Category Archives: Outdoors

Science on Mt. Harwood

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Mt. Harwood is a peak that the Devil’s Backbone Trail traverses the south side of connecting Baldy Notch to Mt. Baldy.  The way to the summit isn’t obvious and is part use trail and part scree scramble.

View looking toward Mt. Harwood heading down the Devil’s Backbone Trail from Mt. Baldy.

Since hiking to Mt. Baldy is reasonably strenuous on it’s own, most people don’t bother peak bagging Mt. Harwood.  I didn’t the first several times either.  However, on one of my training hikes for Mt. Whitney I met another hiker (Charles) on Mt. Baldy who told me about his summit of Mt. Harwood as well as some science equipment near the summit. I had to see it myself and learn more clearly what the scientists are researching.

Description of the research objective of learning about the movement of the Earth’s crust.

View of the EarthScope Plate Boundary Observatory Station with Mt. Harwood in the background.

I enjoyed looking at Mt. Baldy from another vantage point as I headed up to the summit.

View toward Mt. Baldy heading up the scree scramble to Mt. Harwood.

Heading down from the summit and looking toward Mt. Baldy yields probably the most comprehensive view of the last portion of the Devil’s Backbone Trail leading up to Mt. Baldy

View of Devil’s Backbone Trail and Mt. Baldy.

Being Able To Decide What Weather I Want To Be In

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Hiking has taught me to pay more attention to the weather.  As of last Sunday, I’ve now internalized the reality that there are numerous days in the year when I can decide what weather I want to be in.  Living within an hour of both the Pacific Ocean and trailheads leading to peaks as high as Mt. Baldy’s 10,064 foot elevation yields opportunities to take advantage of elevation differences.

Last Saturday, I went on a family and friends hike.  My wife and I left our house under cloudy and misty sky’s.  We didn’t see an blue skies or the sun until we were partway up Mt. Baldy road.  By the time we made it to Icehouse Canyon to start our hike, we were out of the clouds and into clear sunny skies.  Coming down the Chapman Trail allowed us to see out of the canyon and view the cloud cover that most people in the LA area remained below for the day.

View of cloud cover down Icehouse Canyon with Mt. Wilson and San Gabriel Peak off in the distance.

On Sunday, I woke up to the same weather.  The ground was wet and the air was misty with clouds as far as I could see.  Initially I was disappointed as I had planned to play paddle tennis with my cousin in Marina Del Rey.  The weather report showed 30% chance of rain and I decided it wasn’t worth the risk to drive out and have the courts become unplayable after a few minutes of rain.

At that moment I finally realized that staying below the cloud cover could be a choice instead of a situation I had no control over.  I walked to the end of my block and looked at Mt. Lukens.  The clouds were low enough covering half the height of the mountain that it looked possible that I could get above the clouds again as I did the day before.

So, I set out to go on a short hike to San Gabriel Peak where I had once unintentionally found myself above the clouds before and it was one of the peaks that were above the clouds the day before.  Driving up to Eaton Saddle, I found myself in the clouds and either in mist or light rain.  I drove higher up to Mt. Wilson only to find it was also still in the clouds.  Admittedly, this reality was humbling.  Perhaps I didn’t have a choice after all.  Fortunately, I continued up Angeles Crest Highway and by Newcomb’s Ranch I found myself in the sun.  Having only brought a small snack and water for a short hike, I settled on hiking the Mt. Waterman Trail.

At the trailhead, it was completely sunny and clear.  However, as I followed the trail heading east up the mountain toward the Kratka Ridge, I started seeing a light mist as the clouds were just making it over the Ridge.

A light mist of clouds making it’s way over the Kratka Ridge.

I thought that it was possible that I wasn’t so much above the clouds as I was in front of their path over the mountain range.  So, I picked up my pace trying to make it up to the summit before clouds had a chance to overtake it.  It didn’t take long after the trail changed direction and for me to reach high enough ground to find myself once again in the sun.

Back in the sun looking across the cloud cover toward Mt. Baldy.

With clear skies at the summit, I enjoyed the uncommon opportunity to stare both up at a cloudless sky and across the cloudscape.

View from Mt. Waterman toward the east and across the cloudscape toward Mt. Baden-Powell

Looking toward the west where nothing is tall enough to rise above the cloudscape as it makes it’s way over the mountains.

Making my way down toward my car found me inside the clouds as they made their way over the Kratka Ridge.  This suggested to me that earlier I was at times both over and in front of the clouds as they moved north.  Along the way down the mountain I felt a few drops, but mostly just some mist.

In the clouds only a couple hundred feet below the summit.

Once I got to the point in the trail that I started heading back west across the north face of Mt. Waterman, I found myself exiting the clouds.

Back in the sun and clear skies along the north face of Mt. Waterman.

On the ride home I thought about how liberating it felt to be able to decide what weather I wanted to be in for the day.  Playing around the edge of the clouds, being just above them, just in front of them, and at times inside them or under them (at home and on the way to and from the trail) made for a wonderfully dynamic day.

The West Baldy Illusion

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The first time I hiked to West Baldy I mistakenly thought it was Mt. Baldy until I reached West Baldy and looked back.  When I reached what I later learned was Mt. Baldy from the Devil’s Backbone Trail, there was only a publicly affectionate young couple on the summit who I didn’t want to disturb.  It turns out they were blocking my view of the summit marker.  Looking south I saw what appeared to be a higher peak and assumed it was Mt. Baldy.

View of West Baldy (elevation 9,988′) from Mt. Baldy (elevation 10,064′). Note: photo is taken from just below the summit marker.

So, I headed down along what turned out to be the Old Baldy Trail that leads to the Visitors Center.  Near the saddle I realized I needed to head over to the ridge where I found the West Baldy Trail which I learned on the way back directly connects the two summits.

View of West Baldy along the West Baldy Trail near the saddle.

Reaching what turned out to be West Baldy and looking back I realized I was on a shorter peak.

View of Mt. Baldy from the summit West Mt. Baldy

View toward Mt. Baldy from just below the peak of West Baldy

I find it an interesting illusion and worth the short 1.1 mile round trip to fully experience.

Finally, Some Bighorn!

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Sometimes I wake up on a day I’ve planned to hike and really don’t feel like going.  Yesterday was one of those days.  I had lost track of time the night before and hadn’t planned a new hike in an area I hadn’t been. On Wednesday’s I like to do a challenging hike that usually requires me to study the map to make sure I get in enough mileage and elevation gain.  I decided to hike to Mt. Baldy again for the tenth time this year and throw in a side trip to West Baldy.

One of the great things about hiking is that there are unpredictable elements to it.  Between weather, wildlife, and other hikers; I find something unique about every hike no matter how many times I traverse the same trail.  Since I learned about the presence of Bighorn Sheep in certain areas of Angeles Forest (the Mt. Baldy area being one such area), I’ve been looking forward to seeing them in person.  After about forty hikes in those areas, I finally saw some yesterday just below the Ski Hut on the Baldy Bowl Trail.

For close to ten minutes it was just me and four Bighorn Sheep.  They were aware I was there, but just kept foraging.  Three of them are pictured in the photo below.

My moving to different spots to take photos drew their attention, but didn’t cause them to move away.  They just got back to doing what they were doing.

Because they stayed calm and didn’t run off, I got to enjoy watching them while feeling I wasn’t invading their space.

After about ten minutes another hiker came and also had time to take plenty of pictures, followed by three more hikers.  The Bighorn got spooked and ran up the mountain when another hiker with a dog came down the trail.

Finally seeing some Bighorn Sheep made my day.  Unexpected joys like this are what make hiking so special to me.  The day started with me uninspired and ended with me looking forward to my next hike.

Mountain Lion Cubs (Actually Bobcats) on the Burkhart Trail

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[After receiving both public and private feedback on this post, I think I actually saw bobcats.  I assumed they were mountain lion cubs because there were warning signs at the trailhead for bears, rattlesnakes, and mountain lions.  I’m going to leave the remainder of this post as originally written because my belief that they were mountain lions impacted my experience and reactions to our encounter.]  

I haven’t been on the Burkhart Trail for well over a decade.  It used to be my “go to” hike which I did numerous times with my brother and many other times with friends and other family.  Last year, when I started hiking again in earnest, I couldn’t hike this trail because it was closed to allow frogs to breed.

Hiking it felt like catching up with an old friend.  My experience was one of instant familiarity combined with the discovery of notable changes. Enjoying my “reunion”, I was hiking slower and more quietly than I normally would stopping often to take pictures or simply pausing a while trying to remember how things were in the past.  While attempting to take a good photo looking up a tree I eventually noticed I was being watched from above.

Mountain lion cubs watching me try to photograph a tree.

Taking my hand off the tree and making about a 90 degree turn around it, I started to look back down.  I then noticed a mountain lion cub looking down on me from its spot on the high point of a rock formation touching the tree I just had my hand on.  It took a few moments for me to process what I was seeing.  We looked at one another and neither of us moved.  Soon I noticed the second cub further down the rock.  Since I still had my camera in my hands, I reflexively and quickly snapped the cropped photo shown above without even looking at the LCD screen as I thought through what I should be doing.

I really did not want to meet their mother who I fortunately never saw.  I knew not to run. From below, I really couldn’t make myself look taller. The cubs were quiet and they didn’t move. Making loud noises and/or banging my trekking poles together to try to scare them didn’t make much sense as it seemed just as likely that would bring their mother.  Still, I was ridiculously close to them and felt precious time slipping away before their mother might arrive.  Our stare down that probably only lasted between one and two minutes felt unending as my mind raced through options.  For all I knew, mom could be right behind me.  I decided to slowly take one step back.  This caused no response from the cubs.  Apparently I need to practice stepping back because my second step back resulted in a trip that landed me on my butt.  Still, no response from the cubs though–phew!  I got up and continued to move back facing the cubs until I was able to turn the corner and no longer be in their view.  I then stared hiking out looking back every few steps to make sure I wasn’t being followed.