Rankin and Clamshell Peaks
Today is supposed to the luckiest day of the Millennium; 7/7/7. Well, for this triple 7 day I decided to hike a triple peak loop in the Monrovia Canyon area: Clamshell Peak, Rankin Peak and Monrovia Peak. I parked at the beginning of the Clamshell Canyon Fire road off of Ridgeside Drive. The road just looks like a driveway, so you need to look for the street address 873 Ridgeside Drive and park. To get to Ridgeside, take Myrtle North off the 210 Freeway, drive a little over a mile and turn right on Hillcrest Boulevard, go a short ways and turn left on Canyon Boulevard. After approx. 1/2 mile turn left on Ridgeside Drive and drive 1/2 mile and park. Anyway, I got an early start trying to beat the heat and started hiking at 5:40 am. I saw a deer after a short distance on the fireroad, he didn't seem overly concerned as I approached him. I always love seeing friendly animals on the trail. After a short distance the fireroad starts to loose elevation once it intersects with the ridge to Clamshell peak. This is where I turned sharp right and took the ridge trail, which is also classified as a fire break. I startled a homeless man camping out part way up the ridge, he had a nice little camp spot, definetly nice morning views. I commented to him that he has a nice spot, he seemed to appreciated this comment and his reply sounded as if he had pride in his campspot. If you are hiking later, after the park opens, you can park within the park and save some mileage (but pay some cash) and hike the Bill Cull Trail. The ridge trail that I was following interested with the Bill Cull Trail after about 1.8 miles. Just make sure you keep on the ridge, and follow it all the way up. This is a nice route, however the bush is bad. Wearing shorts was not a good idea, my legs were getting so beaten up that I tied my bandana around one shin and uses some first aid supplied around the other to protect them from the scraping of the bush, which lasted about 10 minutes until falling around my ankles. This ridge does not have much shade and is very hot in July. It is also fairly steep, some sections might even be classified as class 2. Continued:
Mount Williamson, Pallett, Will Thral and Pleasant View Ridge
Baden-Powell and Ross Mountain
Mount Baldy, Harwood, Thunder, Telegraph and Timber
On a beautiful, southern California fall morning Tom and I headed up to Mount San Antonio (Mount Baldy) starting in Baldy Village near the visitor center. It was 7:00 am and even though it is late October, it was already getting warm out. This is one of my favorite trails with great views, varying terrain and significantly different microclimate zones as you progress up the trail. You see yuccas growing next to a lush fields of ferns, fragrant Bay Laurel trees, colorful poison oak, scrub oak, dense chaparral, incense cedars, Jeffery pines, lodgepole pines and stunted limber pines near the summit.
Usually, the steep trail from Baldy Village to the summit of Mount Baldy is more than enough of a challenge, with close to 6000 ft gain over 6 miles it can be pretty brutal, especially in the heat of the summer. However today Tom and I were maybe feeling a little sadistic and have decided to follow the ridge north from Mount Baldy (10,064 ft) to Dawson Peak (9,575 ft) and then even further to the summit of Pine Mountain (9,648 ft). The traverse of the ridgeline from Mount Baldy to Pine Mountain required an additional 1300 ft elevation gain on the way to Pine Mountain and 1700 ft back up to Mount Baldy. The entire round trip was over 9000 ft elevation gain, over 1.7 vertical miles. Continued:
On a beautiful Southern California spring morning Tom, Scott and I started our 4 peaks hike after the long drive to Islip Saddle deep in the Angeles National Forests at the gated end of the Angeles Crest Highway (SR2). We had planned to hike Middle Hawkins, Sadie Hawkins, South Mount Hawkins, Hawkins and possibly Throop Peak and Islip Peak. Immediately after leaving Islip saddle we ran into snow on the trail, making us realize that there was a lot more snow that we anticipated (we incorrectly thought we would only find a few patches). In fact, near Little Jimmy Campground we lost all previous tracks and most of the trail under a hard cover of snow. The snow covered the trail in many spots so deeply that there was no break in the steep slope ending far below near the closed section of the 2 highway. We had to kick steps to cross these areas and really should have had crampons or at least an ice axe for safety. In spots the frozen crust on the snow was too hard to break and we had to detour as we were not prepared to cross such a steep ice slope where one slip would have serious consequences (on our return the snow was much softer and safer, but also wetter). Continued:
Sugarloaf, Ontario, Bighorn, Cucamonga and Etwanda Peaks
It was a cold, clear morning as Tom and I left the cars at the Icehouse Canyon parking lot. Whereas the city below was engulfed in clouds, we were well above the cloud layer and the sky was a bright clear blue that you only seem to see when the weather is cold. We started up the Icehouse Canyon trail, passed a couple of the cabins along the creek (commenting how I could live in one of these) and then diverted off the trail to intersect Falling Rock Canyon. There is no questioning how this canyon got its name, I even smelt that distinct smell of crushed rock at one point, indicating freshly falling rocks. The hike up the canyon was, in my opinion, the best part of the hike. Even though there was a lot of scree at the top, the class 2 and 3 sections were fun. We left the canyon earlier than we needed to in order to meet up with the saddle for Sugarloaf Peak. All we needed to do was stay straight when the canyon veered to the left to catch the saddle. Instead we ended up further up the ridge closer to Sugarloaf. From the ridge it was a simple walk to the summit, signed the very tattered summit log, enjoyed the beautiful views and went on our way to Ontario. Continued:
The seconday route (East Ridge) is fairly straightforward. It involves more travel along Shoemaker Road than the primary route, through both tunnels, following the road that becomes an overgrown trail all the way up to the east ridge. Once on the ridge, follow it all the way to the summit (just keep going up). At one point you come across the trail that follows above the East Fork of the San Gabriel (leading to bridge to nowhere I think, near airplane flat - anyone hiked this before?) but you only follow this trail for about 10 yards and then turn left to continue to follow the ridge (there is a small cairn) up to the top. The trail is faint, but not really necessary other than to avoid the thick brush. There is a little bit of elevation loss going over the bumps along the ridge, but less than the primary route. The views are beautiful, offering good view of Iron Montain, Mount Baldy and the Bridge to Nowhere. A side note, we saw a trail near the summit coming out of Rattlesnake Canyon just north of the East Ridge that we followed on our ascent. The USGS Map shows that there is a trail that leads part way up the canyon, but then heads back down towards the East fork of the San Gabriel. Based on this find, we assume that you can also ascend Rattlesnake via Rattlesnake canyon, which looks to be a nice route. Continued:
Rabbit, Granite, Roundtop and Iron Mountains
Sierra Nevada Peaks - Trip Reports & GPS Tracks
We met at the Twin Lakes Resort trailhead shortly before 6:00 am for Day 1 of the Sierra Challenge. Some of us were planning Whorl and Matterhorn, some only Whorl, some only Matterhorn and about 6 were doing The Doodad (which was the challenge peak of the day). We all started off at a good clip at 3 mph, some of us taking the long switchbacks and others taking the shorter, steep trail along the waterfall. Shortly after leaving the established horse creek trail, Bob and his group broke away for The Doodad. There were 5 of us in the group heading to Whorl; Patrick, Chris, Adam, Tom, Bill and myself. The trail is difficult to follow, weaving in and out of boulders, trees and heavy bush. We leave the creek and navigate towards Horse Creek Pass. Now the trail is mainly boulder hopping and a little tedious. "The secret of this kind of climbing is like Zen. Don't think. Just dance along. It's the easiest thing in the world, actually easier than walking on flat ground which is monotonous. The cute little problems present themselves at each step and yet you never hesitate and you find yourself on some other boulder you picked out for no special reason at all, just like Zen." Continued:
Saturday, June 16th at 7:00 AM I start out solo for Dragon Peak from Onion Valley Trailhead. My plans are not set in stone. I may hike only Dragon Peak, or possibly Dragon and Kearsarge Peak. This is my first solo hike of mountain via a route classified harder than class 1 and I am not even sure that I will make it to the top of Dragon Peak, especially if I run into snow. I start off on the main trail leading to Kearsarge pass from Onion Valley. After a short distance, I take the marked trail to the north heading towards Golden Trout Lake. One of the beautiful waterfalls in the area comes into view and soon I am hiking up a very steep, sandy trail along its north side. The top of the waterfall consists of a large boulder field and I absentmindedly loose the trail. I figure I will hook up with it by angling to the west and am not concerned. After a while I still have not found the trail so I consult my map and determine that the trail actually crossed the creek at the top of the waterfall and now I am on the wrong side. The hiking is easy without the trail so I continue along my cross country route rather than trying to find a way to cross the creek and find the trail. Now I find myself having to climb a talus slope and gaining elevation above the creek. I am stubborn, and am not willing to give up any of my elevation gain so I continue on my cross country route. I end up having to loose some elevation and rejoin the trail as it climbs next to the second waterfall. I figure my cross country route added some elevation but cut some mileage. Once on the trail I make a mental note that when hiking alone I should stay on the trail. The talus slopes were not difficult, but shifting rocks could trap my leg and break a bone and no one would know where to find me (I told my campmates simply that I was hiking Dragon and probably Gould). Continued:
We started our trip to Bear Creek Spire the morning of Saturday, October 7, 2006 at 7:00 am from the Mosquito Flat Trailhead. It was a beautiful, clear, cold morning. The frozen mud made for easy hiking and the spectacular views of the mountains and amazing fall colors made the time fly by. We had clear views of our destination all the way along the trail, the views impressed us at the same time the apparent great distance intimidated me. We hiked along the stunning Little Lakes Valley Trail past Long Lake where we picked up a use trail that followed the small creek that feeds Long Lake. The trail follows a rocky gully up over a ridge to Treasure Lakes, where we set up camp. We camped here rather than Gem Lakes for closer proximity to Mount Dade for our Day 2 planned hike (which ended up not happening). We set-up camp and had lunch, the sky was so clear and the weather so perfect that we didn't see the need to put the flies on our tents nor cover our packs. The campsite had beautiful views of Bear Creek Spire, Pipsqueak Spire and Mount Dade. We discussed our route, and decided to climb the easier Ulrichs Route rather than the Northeast Ridge. This was my first hike on snow/ice and with my good views of the intimidating, snow covered Hourglass Col to Mount Dade (class 2?) I was not comfortable with the class 4 northeast ridge. So we packed up our daypacks and left camp for Cox Col. Continued:
Other Peaks - Trip Reports & GPS Tracks
Rabbit and Villager Peaks 02-17-08
It is 3:15 am on Sunday 2/17/08 and I am rushing to get ready. I ask myself "why am I doing this?" I only get 2/7th of my days off and even fewer chances to sleep in and I am getting ready to drive 3 hours so I can punish myself on a grueling hike of Rabbit and Villager peaks (possibly even Rosa Point). Then I will have to drive back in traffic so I can get to bed for work tomorrow. Unlike some, I do not get the luxury of having President’s day off of work. I always seem to question myself like this before a hike, but as usual I have made a commitment to hike and in this case Tom is already at the trailhead having arrive last night. Our plan is to ascend Rabbit via the west ridge. Continued:
San Jacinto 7 Peak Loop 2007-11-24
(Photo taken by and Trip Report Written by Mountain Impulse)
Our ambition was a 7 peak day in the crisp November air of southern California’s San Jacinto Wilderness Area. The outing was conceived by SPer Travis (Linds). He solicited takers - and there were several - but for various reasons, only Travis and I ended up on the outing. We planned to do a loop from the top of the Palm Springs Tram (8,240’) going west in a counter-clockwise direction. In order, we would climb Cornell Peak (9,750’), Miller Peak (10,400’), San Jacinto Peak (10,834’), Folly Peak (10,480’), Drury Peak (10,160+’), Jean Peak (10,670’) and Marion Mountain (10,320’). Travis downloaded a route for us on his GPS and we were set.
We left my house in South Pasadena promptly at 5:30 a.m. and breezed to the tram with time to spare to catch the first tram up the canyon at 8 a.m. At the tram, we ran into a group of Russians (now living in the States) I had met the previous weekend on a climb of Mt. Baldy via Register Ridge. They had been an exuberant bunch and I was happy to run into them again.
When we got to the top of the tram, it was an invigorating 35º F. We hiked the short distance to the Ranger Station in Long Valley to pick up our self-issued permit and we were on our way. Continued:
With the threat of afternoon storms sitting in the back of my mind, I parked my car at Vivian Creek trailhead and we started walking up the road as you would for hiking San Gorgonio via Vivian Creek. We were not sure what this hike would entail, since if storms developed we did not want to be descending the ridge within a drainage (obviously). So at some point we had to either commit or retreat if storms were developing. We continued walking on the trail past the large and dramtic drainage for Camp Creek, past the turnoff for San Gorgonio and continued about ¼ mile to the next gully east of Camp Creek. We basically followed the HPS description, however it can be confusing. The gully branches off a couple of times and it is hard to understand when to get up on the ridge separating the gullies. But we had GPS data and figured out to ignore the small branches and wait until it is obvious and the ridge between the gullies is obvious. There are some rock cairns marking the point at which to gain the ridge. Once on the ridge the ascent is pretty straightforward, it is steep but still considered class 1. We continued up until this ridge between gullies met up with the ridge leading southwest. At this point we followed this new ridge in a circular path up and around to Little San Gorgonio. Continued:
We left my house only slightly behind schedule, made a pit stop on the way, and were at the Moymer Trailhead in Forest Falls at 5:45 am. The trailhead is easy enough to find if you have done your homework. It is a large dirt parking lot with signage just before the fire station. Some maps show the “old” trailhead further west, but this trailhead is no longer used. We donned our warm clothes and headlamps and started off across the creek. Once you cross the creek the trail is well maintained and easy to follow. It starts off gradual as it contours over to meet up with the ridge, then it starts to get steep. Our goal was to maintain an overall speed of 2 mph, which we were able to maintain throughout the day.
As the sun arose over the neighboring mountains we left the well maintained Moymer trail and started up the not so well maintained trail to San Bernardino peaks. I have heard rumors of this trail and figured it would be worse than it was. There were many log crossings and the chaparral did encroach fairly close in some spots, but overall the trail was easy to follow and not to brushy if wearing pants. We gained some serious elevation gain and followed the trail up until the last switchback below East San Bernardino Peak. At this point I had previously planned to cut across to the west from the last switchback to avoid all the additional mileage east and the backtracking. Usually such plans are ruined when you get to the location and realize it is totally not feasible, but in this case it worked great. At the last switchback the chaparral had thinned out and there were large areas of talus and boulder fields that could be followed to the northwest. We were able to meet back up with the trail a little west of East San Bernardino peak and cut off a few miles. If I were to try this again, I would cut harder to the west and try to hook up with the low point at the saddle prior to the final climb to San Bernardino Peak (and save a little extra elevation gain). I was all about trimming the mileage down on this hike in order to make it more feasible to the average hikers, and when you look at the elevation/mileage profile below, I think you will agree that at approx. 20 miles we accomplished this goal. Continued:
Sierra Club Hundred Peaks Section GPS Tracks
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