Mount Lowe Night Hike: Are You Scared of the Dark?

With Mt. Whitney closely approaching, We realized that we had had no experience hiking in the dark with our headlights. This is a mandatory task on Mt. Whitney, as we will be beginning our hike at 3 am, in the pitch black wilderness.


I decided that we needed to get some night hiking practice in before our big trip. I knew that Mount Lowe Trail was a well known trail to us all, and relatively close to civilization, so it was the obvious choice. The only potential problem was wildlife, aka mountain lions, and the well known fact that the area is a refuge for devil worshipers, witches, and other dark gatherings. What could go wrong, right?

Elizabeth and Jen met at my place around 2 am. We gathered our gear and made the drive over to the trail head. We got out of the car and put on our backpacks. Just as we did, the street lights flickered, then turned out, leaving us in total dark. Must be a coincidence. the area couldn't really be as haunted as they say it is, right?

We walked up to the front gate which lead to to old Cobb Estate and the beginning of our trail. As we approached the gate, 3 gothic teens crept out of the dark and exited the old Cobb estate and out onto the street. After seeing this, we knew we would be in for an interesting hike.

We hit the trail with out headlamps on out heads, guiding the way. I took the lead and the 2 girls followed closely behind. This was our first time hiking in the dark, and I do have to say it is a strange experience. Our headlamps use blue LED lights, which washed out all color from our views. It was like watching an old TV show in black and white. The other odd experience was the tunnel vision. With out lights spotlighted in front of us, everything else in our peripheral vision faded into the darkness.

As we approached our 1 mile mark, we noticed small objects swooping around and fluttering around us. We frequently had to dodge these objects and they often almost fly into our heads. We stopped to observe these objects. We realized what they were. BATS. and they were everywhere. We tried to ignore them as we pushed on.


As we continued we were met by a few other night time creatures.... Tarantulas, Spiders....and something we didn't expect. As we rounded a bend in the trail, I saw something large sprint towards me on the trail then dart off into the brush. My heart stopped and I froze trying to figure out what was running toward us. 2 more creatures ran towards us, then again into the brush. My first thought was, Mountain Lions! but as the last creature ran into the brush, I saw the hind leg of the animal kick into the air. It was a family of deer. We must have snuck up on them. I don't know who was more scared, us or them.


We pushed on and finally reached the old Mt. Lowe Hotel Ruins (the white city). It was a little past 4 am. What we saw was amazing. We could see the San Gabriel Valley, Pasadena, Glendale, Los Angeles, San Bernardo. Each city blending together, creating a giant blanket of lights for as far as we could see. Absolutely Amazing! We stopped for a moment to snap some photo's then continued our appretiation of the city lights.


We grabbed some snacks out of our bags and gazed at the city lights for quite some time. We decided it would be a wonder experience to sit and wait for the sunrise. The sun soon broke from beyond the horizon and lit our view of the valley. We had had enough rest, and started our way back down the trail.

We passed some folks making their way up as we made our way down. They seemed very shocked to see someone coming down at 5:30 in the morning. They must have figured they were going to be the early birds. They must have thought we were crazy. The rest of the hike was uneventful. It only took us 40 minutes to come back down to the cars and then a quick 15 minute drive back home.

While the phyisical hike itself was not challanging, learning to navigate a trail in the dark, getting bombarded by bats, being spooked by wickens, and sneaking up on wild animals, made this trip quite the adventure.

Next Stop..... Mt. Whitney!!

Baden Powell Strikes Back...

Dancing with the Devil

Info on our pre trip to mt whitney.

Mt San Jacinto

Mt. Lowe Historical Railroad

This will have info about our hike on the mt low railroad.

Baden Powell: Mountain Lions Like Snow too....

Dedicated to the man who created the Boy Scouts, this hike definitely required some boy scout learned skills. For example, how to tell which way is North. Another, how to stop yourself from sliding down the side of a mountain covered with snow.

Jenn, her brother Dave, Elizabeth and John all headed out early one morning towards the Mountain High area of highway 2. Driving towards the saddle and parking lot, they noticed that there were hardly any cars. This made everyone think that the hike was going to be nice and peaceful. Getting out of the car and looking up toward the peak, lead them to believe something different. You see, there was still snow on the mountain. This is something that the group wasn't entirely prepared for.

After tossing on their gear, they started to head up the trail. Not even a mile in, snow patches began to show on the mountainside. Excited that there was snow, the group quickly moved along the trail. Later, this would not be the emotion they were expressing.

As small patches of snow turned into large patches of which the group had to cross, Jenn became a little more wary of the hike. At this point John and Elizabeth decided to share their trekking poles with Jenn and Dave as they were very much needed to keep from sliding down the side of the mountain. About 2 miles in, the large patches of snow had turned into huge ones and losing the trail became a concern.

As we hiked along the trail, we hiked along the snow filled trial, we started to notice animal prints in the snow. They were mountain lion tracks. Big mountain lion tracks. We came to a point in the hike where the trail opened up into a small flat area. It was at this point where the trail seemed to disappear under the snow. We each spread out, combing the area, trying to pick up the trail. As we looked for the trail, we spotted more and more mountain lion prints.

Elizabeth stopped and asked everyone, "uhhh do you guys smell that?" We all raised our noses to the wind and caught the strong scent of animal urine. It was at that moment that we realized that we were standing in the mountain lions marked area. We bunched together and shot of on what we thought was the continuation of the trail.

This "trail" was all snow, with a width of a few inches; just enough to step one foot in front of the other. Once false step, and a hiker would slide down the mountain side. And that's just what happened. We all watched in horror as Elizabeth's foot slide out from under her, and he started to slide down the mountain side. Luckily, she was able to wrap one of her legs around a tree as she slid. We helped her back up to the trail.

It was at this point that we decided that attempting to continue on with this trip could lead to deadly results. We turned around and marched back through the slick icy snow back to the car.

We did not reach the peak, but with all the odds fighting against us, we figured it would be better to attempt this hike at a later point in the summer.

Mt. Wilson: "Lions and Fires and Bears.. Oh My!"

Mt. Wilson. Good old Mt. Wilson. Not a new hike to us. In fact we hiked this peak last year this time, only on a different route. So when our morning started, we didn't expect to much excitement. This would be more of a cardio/training hike than a sight seeing hike. What could go wrong?

The morning of the hike we gathered at my place, and made the short drive to the Chantry Flats Parking area 3 miles into the mountain side, just off the Santa Anita 210 FWY Exit. We parked the car, threw on our gear, and set out on the trail.

We marched single file down the trail. Jen in the lead, Liz in the back, and me in the middle. About .75 miles into the hike, we head some leaves crunch off the the right of the trail. This is not abnormal. There are always lizards, snakes and squirrels making their way through the brush. The crunches got a little louder and heavier. Before I would look, Elizabeth yelled, "BEAR!". She pushed me out of her way and jolted down the trail. I turned to look and found my self staring eye to eye with a bear. The bear was no more than 10 feet away from me. I slowly moved away from the bear. She stared at me, watching my every move.

I wondered why she was being so territorial. It wasn't until I heard the yelping of baby cubs, did I realize why. Two baby cubs, no longer than 2 feet tall, were climbing their way down from a tree. I grabbed my camera and tried to snap a few shots, but momma bear would have none of that. She hopped up onto the trail and made her way toward me. I quickly ran to catch up to Liz and Jen. What an experience. I have never come that close to a wild animal. Well, a dangerous wild animal.

If you thought that was our only brush with the mountain's wildlife, think again. While not dangerous, we were attacked by swarms of flies almost the whole way up trail. Tried some Deet bug spray. Didn't work. Jen brought some all natural bug spray. That worked like a gem.

As we reached the top, we ran into a group of about 50 people that were cleaning and clearing the trail of brush and over growth. Turns out they were preparing the trail for their trail running. This trail was only a small portion of their run. They were doing a 100 mile trail run, starting in Wrightwood and ending at JPL which had to be run in 40 hours, or they would be disqualified. Crazy people!!

We reached the top, eat lunch, took some pictures and started back down. Ran into some snakes on the trail. Not poisonous. Jen Took a spill, and scraped her self up pretty good. She also banged up her knee pretty badly.

At about the 10th mile of our hike, about 2 to 3 miles from the car, Elizabeth asked "Do you guys smell smoke?" Indeed I did. So strong that it was burning my nose. We figured there might be a fire somewhere and the wind was blowing smoke in out direction. Over the next 10 minutes, the canyon began to look a little hazy, and specs of ash started to fall on us. This is when we realized, the fire must be closer than we thought. about 2 miles from the car/parking lot we rounded a turn. To our shock and horror we saw the backside of the hill directly over the parking lot was billowing smoke. We could see water dropping helicopters and planes swooping over head, but their affect was minimal.

We all looked at each other and I said.. "RUN". We knew we had to head in the direction of the fire, but we knew that we couldn't go backwards. The fire would catch us faster than we could make the 10 mile hike back to the peak. Our only chance to survive was to try to make it to the car and drive 3 miles back down the road.

We ran almost all the way back down the trail. When we reached the parking lot, we found about 100 cars in the parking lot, with everyone just sitting around. We spotted a Ranger and asked her what was going on. It turned out that the fire had started and is burning directly on and around the very road we needed to use to get out and to safety. We were trapped, along with 200 other people.

Very soon the Ranger was joined by a fire captain. He took a head count and explained that yes, we were trapped here, as that road was the only way out and that when the opportunity arose, they would escort us down the mountain, 10 cars at a time.

While we waited, to leave, a heroic crew of firemen and search and rescue teams were putting on their gear, saying a prayer, and preparing to go out into the wilderness to alert and save any campers or hikers that may be stranded or unaware of the dangers that were coming.

We waited for 2 hours, when finally, they would not wait any longer. The fire was almost upon us.

We loaded into our car and made the second caravan down the mountain, with a sheriff in front and behind us. What we saw next was amazing and possibly the scariest thing I have seen in my life.

We rounded a bend only to see the whole mountain a blaze. Hundreds of firemen were scrambling everywhere, hosing down outbreaks, cutting back brush. The flames were 7 stories high. I was terrified for our lives and the lives of those fire fighters. We had to be careful where we drove as smoldering rocks and trees were flew down onto the road from the mountain side. We were on the fire lines.

After what seemed like an eternity, we were escorted all the way down and safely to the city. As we drove towards the freeway, people were standing outside, the media was running around in a frenzy, and people closest to the hillside were evacuating. As we drove further away, I could get a wider view of the mountain and could fully appreciate how lucky we were to get out of there alive.

Every knows fire fighters are brave, but after being on the fire lines with these amazing people, you really get a better understanding of how dangerous and life threatening their jobs are. Thank you to every single firefighter that helped us escape that day and risked their lives to save ours.

Mt. Lukens = Tick Farm

Next on our list of mountain peaks, was Mt. Lukens. This time our friend Jeanette decided to join us.

The morning started with off with everyone meeting up at my house, making a early morning Carl's Jr. Run, which is becoming a tradition, and taking to 210 to the 2 FWY towards the Mt. Lukens trail.

We arrived at our destination, the Wildwood picnic area. It was just behind the picnic area that would find the Stone Canyon Trail... Or what we thought was the trail. To reach the trail we had to hop rocks and logs that were making a make shift bridge across a stream. After keeping as dry as we could, we walked along the stream until we reached "the trail". This trail worked its way about 3 miles into the canyon. It looked like a trail...but at the same time it looked like a rocky dried river bed. Turns out, it was the river bed. After hiking up the steep rocky bed, we decided to make out way back down to the beginning to see if we had overlooked the real trail. Indeed we did. Luckily, Elizabeth spotted the real trail up on a ledge about half way down our decent. It took a little climbing, but we reached the real trail.

Excellent, so now we were on the real trail heading up the mountain, looking forward to a terrific and smooth hike. That wasn't the case.

As we made our way up the trail, I noticed little bugs jumping onto my legs. I examined them a little closer. They resembled little crabs. And thats when it hit me. TICKS!!!! These were no ordinary ticks. They were ticks on Steroids. Luckily for the girls, they shave their legs, but for me, my leg hair acted like a jungle gym, and guess what, school was out for the summer, cuz the ticks were having a grand old time swinging from hair to hair. We had to stop every few minutes to clear out legs of ticks. This was initiated by one of us yelling "TICK CHECK!"

As we started to get into higher elevations, the ticks slowly went away. Now we had a new problem. SLAPPERS!

Definition - Slappers (noun) - 1. one who slaps, 2. tree and shrub branches that hit, smack, wack, slap or cause other bodily injuries while hiking. Most commonly found on over grown trails. Word orgin comes from an aggravated hiker, John.

Yes we had to bush wack almost half of the hike. Finally reached the summit. Scrathed, itchy, and tired, we sat at the peak of Mt. Lukens, ate some food and enjoyed the view.

After 30 mins of rest, the fog started to roll in over the mountain. We packed up and made our way back down the obsticle course back to the car. When we got to the car, we did one final tick check and started the drive back home.

While this hike wasnt the most attractive, it was definitely an experience worth remembering.

Lotto Fever!!!

WE WON!

It is official! We won the Mt. Whitney Lotto, and we got placed on our #1 preferred time slot. Elizabeth, Jen, and myself will be hiking to the Mt. Whitney On Labor Day weekend 2008!

I guess that means we are really doing this thing huh?!

Wish us luck! And Pray for my knees!

Malibu Creek Backbone Trail...33%

Ahhh.. The Malibu Creek Backbone trail... the wonder, the beauty, the serenity....the vomit?

So before I start this Blog entry...just a short word of advice. If you feel sick the morning of your hike, and your are dizzy and feeling faint... Don't attempt a 15 mile hike. Ok that being said, lets continue with our story.

Our day started off with a nice morning drive to the Malibu Creek State Park. After our hour drive we entered the state park and parked our car. As we put on our gear, we ran into a group of trail runners warming up for what looked to be a long day of running.

We started on the trail and decided to venture .25 miles away from the course onto a different trail that would meet up with the original trail. We thought it would be a good idea, but it turned out that this path was not ment to be, as we ran into a locked chain link fence. We turned around and started back up the trail. We figured we would reverse the route and visit the M.A.S.H. Film set first.

As we headed back up the trail, Elizabeth let us know that she wasn't feeling to well. She insisted that we push on, and that she would be fine. Mile or so later Elizabeth was feeling faint.

We got to the M.A.S.H. filming site, took a few photo's and then turned around and headed back the car. At this point Elizabeth looked as if she was trying her hardest to keep from throwing up. About .5 miles to the car, Elizabeth couldn't hold it back anymore, and added her own personal touch to the Malibu State Park landscape, "Mt. Half Digested Turkey Sandwich".

Elizabeth was too sick to drive home, so I offered to drive us back. We hopped on the freeway and weren't on it for more than 10 mins before it came to a complete stand still. Turned out, there had been a freeway shooting, and the whole 101 was closed. Jen and I spend the next 3 hours fighting freeway run off as we navigated our way through, Glendale, Pasadena, etc.

We later found out that the freeway shooting was actually a driver who shot himself in the head committing suicide while drive on the freeway. After he had shot himself, he crashed and caused a horrific accident.

All in all, we all agreed that this hike was just not meant to be. Maybe we will revisit this hike in the future, but as for now, on to bigger and better hikes.

Mt. Lowe / Echo Mt. Hike...One down...

Two Sunday's ago marked our first real hike of our training period. You might call this a warm up hike. We were doing an in and back hike, up Echo Mt. to the old Mt. Lowe Railroad Station where sits the ruins of a classic hotel get away for the rich and famous during the early 1900's. this old hotel was dubbed the "White City".

Our day started at 9 am, as Elizabeth and I meet Jen, her brother Dave, and his brother in law Jason, at the front gates of the old Cobb Estate. This old historical site is where we began our hike towards the White City.

We made quick pace up the trail, using the time to catch up with the details of everyone's lives. I think the most fun topic we talked about was Dave's son's obsession with trash trucks and the department of waste management. :-)

We stopped about half way up the trail to take a break and enjoy the view. We then continued on and pushed to out goal.

There were about 25 people sitting around the Old Mt. Lowe Railroad station, eating lunch and swaping hiking stories. We took a few snap shots and grabbed a quick snack. We all took our turns at shouting as loud as we could toward the north end of the Peak, listening for our echo's.

After 20 mins of exploring the old ruins, we decided to make our way back down the trail. We made good time. As we approached the end of the regular trail, we spotted something moving on the nearby hillside. It was 3 dear. 2 Adults and a baby. Unaware of the hikers nearby, the slowly grazed under a shady tree.

On the way down, we spotted what looked like an old tin building on the other side of the canyon. We made our way down to the main road then back up to this odd building. It was some kind of water reserve tank.

We headed back to the car. Now it was the most important decision of the day; Where to go eat lunch? We decided to try our hand at the local Rosco's Chicken And Waffles, on Lake Ave, in Pasadena.

We waited for about 20 mins before we were let in to a packed Rosco's. We all orders the Sco's Combo of some nature of another, and chowed down on some delectable chicken and the best waffles I have ever tasted.

After lunch we all said our goodbye's, all looking forward to our next trip.

Cross Training... San Gabriel River Ride!

This past Saturday, Jen, Liz and myself decided to pack up the bikes and head to the mouth of Azusa Canyon and hop on the San Gabriel River trail.

The San Gabriel River trail extends 38 miles starting at a Ranger Station at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains and ending at the Pacific Ocean (Seal Beach). There are two very scenic secondary trails that branch off near the river trail midpoint (Whittier Narrows area); one that visits Legg Lake and a second (Rio Hondo) ending up at a reservoir north of El Monte.

We started out on our ride around 10 am. It was pretty cold outside, but the whole week so far had been cold and then the sun would come out and it would warm up. This was not the case that day. It was cold and stayed cold.

About 5 miles into our ride, Jen started to break out with some weird allergic reaction. We still dont know what it was from.

We ended up riding down to where the 605 Freeway meets with Telegraph Rd., 20 miles down trail. It took us about 2 hours. We then exited bike path to find a nice spot to eat some lunch, catch our breath and then begin the journey back.

While we were stopped we all took turns sneaking into the local Jack in the Box to use their bathroom. After that we settled in at a little picnic area in between some local shops. Liz and I ate our sub sandwiches, and looked at Jen with dismay as we found out all she had packed for the whole trip was a single PBJ. She quickly realized that it wouldn't be enough food for her.

Jen decided to stop into a local market called "Jax's Market". It was a Mexican mart, where no one spoke english. She came out with a whole bag of Pan Dulce. 3 for a Dollar. She was very exited. Turns out that pan dulce was not a staple for her growing up. Guess I took that for granted growing up in Pomona. We all had a piece or 2 before we dragged our bike-seat chaffed butts back onto our bikes and headed back towards Azusa.

10 miles before the finish line, it started to rain on us. We thought we were cold before. Now were cold, soaked and tired. We eventually made out way back to our cars, only to find out that the park workers had locked the park gate, trapping us inside the parking lot. We had to call the sherrif's Dept to come let us out.

Other than a few minor set backs, the bike trip was a success. Maybe next time we will do the whole 76 mile trail ride, but for that day, 41 miles was as good as it was going to get.

The Dirty Dozen...Training Hikes

Well, we have set the dates and locations of our training hikes. Our next 6 months are as follows:

March 9th:
Mt. Lowe/Echo Mountain - 3,207 feet (977 m)

Echo Mountain is a promontory above Altadena, California. It was shaped from an alluvial fan between Rubio and Las Flores canyons. It is geographically defined by Castle Canyon to its leeward side, Rubio Canyon at its foot, and Las Flores Canyon on its windward side. Echo has a mean elevation of 3,250 feet (990 m) above sea level. It is most visible as a short mountain extension whose ridge protrudes below the peak of Inspiration Point. Its name is derived from the number of repetitions one's voice could emit into Castle Canyon.

March 30th:
Malibu Creak Backbone Trail

From Malibu Creek you can get to the Backbone Trail, the holy grail of trails in the Santa Monica Mountains. Connecting them is the imfamous Bulldog Motorway - you either love it or hate it - as it climbs 1750 feet from the valley floor to the Castro Motorway on Castro Ridge.

This area has a rich history of providing backdrops to distant places for Hollywood, from silent films to the most well-known use, the filming of the movie and TV series M*A*S*H in the 1970's. Many other shows were made here as well.

April 5th:
Mt. Lukens - 5,030 feet

This is the tallest peak within the LA city limits, and it has spectacular views of the LA basin and surrounding mountains from the summit. This mountain was burned some time ago, so with the exception of the views of the surrounding area, the scenery is rather marginal. The hike to the summit is relentlessly up hill with limited shade along the way.

April 26th:
Mt. Wilson - 5,710 ft (1,742 m)

Mount Wilson is one of the more prominent peaks in the San Gabriel Mountains, part of the Angeles National Forest in Los Angeles County, California, USA. It is the location of the Mount Wilson Observatory and has become the astronomical center of Southern California with 60 inch (1524 mm) and 100 inch (2540 mm) telescopes, and 60 foot (18 m) and 150 foot (46 m) solar towers. It is located at 5,710 feet although surrounding peaks around the mountain can rise slightly above 6,000 feet. Due to this elevation, winter snow can sometimes interrupt astronomical activities on the mountain.

Mount Wilson is also referred to as a metro-media center for its relay broadcasting of radio and television frequencies for the Greater Los Angeles Area.

May 3rd:
Mt San Jacinto - 10,834 feet

San Jacinto Peak is the highest peak in Riverside County, California. It is part of the San Jacinto Mountains, and lies within Mount San Jacinto State Park. To the east, the peak towers over the city of Palm Springs; to the west, it borders the mountain community of Idyllwild. The peak is also frequently named Mount San Jacinto. The steep escarpment of its north face, above Snow Creek, climbs over 10,000 feet (3 km) in 7 miles (11.3 km). This is one of the largest gains in elevation over such a small horizontal distance in the contiguous United States.

The mountain is quite rugged in places, with several outdoor hazards that hikers may be unprepared for, including high altitude, severe weather, steep rock faces, and wild animals. Hikers and climbers die or are harmed every year.

May 17th:
Mt. Baden - 9,399 feet

Mt. Baden is a peak in the San Gabriel Mountains of California named for the famous English Lord Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the World Scouting Movement. Mount Baden Powell was officially recognized by the USGS at a dedication ceremony in 1931.^[1] Its first designation was East Twin or North Baldy named by C. F. Saunders in 1923.

At 9,399 feet (2,865 m) in elevation, Mount Baden-Powell is the 4th highest peak of the San Gabriel Range, Mount San Antonio or "Old Baldy" being the highest at 10,064 feet (3,068 m). The summit has long been a favorite of hiking excursions either from the Mt. Islip Saddle near Little Jimmy Trail Camp, or the Vincent Gap Trail which leads up a moderate to strenuous set of swithchbacks from Wrightwood. Mt. Baden-Powell is also the high point along the historic 53 mi (85 km) Boy Scout hiking trail, The Silver Moccasin Trail, that connects to this summit to Mount Burnham (less than a mile (1.6 km) away), Throop Peak and Mount Hawkins.

The Vincent Gap hike leads through a variety of forested areas consisting of Jeffrey pines, ponderosas, lodgepoles, cedars, and an ancient forest of Limber pines, some noted to be as old as 2,000 years.

May 31st:
Cucamonga Peak - 8,859 feet

Cucamonga Peak is one of the highest peaks in the San Gabriel Mountains in the U.S. state of California. It is under the jurisdiction of the San Bernardino National Forest, in the Cucamonga Wilderness area. Named for Tiburcio Tapia's Cucamonga Rancho of Alta California, the mountain towers over the present-day cities of Rancho Cucamonga, Ontario and Fontana. The peak can be seen west of Cajon Pass, which most Angelenos use to get to Las Vegas. The peak can also be seen on a perfectly clear day from San Jacinto 46 miles (74 km) southeast of the peak.

The most accessible trailhead for hiking Cucamonga Peak is Icehouse Canyon. Forest Service Trail 7W07 leads from here to Icehouse Saddle, from which the Cucamonga Peak Trail (7W04) leads to the summit. This route is 12 miles (19.3 km) round trip, with 4,300 feet (1,300 m) of elevation gain.

June 14th:
Mt. Baldy - 10,064 feet

Mount San Antonio, better known to most in Los Angeles as Old Baldy or Mount Baldy, is the highest peak in the San Gabriel Mountains of Southern California, USA and the highest point in Los Angeles County. Mount San Antonio has two summits. The eastern summit is higher at an elevation of 10,064 feet while the west is at 9,988 feet. In winter, Mount Baldy's snow-capped peaks are usually visible on clear days and dominate the view of the Los Angeles skyline.

The peak, which marks a boundary between San Bernardino County and Los Angeles County [1] is called Baldy because of the absence of trees around the summit. The Tongva tribe call the mountain Yoát or Joat, which means snow, and the Mohave call it Avii Kwatiinyam^[2].

June 28th:
Mt. Wilson Toll Road - 5,710 ft (1,742 m)

The Mount Wilson Toll Road (1891-1936) is a historic roadway which ascended Mount Wilson via a vehicular passable road from the base of the foothills in Altadena. It was accessible from Pasadena via Santa Anita Avenue which drove right to the front porch of the toll house. The access road is still visible on private property along Altadena Drive in Altadena.

Mount Wilson had always been active with human passage starting from the days of the local Indians. It was Benjamin Davis Wilson who established a proper trail to the summit of Mt. Wilson from Sierra Madre through the Santa Anita Canyon.

July 12th:
Mt. Baldy from Mt. Baldy Village

This is a must-do hike. I don't know why anyone would choose another route unless they were going for the 6000' gain butt kicker from Baldy Village, but that's a whole different ball game. Don't take the wimpy ski lift on a Saturday. Take this trail, you wont regret it!
The path is grand, it starts on the road to beautiful San Antonio Falls, and then moves onto a trail that will get your heart pounding the moment you set foot on it. Rapidly you'll reach the Ski Hut(8200') and cross the bowl. There are a couple of places where the trail is a little difficult to find, but if you look for the obvious, you should be able to manage.

August 12th:
Mt. San Goronio - 11,502 feet

San Gorgonio Mountain (or Mount San Gorgonio, or Old Greyback) is the highest peak in Southern California at 11,502 feet (3,506 m) above sea level. It is located in the San Bernardino Mountains, 27 mi (42 km) east of the city of San Bernardino and 12 mi (19 km) north-northeast of San Gorgonio Pass. It lies in the San Gorgonio Wilderness, part of the San Bernardino National Forest. Spanish missionaries in the area during the early 1800s named the peak after Saint Gorgonius.

Since it is the highest point in a region which is separated from higher peaks (e.g. in the Sierra Nevada) by relatively low terrain, San Gorgonio Mountain is one of the most topographically prominent peaks in the United States. It is ranked 7th among peaks in the contiguous US, and 18th among all US peaks.^[1]

Several trails lead to the broad summit of San Gorgonio Mountain, which rises only a few hundred feet (100 m) above the tree line. Any route requires well over 4,000 feet (1,220 m) of elevation gain.

August 9th:
San Bernadeno Peak - 10,691 feet

The San Bernardino Mountains (Huwaaly Kwasakyav^[1] in Mojave) are a short transverse mountain range northeast of Los Angeles in Southern California in the United States. The mountains are also located north and east of San Bernardino, California (the nearest big city).The mountains run for approximately 60 mi (100 km) east-west on the southern edge of the Mojave Desert in southwestern San Bernardino County, north of the city of San Bernardino. The range is separated from the San Gabriel Mountains to the west by Cajon Pass, and from the San Jacinto Mountains to the south/southeast by Banning Pass. The southern extent of the range is bounded by the San Andreas Fault.

This trail is a no-nonsense elevation gainer. however, it maintains a steady grade for a large portion of the trip. You begin in a mixed oak/pine forest and briskly head up the side of the ridge. Two miles into the trail you enter the San Gorgonio Wilderness, which is marked by a sign. The trail evens off a bit here, but not too much. You will be climbing and climbing some more. In two more miles you will reach a relatively flat area covered with Manzanita and chaparral. This flat area is your halfway reprieve, and it continues until you reach the trail junction for Columbine Springs and John's Meadow.

First Hike for Jen..

I don't know if I mentioned this in any of the previous blog entries, but our friend Jen is going to make the Whitney hike with us.

This past Saturday, we took her on her first hike. We decided to do the Garcia Trail to Azusa peak again. I figured start her off some where close. When we met for the hike, we all realized that Jen did not own any hiking boots. All she had was a pair of old sneakers with worn out tread. She slipped and slid the whole way up and down the trail. Poor Jen.

So after such a slippery hike, Jen decided that she would make her investment in a pair of hiking boots and a backpack.

Jen's Gear:

REI® Jet UL pack ------------ 100 Oz Camel Pack Badder

Merrill Hiking Boots

I will have to say, even though she spent quite a bit of money, it was well worth it. Good gear. It will be worth the comfort when we are on that 22nd mile on Whitney.

Training with Garcia...

Today we decided to step out of the gym and get some real hiking in before the sun went down. We decided to do a quite sprint up the Garcia Trail.

The Garcia Trail is in the Glendora and begins at Sierra Madre and continues up to Azusa Peak.

Trail Stats
Mileage: 2.4
Trailhead: 840'
Ridge road: 1880'
El. gain: 1040'
Gain per mi: 866'

Above you will see some stats on this trail. As you can see its a 866 foot per mile elevation gain. It sure felt like it too. It was very steep. Our legs were burning almost immediately.

To put things in perspective, Mt. Whitney is approximately 788 feet per mile. So the trail we did today was a little steeper, but Whitney is 11 miles up, and the thinning air makes life difficult towards the top.

We finished this hike in about 1 hour round trip. Not to bad. It was dark by the time we were walking back to the car.

We think this might become out local training trail for the next couple of weeks. Hopefully we will be able to run up the trail.

As for right now, I have to stretch these legs and hope they aren't to sore for tomorrow.

Let the Training Begin!

Yesterday was the first official day for training. I figure since its rainy outside for the next month or so, I'm going to dedicate my first few week on the stair climber, to help build my legs.

So after 60 minutes of climbing the revolving stair case, I was able to climb approximately 250 flights of stairs/4 miles. Not to bad. I then walked on the tread mill for an additional 45 mins. I'm trying to simulate the conditions that my legs will encounter on our hike.

As the weeks go by, I will add more time to the stair climb.

Hopefully the weather clears up soon and I can get outside and do some real hiking.

Paper work for the Whitney Lotto...

Well, today I finished all of the required paper work for applying to the Mt. Whitney Lotto. If your confused, let me explain.

There are so many people that want to hike the Mt. Whitney Trail, since it is the highest point in the lower 48 US states, that the government has put a cap on how many people can hike the trail in a day. The numbers are something like, 60 overnight hikers and 100 day hikes. So to be fair, everyone has to fill out an application form and send it in. The Forestry service will then do random pulls of these forms and give you what ever date is available from your list of desired hike dates.

Anyways, we are shooting for a Saturday or a Sunday, preferably in August or September. We are just trying to avoid any snow.

Well, everyone cross your fingers and wish us good luck on winning the Whitney Lotto!