EISPIRATEN

Hi David, Missed you by one day! I was one of those parties on Saturday... although it didn't feel like a party. Actually since I had mentally prepared for a very tough hike it wasn't as bad as I expected. We also took the Dawson Saddle trail this time. The weather was very pleasant on Saturday and ...

The shortcut is at mile marker 66.37 - there is a large gully here and you'll see a use trail on the left.

Thanks, David! If you go, please let us know what the conditions are like. I may try again Memorial Day weekend.

Had planned to do Ross on Sunday but conditions forced us to change our plans and just do B-P. Drove up to Dawson Saddle and saw the trail had snow so we drove to mile marker 71 and spied that mysterious use trail up to Burnham. I appreciate the advice against on this forum, but curiosity got the be...

Thanks so much for the advice. We've decided to go from Dawson Saddle. We will abort if we encounter impassable ice or maybe we'll bring crampons but I would prefer to travel as light as possible. I really should have done this hike before I got old. Anyway I'll report back. Thanks again

Thanks, guys. HPS mentions it here for Burnham and it cuts 4 miles from the trip vs. Dawson Saddle. http://angeles.sierraclub.org/hps/guides/14h.htm When I didn't see it mentioned in any routes to Ross I thought I'd better check to make sure I was seeing this correctly and there wasn't some reason t...

Hi, I'm thinking of doing Ross this weekend. It seems to me that it's shorter and less gain/loss if you start at Lodgepole Picnic Area at AC mile marker 71 and hike up the gully to the PCT then on to BP etc. But neither the HPS nor Summit Post mention this route so it makes me think I'm wrong in see...

Thanks tekewin! We descended Modjeska the way we came - via the firebreak - and picked up the use trail on the left that leads to the saddle between the peaks. The use trail continues on the left again beyond the saddle and ends at a road just below the summit. Route finding was really easy. The tra...

Five of us hiked to Modjeska and Santiago on Saturday via HPS route #4 which says the hike to Modjeska is 7 miles r/t + 3 if you add Santiago. Many people I talked to said it couldn’t possibly be that short and unfortunately I do not have a gps to confirm or not but I would guess it was close to tha...

Love it... thanks!

Cool, look forward to seeing your report if you make it.
Leslie

P.S. Great blog

Thanks, Tekewin. I was wondering if a use trail could cut the mileage some. Hopefully we'll find it and use it! Maple Springs gate was closed for a couple days last week due to high fire danger so I guess this time of year it could close at any time.

thank you - will do!

Thanks for your reply. Yes, apparently the gate is open sometimes. Here are some links - each from the same point on Maple Springs Rd. I'm trying to figure out why the mileages are so different. 10.5 miles http://nobodyhikesinla.com/2010/06/06/modjeska-peak/ 12.8 miles http://sweet-adversity.com/ind...

Hi, I am planning to hike Modjeska in a couple weeks and looking for the shortest route. The most attractive is HPS route #4 via Maple Springs Road - 7 miles roundtrip. The curious thing is I’ve found 4 write ups from the exact same trailhead – the end of Maple Springs Road at the ‘hairpin turn in t...

I know someone who lives in Altadena above Loma Alta and has recently captured images of mountain lions and bears on motion cam on his driveway. I have one bear encounter in the San Gabs: About 8 years ago a friend and I were hiking around Mt. Williamson on a stormy day and lost the trail in the sno...

Wow, that's brave. These photos were taken on the Mt Lowe FR and upper Sam Merrill trails in December. It must be much worse now. https://eispiraten.com/images-archived/photobucket/i1089/albums/i347/leslielynch1/Muirpeak12510.jpg https://eispiraten.com/images-archived/photobucket/i1089/albums/i347/l...

Are only the flowers poisonous? We walked through thickets of the stuff in December before it was in bloom, not knowing what it was. I even picked some and put it in my pocket because the leaves smell so good! But none of us had any reaction.

Great - thanks for the info, Frank.

Hi, has anyone been up the main trail to the summit recently? Any news on current conditions would be most appreciated! I'd like to head up on Sunday without winter gear.

Thanks,
Leslie

Hi Richard,

Thanks for the info - I look forward to trying a different route to Windy Gap next weekend.

Leslie

Hi Jim,

Thanks for the information. HPS describes a use trail from mile marker 66.37 up the gully to Windy Gap. Any info there?

I'm wondering about trail conditions along the closed section of highway - is it safe to assume it could it be pretty rough since it's been closed a long time?

Sadly, I saw this too, around 11:30. They didn't do a very good job with the tarp as we could see part of the woman's head as we drove by.

Once while on the Backbone Trail near Pine Mtn I spotted something way down below to the west – looked like a tree but in the shape of a large man that stopped walking mid stride and had frozen in it's tracks. We watched it intently for a while, half expecting it would start walking, or flinch or sn...

got it!

Perfect, that is just the kind of information I was looking for. Joseph, I cannot see your attachment, would you mind posting it again or send it to me via p.m.?

Thanks again.

Ze/Kathy,

How do you rate the route finding on this loop? Do you have tips for any tricky sections? Thanks.

Has anyone been up to the 3 Ts this month? Would like to know what the conditions are - if it is doable now with crampons and ice axe. The last trip report I saw at the end of March said the trail was clear to Timber but possibly snow covered/icy/hazardous to Thunder and Telegraph. I’d like to do th...

Thank you for posting this info - I was headed to Chantry tomorrow but now I will change my plans.