EISPIRATEN

Here is a 2015 trip report. Fairly consistent with my memories.

https://stavislost.com/hikes/trail/villager-peak/

Good for you, GoalHiking. I have similar problems with speed, step-ups, step-downs, and slidey downhill. Partly due to age, more due to a Macquet procedure I had done in the 1980's, which resulted in a left knee that wobbles with every step I take. Humbling for someone who in the 1970's was doing ...

In addition to the age issue, with which I am very familiar, there are the snow conditions and equipment issues. To be fully prepared for snow, you often need to carry microspikes, crampons, trekking poles, ice axe, and snowshoes or skis. Microspikes for thin or intermittent snow, crampons for ...

Barring a storm, you will probably find a few other people on the trail. The first quarter mile or so can be a little confusing. The HPS directions say 'the route is evident', I did not find it so in 2010. I would take the HPS directions with you, along with a compass and topo. I was amazed to see ...

From which side? Borrego Springs or Indio? It makes a difference.

I assume you know about the Hundred Peaks Section 'Rabbit Ramp Up' series of hikes?

https://hundredpeaks.org/outings.htm

I hiked Rabbit from both sides, back in the 1970's, with the SC. As a two-day Villager and Rabbit backpack ...

A real horror story, until the end. I can certainly identify with it, having a number of times spent quite a bit of time searching my car for my phone or wallet. I once left my entire pack, with my phone in it. on the side of a road, and drove off. Fortunately, it was picked up by a fire crew who ...

I stand corrected on my statement that illegal pot growing is a declining industry. Not yet, apparently.

While I am certainly not an expert on growing pot, I doubt that our national forests are particularly suitable areas for it, and less suitable for national forests in Southern California than further north. I suspect the main reasons for locating a grow in a national forest are (a) hiding the ...

I certainly remember the winter of 1968-69. An epic winter for rainfall in Southern California. I remember creeping through flooded intersections on Pacific Coast Highway, passing stalled and abandoned cars, late at night. 27.5 inches of rain reported in downtown LA for that rainfall season. So I ...

If you have narrow feet, a narrow toe box makes it worse. Your feet slide forward going downhill. A wide boot for people with narrow feet is not a big problem hiking uphill on a good trail. It is a problem when footing is poor, and becomes a big problem on long downhill runs, and when climbing.

Interesting discussion. I am limited by having narrow feet. I wish I could find narrow shoes and boots at Big5.

Here is RMRU's report. No luck. Sad case.

https://rmru.org/2025/07/01/2025-024/

Different trips, some people the same. Here is the link to the 1974 trip.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/183926019@N08/50073172267/in/photostream/

I was on the 1974 trip above. You can find quite a few trip reports for Picacho on the Desert Peaks Section website, though not the 1974 trip above ...

Someone is posting beautiful headline photos. I would love to know where they were taken. I know it is Baldy. But from where?

Dima,

The leader was John Robinson, so we had the best 'guide' available for free. He is in the summit photo, in the blue down jacket. The trip was not a Sierra Club trip, but nearly everybody was Sierra Club. We chartered a bus to save us the driving. It was a four-day Thanksgiving weekend trip ...

Guides on Big Picacho! Thanks for the trip report and photos. Photos below of a climb of Big Picacho back in 1974. Click to the right for the series of photos. This was from the east side. My first try, from the west side, was a failure. We became lost and ran out of water.

https://www.flickr.com ...

BTW, I thought Taco's comments on boots were interesting, and consistent with my experience. And I have a question. Did you consider following the top of the ridge, rather than doing the traverse? I think I read a report some years ago by someone who followed the top of the ridge. Though I am sure ...

I am impressed.

Thanks for the trip report. I turned back at the saddle years ago, I was moving slowly because of a recent hip replacement, and was concerned about pm lightning. Always wondered about what it was like beyond the saddle. I had done Superstition, Weaver's Needle, and Baboquivari, and wanted to do ...

I have my own recent jury duty story, but will pass on it.

Looks like I might have triggered something by indicating that I care about Baldy, and am willing to submit to some regulation.

As I said, I am opposed to closures. But talk of 'individual rights' is a bit overdone. As soon as you wheel ...

I suspect the SBCSD is trying to get the USFS to take some responsibility for what happens on their territory. Some combination of licensing, education, rangers on the mountain, etc. The USFS reply indicates they plan to do nothing.

I am opposed to closures for two reasons. First, 'non-closure ...

I have done the same. A few hundred feet below the top of the ridge, the wind started howling, and I knew it would be even worse above. It was Sunday and I was concerned about an approaching storm, forecasted to begin that evening. Also I had crampons but no snowshoes, and was concerned about ...

Sitting for hours enjoying the scenery is certainly a gift to be cultivated. Not something I have been good at, and I regret it. Only been up Paiute Pass once, to climb Mt. Humphreys. It is a magical place, thanks for the trip report.

The wreckage I've seen a few times is not far below the usual route people take in the summer, not far below the summit, but far enough to be in a well-forested area. When you are traversing up the ridge on the left-hand (west) side.

Nice video. Picacho Peak is on the Sierra Club's Desert Peaks Section List. Commonly referred to as 'Little Picacho', to differentiate it from 'Big Picacho', which is El Picacho del Diablo, the highest mountain in Baja, also on the list. Back in the 1970's, I climbed Big Picacho, but bad knees ...

In the 1970's, I hiked Long's Peak, Elbert and Massive. Three peaks in four days, with one day of driving from Long's Peak to Elbert and Massive. I was struck by how different the Colorado Rockies were from the Sierras. Not a maze of rugged ridges and canyons like the Sierras. Climbing in Montana ...

Dave, yes, my mistake, I assumed you were coming up Middle Fork Road.

I glanced at the Tom Harrison map. Even starting from the end of the unpaved road, it looks like considerably more than the 7-8 miles and 3k of elevation gain you are estimating. For example, the trailhead is 4k and the high point on the trail is 8,800'. I seem to recall some elevation loss between ...

That's sad to hear about the in law situation.
The victim of the shooting was a medical doctor from my home town. The hunting trip to Idaho was his in-laws' idea. His parents had their doubts that it was an accident. Perhaps because the widow's period of mourning was quite short, she quickly found ...

Whistles and walkie talkies would certainly never be on any list of mine. Carry a cell phone and use it for calls, if you can make a connection. If there is any chance of trouble on a hike, I think at least one person should carry a satellite-based SOS device. I carry a SPOT rather than a PLB, so I ...