4/30: Punta Mesa Loop Trail, Murrieta, CA

4/23: Mount Baldy Lodge Hike

4/16: Clermont Loop Trail: This is a popular 5PLUS mile loop just outside of Clermont, CA in the Angeles National Forest.  This track is managed by the local parks service.  Fun hike.

Bonita Falls …better known as Graffiti Trail 3/26:

This was a short river bed hike that was a little over  2 miles round trip.  The area is beautiful, but the trail was marred with graffiti.  SEE OUR TRACK

For a quick video go to “Lookin Back“ or click here

 

3/25: Bear Flats Trail, Mt Baldy, CA  SEE OUR TRACK

This was a test hike at the higher altitudes of Mt. Baldy aka “formally” Mt. San Antonio, the third highest peak in SOCAL.  Rated as “moderate” and supposedly just a 3.5 mile round trip hike, I thought this would be a nice way to become familiar with the terrain and difficulty and to give Pepper a taste of what the PCT and JMT will be like.  The hike ended up at 4.0 miles since we parked in a legal spot at the church across from the Mt. Baldy Lodge.  It was a nice steady climb that first wandered by local cabins that had some really neat architecture.  The nice thing is that this hike allows you to the first third of the summit hike on Mt Baldy trail. We experienced the “mile, mile and a half” syndrome and came up just short of making it to the meadow called Bear Flats. All in all it was a nice little hike and a great training run for future hikes.

 South Mount Hawkins-closed will try in April

3/19:  We took a nice 50 or so mile drive into the San Gabriels expecting to be able to hike SMH.  Thie hike is rated as difficult and has almost 4000 feet in elevation gain climbing to almost 7000 ft above seal level.  We were turned back by the park ranger.  She recommended Bridge to Nowhere near Camp Matthews. I also learned that Adventure Passes are $5 per day for National Parks and cash is needed. The Ranger explained that plastic just isn’t taken in the wilderness.  I thought to myself, “If we are in the ‘wilderness’, then why would one have to pay to park a car then.” I wondered if she would have bartered for gold dust like a true wilderness person

Bridge to Nowhere 3/19 -Completed 

My GoPro Video

SEE MAP

3/19: We diverted to the BTN and had a great day.  The hike was tough because it wandered through a river bed most of the 9 miles (round trip) which made it maddeningly easy to lose the trail.  Word to the wise….stay right going in and left coming out.  We added an hour and probably 2 miles going in as we were drawn to the river so often thinking the footpaths of other lost hikers were the real trail.  The views of the San Gabriels and West Angeles Mountains were amazing…