EISPIRATEN

Atomiccoyote,

Thanks for the suggestion. I checked the County of Riverside Geodetic Control online map and it isn't there. It is definitely in Orange County, but not by much.

I noticed a small peak off Ortega Highway in the Cleveland National Forest in Caltopo with a benchmark symbol named "Stag". I searched the USGS name database and didn't find it. It also doesn't exist in the Orange County Geodetic kmz that anyone can download. All search engines turn up squ...

Redrock Mountain lies just north of Castaic Lake, an hour north of LA. Sean, Cecelia, and Dima joined me on this little adventure in the northwestern Angeles National Forest. The main route heads up Fish Canyon (no forest can have just one), past old Cienega campground, climbs to a saddle, then a ri...

Nice going. Holy Jim to Santiago is a great hike, probably THE iconic OC hike. It's nice to see at least one Santa Ana waterfall still has water. I didn't know there was a shortcut to the Upper Holy Jim trail. I took the road. Of the two Saddleback humps, I am more fond of Modjeska where you can tak...

Awesome, epic hike! You made good time going up. Definitely on my list for some day.

Your picture from Villager is kind of discouraging. Rabbit looks like million miles away.

On the low from the Jake in the Taurus
Tryin to get my hands on some Grants like Horace

Cha-ching!

An offbeat choice of routes. I don't think I would have considered those ridges as a possible loop. Thanks for the report and pictures.

Maybe you can hit that tempting pinnacle directly below Disappointment next time. I can't find any beta on it, but somebody must have been up there.

Lucky you did Mooney or it might have ended up as a VD hike (Vetter, Devil).

I didn't know there was an observatory out there. Some day, I'll get around to hitting stuff off the ACH. Beats the real DMV.

Very glad you found your wallet.

You picked an interesting way down from Sitton. Santa Ana chaparral is serious and unforgiving.

Very glad you found your wallet.

You picked an interesting way down from Sitton. Santa Ana chaparral is serious and unforgiving.

Thanks for posting the time lapse. Pretty interesting stuff. I learned something.

I think Vivian Creek to San Gorgonio is a great Whitney trainer. Only a little less gain, but over a shorter distance. About 17 miles RT with 5400'+ of gain and higher elevation (11500') than Baldy or Jacinto. You might want to wait until June or July for the last of the snow to melt.

Nice video! I'll add that to the itinerary next time. It doesn't look that flat from your summit view photo. If it had water, it might become a popular camping spot.

Great picture of the notch, too. Thanks for the report.

MikeP,

I only knew that because you identified one I ran into last year, nose to patched-nose!

Thanks for the detail. That is a long way to be in a wild canyon.

Fun day, Rico. Thanks! The mystery of Trail Canyon remains as an exercise for the reader. Here are few extra photos: https://eispiraten.com/images-archived/photobucket/i1183/albums/x471/tekewin/Iron%202/007-condor-from-mck_zpsed4g99qp.jpg Condor Peak from McKinley https://eispiraten.com/images-archi...

See teke, that's what you get. Now you have to go to Triplet. I deliberately set the bar low by calling my blog the Tissue Paper Hiker so that I could always exceed everyone's low expectation of me. Now I can rest comfortably in the knowledge that absolutely no one expects me to make the trip _k_r ...

Look at you guys going clear. Fun.

Awesome report. So, is this mine on the north side of Big Iron?

I was wondering if you explored inside and the pictures answered that question. Always amazed that people could get heavy machinery out there on the side of a steep mountain without helicopters.

The "So Close" photo showed triplet to be about what I expected. I'll be heading out there about never.

2 Legit.

Cool report. I remember coming down from the West Twin that the cross country was not bad, but the debris looked thick in the canyon. How far was it down the canyon to the trail? Maybe the forest service should post a bulletin on the hazards of grow operations, or signs next to "Bear Country&qu...

Great effort on a tough mountain. It will be easier next time now that you have the lay of the land. You got some of the best views of Big Iron from there. Thanks for the report.

Spectacular falls! Really nice report. A lot of those pictures could be postcards. Thanks for sharing.

Canyons hide some amazing geology. Great photos and bonus points for the skull.

I've only done the south ridge route, and before the fire. The use trail is not very well defined at the beginning, but once you get on the south ridge, you just follow it all the way to the top. The south ridge route is 8.8 miles round trip with a gain of 3800'. My guess is the east ridge would be ...

I finished up the lower peaks in Joshua Tree this week and ran across this cactus in the north side of the park. My best guess is a pencil cholla (Opuntia arbuscula), but I don't have a lot of confidence in that call . The golden/yellow needles caught my attention. Any cactus experts care to do a po...

Nice photos. Zahniser is pretty deep in the San Bernadinos. Looks like a long snow day.

Great photos of a nasty canyon. I'll take your recommendation and skip it

Hey, Jon Funk. What a cool name! Welcome to the forum. It was nice meeting you on the trail. FYI, my trip sucked that day. I was moving slowly and got a calf cramp at the ski hut, where I turned around. Hope you had a good trip and look forward to your reports, especially the ridge if you cross Guns...

At least, I think this is a chuckwalla. A fine lizard, regardless. Joshua Tree.