Or, Reason #431 why I hate backpacking.
As I started up the Baldy Bowl/Ski Hut trail on Mt Baldy, I had big dreams. A fiendish bear - a creature who is now my sworn enemy - would soon dash those dreams. And, you'll never guess how. No, really, start guessing now. You won't get it right, I guarantee.
Taking the steepest trail up Mt Baldy to three neighboring peaks.
Register Ridge gains about 2600' in 1.2 miles, so it's fairly steep. I did it a couple years ago and, while it seems to be currently a little looser than it was before, it's still a fairly solid tread and it's hard to get lost.
Before the devastating Eaton Fire in early 2025, you could hike from Pasadena up to Mount Lowe near Mt Wilson.
In this case, I took the Lower Sam Merrill Trail from the Cobb Estate at the top of Lake Avenue. At Echo Mtn I got a transfer to the Castle Canyon Trail. That trail starts fairly flat and then steepens a bit on its way to Inspiration Point. Many years ago I almost got heatstroke pushing to get to that destination where there are viewing tubes for things like Catalina (which you can see if the weather is clear). Unfortunately, it burned down in the fire.
Sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes you turn around to avoid being eaten by one.
I started up Clamshell Peak north of Monrovia and wanted to get the peak at least, but it was a cold and drizzly day and I turned around at a cloud (see the pics). While I had bear spray, I didn't want to risk accidentally running into a bear or worse because neither of us could see more than a few feet in front of us.
"No, sir, that Minotaur isn't going to get out of this!"
So said the person who designed the western trail to Mt. Sally, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
I had intended to hike three HPS peaks that aren't far from the Angeles Crest Highway: Barley Flats, Mt. Sally, and Mt. Mooney. I only got the first two.
I was hiking up Mt. Baldy when a wildfire started.
This was the Vista Fire of July 2024. I was on the Ski Hut trail and as you can see from the first photo there was the possibility that the fire would come over the ridge. So, rather than risk getting caught in its path, I continued to the summit.
Once I was on the summit I could see that they were working on the fire and trying to keep it on the other side of the ridge. Also, the wind was blowing towards the fire, not me.
I failed to bike Mount McKinley, failed a hike to the Pinnacle, but I did see the Aqueduct Cascades.
So, the plan for this day was three events: I'd bike Mount McKinley via Gold Creek (link), then I'd go see bison in Santa Clarita, then I'd cap it off by seeing the Los Angeles Aqueduct. Obviously, it didn't work out that way.
About a year before the devastating Eaton Fire, I hiked this front range peak.
You won't be able to hike to it for probably several years, but for future reference there are at least three different routes to the peak. The one I took was the Old Mt Wilson Trail up Little Santa Anita Canyon. Between First Water and Orchard Camp there's a trail that starts through a narrow canyon but it soon goes through clearer areas. While it's steep, when I did it it was not loose: the way back was a fast descent.
"Mt Bliss" has the sound of some Alaskan 17er, or maybe a neighbor of Mt Vinson. Set your expectations a lot lower...
In fact, it's a meh peak in the front range of the San Gabriels and it's just 3,720' or so. The hike to it is along a fireroad with zero shade. OTOH, it has mostly good sight lines so you'd probably see animals heading your way. And, it is or was on the LPC ("Lower Peaks Committee") list. There's a lot on its fire history etc here.
Mt. Baldy - highest point in L.A. County at 10,064' - is currently closed due to the Bridge Fire which, as you'll see in a later post, I saw happen from the summit of Baldy.
While waiting for Baldy to reopen, here are pics from the rather steep Register Ridge trail. It gains about 2500' in about 1.2 miles. The trail starts just after the metal register you see on the Ski Hut trail, and then it ends on the Devil's Backbone trail just below Mt Harwood. So, after climbing up the steep part, you still have about 700' of gain to get the Baldy summit.