had been toying with the bright idea of hiking up mt. baldy (officially mt. san antonio or affectionately known as 'old baldy'), so my friends pam, vim and i jointly committed to make the trek. the two most popular ways to the peak are the baldy bowl trail (an @$$-kicking 4.2 mile, one-way ticket climbing 3,900 feet) or the devil's backbone trail (a more leisurely incline covering the same elevation over 6.8 miles - shorter if you wuss out using the ski lift).
since life's not worth it if not for taking on challenges, we opted for the baldy bowl trail. none of us have ever hiked that elevation (10,000+ ft) prior, so we hauled a boatload of water, layered clothing in case of inclement weather, and subway and cookies to keep our mouths happy. the drive from downtown LA to the manker flats campground totalled about an hour, so we started our ascent at 9:15am to partly sunny skies. below right is the register at the base of the trailhead at 6,100 ft...
it's a short 0.6 mile walk to san antonio falls, so we basked in one last piece of fun before the
real fun began. you can see several peeps prancing about in the water at the base of the falls...
and we're off! here's the start of the baldy bowl trail, which splits off from the main road. and the way we're headed is
left. yup, the faint trail headed upwards thru the trees. it's very easy to miss even with a topographic map. it's also the first sign that the mountain means business...
below is a shot of towelhead - i mean vim - taking a quick water break. adjacent is the first visible sign of the sierra club's ski hut, at 8,200 ft. high and 2.6 miles from base camp, and a good barometer of progress.
a short distance up, we came upon an impossibly bright red snowplant on the side of a mountain, along with a uniquely mustard-colored tree nearby.
more pics of us pushing onwards. according to a trail book i picked up, this was allegedly the easiest part of the climb. uh, if our faces are any indication, i'll let you be the judge of that. below left is what we have left (that's it?) and below right is a pyrrhic victory up yet another hilltop (yawn).
and here's the last climb towards the top - a torturous, unapologetically steep 3/4 mile that felt like an incline of 70 degrees. all i could do was put my head down, use pam as my guide to the peak, and just hang on.
but have no fear, at 12:45pm on sunday, july 11, we made it atop mt. baldy! nothing short of a raucous celebration ensued, but i'm not sure if it was reaching the peak, or for the fact that we could tear into our sandwiches, chilled blueberries and cookies. i will say this: a 6-inch roast beef on wheat has never tasted better.
ever.
since we made decent time, we opted to make our descent via the devil's backbone trail, a 6.8 mile trail down the east side of the mountain to complete the loop. a quick look at the start of the trailhead and to the right, the way down. bottom left is our trail - yes, the pencil-thin squiggly line to the right of the apex. bottom right is me making my way down, or as some would say, concentrating on not plunging to my death:
the way down was a breeze compared to the sweatfest going the other direction, so we were able to enjoy each other's company and take advantage of the incredible scenery. we didn't actually take the ski lift down, but one of the lifts was dormant, so we hopped aboard for a sweet photo op...
about 3.6 miles away from our destination, we descended upon the mt. baldy bar, a perfectly situated watering hole packed with various hikers, mountain bikers and the like enjoying themselves in the great outdoors. to get to your car, you can either take the service road down or pony up $18 for a ride down the ski lift. much to the chagrin of vim, we hoofed it the rest of the way back. and when i say "we," i mean he and i. for reasons unknown, pam took off like usain bolt and sprinted down the rocky downhill ahead of us...
all in all, the 7-hour journey was challenging, enduring and physically taxing, but at the same time it was equally inspirational, majestic and life-reaffirming. for those who ever thought about scaling mt. baldy, get out there and do it!
