EISPIRATEN

I am amazed.

Wow! 4:45 up and 3:45 down are about half my time. We were last on Whitney in 2003. This year, we won the permit lottery and have one for Labor Day. Don't expect times like these, though.

Liz - any guy that would bail on you is obviously a moron. Unfortunately, I am neither cute nor single.

The hike to Corkscrew Peak starts off highway 178 which is the main paved road crossing Death Valley east to west. I had a cooler with some bottles of water in the back seat. The top of the cooler was visible through the rear window. My guess is the bad boys saw the cooler and thought it was full of...

I had a window broken out of my van in Death Valley while hiking Corkscrew Peak a few years ago. I have come to the following conclusions: 1. Never, ever leave anything of value in the car. 2. Unlock the doors and roll down a window. That way, the thieves won't smash a window to get in. Locking a ca...

My wife and I missed both of you by minutes. We reached the summit at 11:20 via the Ski Hut trail and exited the Devil's Backbone. We rode the lift down. It saves 2 miles of knee grinding downhill even if they did raise the price to $10 this year.

The first thing I do after a hike is drink a bottle of Myoplex with 42 grams of protein and 50% RDA of most vitamins and minerals. The protein and nutrient blast begins repairs of muscle damage.

The army put a heliograph up there in the 1800's. The peak was first called Heliograph Peak, but that later changed to Telegraph Peak. The name stuck.

We hiked Telegraph Peak Saturday via Icehouse Canyon. Due to the Timber-Telegraph saddle, total vertial gain is about 4600 feet. Another 5AM start to beat the heat. Temps were OK until the afternoon coming down Icehouse. My keychain thermometer was reading in the upper 80's. We ran into two trail ma...

A compass/thermometer combo that I wear around my neck read 85 when I checked it several times during the hike down. The light colored dirt on the sunlit sections of trail blasted a lot of heat into our faces. That is the worst of it.

We hiked Cucamonga Peak Saturday. Arriving at the parking lot at 5AM to beat the heat, we got the last parking space in the upper area around the potty. Is this lot ever empty? It still felt hot even at 5AM at 5000 feet. Here is a picture of the small spring just past the eastern Chapman Trail junct...

I was at Kellys on July 3 and the water pipes (there are two) were still running. They are located across the camp away from the trail. Look for a grassy area. The first pipe has a low flow, but the second would fill a bottle in a minute. By the way, the water does not need filtering. We drink it st...

I find it amazing that there are armed state rangers on duty. I would be surprised if 10% of the Icehouse Canyon mob had a permit. I have been asked for a permit there 3 times in 12 years averaging 15 hikes a year. And then they were happily issuing field permits. Frankly, I would love to see some e...

I had that kind of knee pain a few years ago in both knees. It got to where I felt it walking down a flight of stairs. I saw an orthopedic surgeon. He diagnosed synovitis - the thin synovial lining of the knee joint was inflammed due to over use. Here is what I have done to eliminate all of the pain...

Hikin_Jim - That spring is between the eastern Chapman Trail junction and the Icehouse Saddle. There is a short section of straight, flat trail that then makes a sharp hairpin turn to the left going uphill. The spring is off to the right of the flat section as you hike towards the saddle. A faint us...

Three hikers rescued in Angeles National Forest 5:33 PM | July 4, 2009 A Los Angeles County sheriff’s helicopter emergency crew combed a heavily forested area of the Angeles National Forest for hours in search of three stranded hikers before locating and rescuing them this afternoon, a deputy report...

Columbine Spring continues to flow well. There is a small spring a few hundred feet below the saddle that is now dry. It is only a trickle at the spring peak. Here is a picture made on June 13 when it still had a little water. Is is easy to walk by without realizing that it is there. https://eispira...

We hiked Ontario Peak on Friday. Starting at 7:30AM, I was astonished to see that the parking lot was still 2/3 empty. For once, Icehouse Canyon was more of a wilderness experience instead of a conga line. The small spring just below the saddle has now dried up. The water flow at Kellys was decent, ...

Not all of them were very young.

When you are 60, everybody looks half your age.

How did the group get from Cucamonga to Ontario? Did they return to the saddle or go cross country to the top of Bighorn? Their pace is smoking. 1:20 from parking lot to saddle is an hour faster than my best. Of course, they look to be half my age, too. We hiked Ontario Saturday. There were a lot of...

Thanks for posting a report on a seldom visited area. Nice pictures.

simonov - We just missed you Saturday. My wife and I hiked Timber Mtn. leaving the trailhead about 10AM going up the Chapman Trail (the best little trail in the west, I call it) and returning via the canyon. The Korean Hiking Club discovered Icehouse Canyon a few years ago increasing traffic on the ...

Thanks for posting the report. From Orange County, it's a bit of a drive to reach the San Bernardino trailheads which is why we spend our summers wearing out Mt. Baldy. But now I am curious about the trail. Are there any springs where one could draw water? Or do you have to carry enough water to las...

We hiked Timber Mtn. Saturday. The drive up was in a rain shower, but Mt. Baldy Village and the parking lot were dry. The cloud deck was lower than last week. It did not take long to hike through it and break out into sunshine. It's always pretty being above the clouds. https://eispiraten.com/images...

Cucamonga from Icehouse is a nice hike. We do it every year.

We hiked to the Icehouse Saddle today. The original plan was Timber Mountain, but by the saddle we were well into the cloud deck. It was too cold and drizzly for the clothes we had. The small spring just below the saddle had a trickle of water. As previously noted, this one dries up quick. Foggy Mou...

The Devils Chair is a nice hike. We did it in 2005 from the Devils Punchbowl County Park. Unfortunately, it is more driving than hiking from Orange County.

hillbasher - I don't remember if the small spring or creek below the saddle had water or not. We will be back that way next Saturday. I can check then. This source is always the first to dry up, usually by early summer. So, you can't really count on it.

Here is a link to a backcountry water purity report:

http://www.pcta.org/help/join/magazines/SierraWater.asp

My wife and I filled two 750ml bottles at Kellys and drank them. 24 hours later, we are fine. Over the last dozen years, we have consumed gallon upon gallon from Columbine all without ill effect.