Mostly Driving Penstock and Lytle Creek Ridges

TRs for the San Gabriel Mountains.
Post Reply
User avatar
Sean
Posts: 3748
Joined: Wed Jul 27, 2011 12:32 pm

Post by Sean »

Yesterday I toured the Lytle Creek area and picked up some miscellaneous peaks. Forest Road 2N79 branched off of Lytle Creek Road shortly after the bridge across the main wash.

Image

It was a pretty nice dirt road. A quarter-mile up, at the t-intersection, I turned right and ascended to Penstock Ridge.

Image

A drive-up highpoint, the newly placed register was literally right beside the road in a rock pile.

Image

I parked and wandered around a bit. Found a view of the mouth of Lytle Creek wash.

Image

Moving on, I drove back to the t-intersection and continued up 2N79 to the junction with 3N31.

Image

My first stop along this road was at a minor saddle before the 3732 BM. This benchmark appears on topo maps with only the elevation. I was curious to see if it still existed and had an actual stamped name. After a brief quarter-mile trip up the ridge, I located the mark. A standard disc attached to a metal pipe encased in an octagonal concrete slab, it had come out of the ground and was turned upside down. I flipped the slab on its side in order to read the stamp which said "KEEN 1949."

Image

Image

Also nearby was found a plain reference mark from 1975.

Image

The road then took me above the sewage plant,

Image

behind Mountain Lakes Resort,

Image

and back down to Lytle Creek Road, which I took for only a short stretch before turning onto Sheep Canyon Road (2N56).

Image

Sheep Canyon was another fine dirt road. At a low saddle it met the continuation (upper segment) of 3N31. I parked here and prepped for a longer walk up to Lower Lytle Creek Ridge (4386'). To get to this point I headed steeply up an old firebreak at first, and then followed an undulating ridgetop over three bumps. It was about a mile one-way with 600' of gain.

Image

Image
(LLCR Highpoint on right)

There was nothing at the highpoint, except a view of Lytle Creek.

Image

Beyond the highpoint, maps showed another unnamed benchmark (4306'). I wandered all around the area but couldn't find any sign of it.

Image

Next on the agenda was Upper Lytle Creek Ridge (5080').

Image

I hopped back in the air-conditioned car, happy to be out of the 94-degree heat, and raced up the ridge road (3N31). At a saddle on the NW side of the peak, I once again exited the vehicle and pushed through light brush for a quarter-mile up the ridge.

Image

Again nothing on the summit but a pile of rocks.

Image

Further up, my final goal was Mt. Jo, something discovered on Peakbagger.com. It was basically a drive-up peak with an easy, brief walk to the top. The topo map marks it as 6429'. However, Peakbagger puts it at 6427', and a sign on the summit said 6476'.

Image

Feel free to make up your own height when you visit it.
Post Reply