Congratulations, gentlemen (and Liz), you have earned the coveted SGMDF "you're frickin' out of your mind" award just for even
thinking about this hike.
Now, I personally think that you've lost your marbles,
but if I were to map out a plan, it might go
something like this.
A = The highest point on Acorn Dr where it is legal to park (just past Finch). You'll have to walk the rest of the way to the trail head (no biggie).
B = The point the dirt road stops and the trail begins. Here your route leaves the canyon bottom and ascends to climb the ridge on the E side of Acorn Canyon.
C = the point you hit the Blue Ridge Road. About 15 (20?) feet before you hit the road, you'll cross the PCT. Take the PCT E to the top of Wright Mtn.
D = The summit of Wright Mtn. You'll have to leave the PCT to get to the actual summit once you're on top of Wright. Wright isn't much of a mountain. It's so flat on top that you'll think you're just out in a field.
E = The trailhead for Pine, Dawson, and Baldy. From the summit of Wright, head down the obvious south ridge to "E".
F = Pine Mtn. As I recall, you have to leave the trail to get to the summit.
G = Dawson Pk. Again, you have to leave the trail but not by much.
H = "Heartbreak" saddle. You'll lose a lot of elevation to get here (hence the heartbreak). From here you climb the steep N face of Baldy.
I = Summit of Baldy. Obviously, this is a good bail out point since you could go down the ski hut trail or DBB trail to Manker Flats.
J = Summit of W Baldy. You could use the Bear Flats trail to bail out, but you might be better off going back to Baldy and using the bail out routes there.
K = Summit of Pt 7903. I mention this only because it is a bail out point -- if you're desperate enough. I saw a TR of two guys that bailed out here and went down Coldwater Canyon to get down into the E Fork area. The route was pretty gnarly. Oh, and that trail you see on the map just below Pt 7903. Fuggit about it. Ain't there no more.
L = Summit of Iron. You could bail out here by heading down the standard route to Heaton Flats. By no means an easy bail out. Now from here to the E Fork is not my area of expertise. When I've read other TR's, they've talked about taking a
ridge. I believe the ridge they're talking about is the ridge between Falls Gulch and Clark Gulch, but I could be wrong.
M = A random point on the aforementioned ridge to just to mark the way.
N = Another random point on the aforementioned ridge just to mark the way.
O = Where said ridge hits the E Fork. Proceed downstream from "O" to Iron Fork. You could bail out at any point along the E Fork by simply walking down stream to Heaton Flats (the "Bridge to Nowhere" route).
P = Confluence of Iron Fork and E Fork. From here, rather than going up Iron Fork, I'd probably hop up the ridge leading to S Hawkins. A firebreak is shown on the map on the upper section, but who knows what condition it's in now. Could be serious brush or ? Satellite photo shows some promise but who knows?
Q = The top of the small ridge that I would use to gain the ridge leading to S Hawkins. I would go straight up from "P" to "Q."
R = Random point on the ridge just to mark the way.
S = S Mt. Hawkins. Normally I'd say you could bail out by going down the dirt road to the Crystal Lake area, but since the Crystal Lake area is closed, I'm not so sure.
T = Middle Hawkins (also known as "Sadie Hawkins"). This isn't mentioned in your route plan, but heck this is nothing compared to many of the others, and you may as well bag it while your there.
From here you could bail out to Islip Saddle.
U = Mt Hawkins. From here you could bail out to Islip Saddle.
V = Throop Pk. From here you could bail out to Islip Saddle or you could take the trail down to Dawson saddle and walk to Islip Saddle or possibly even Vincent Gap. Be aware of bridge construction just W of Vincent gap on ACH.
W = Mt Burnham
X = Mt Baden Powell
Y = Vincent Gap trailhead and hopefully that car shuttle you did remember to arrange.
Just my thoughts.
Disclaimer: I've never descended that ridge from W Baldy to Iron to E Fork, and I've never ascended from E Fork to S Hawkins. I selected the route based somewhat on my recall of other TR's and mainly on the topo map.
