You might be asking yourself, "so, where are the pics of the Punchbowl?"
Well, that's because I didn't take any. Not that the Punchbowl isn't photogenic, just that I didn't take any pics of it.
Said Punchbowl is a large amphitheater near Pearblossom in the Antelope Valley. It's where the Mojave desert meets the San Gabriel Mountains. I was with a Meetup group and this was an offtrail hike in other areas of the park. One of the other participants had a health issue so we cut it short. Nevertheless, there were some fun scrambles in the parts we did.
Afterwards I checked out the trail to Old Mount Emma, an HPS peak not far away. There's a trail for it in a popular mapping service that goes to the other Mount Emma first, but instead I took one of the dashed lines that goes directly to the Old version. It starts in a wash and I could barely see it from the road; I had to use GPS to find it. Once down in the wash you can see it a lot more clearly; it looks like it's used by both hikers and ATV users. While it's steep and loose, I made good time going up. However, I turned back halfway because I didn't want to miss our hat losing the first game of the ALCS.
When I'd looked at the map before I was thinking I'd stash a bike at the trail I took on this trip, then start at the listed trail and return on the bike. However, Mt Emma Road gets some fast traffic so I think I'd prefer to just do it when I have more time as an out-and-back from where I was on this trip.
