EISPIRATEN

Yes snowshoes would have helped. I didn't expect the powder conditions so I really didn't even consider bringing them.

Sorry, no map. I left the trail just SW of Dry Lake where the trail turns and starts to head up to Mine Shaft saddle.

Stubbornness wins the day. I hiked up via the South Fork trail. There was a lot of annoying slippery ice on the trail but I didn't encounter any problems until just before Dry Lake. A that point I caught up with 2 climbers who had just donned snow shoes. This is where the first postholing started bu...

The trouble with only a few hours of light to work with after work is that most of the closer stuff is a bit warm right now. One of the closest options when the weather is cooler is the Wind Wolves Preserve however they have limited hours and it's too hot right now. The HPS list has route descriptio...

Looks like it may have been a total of about 17,000 feet or so of elevation gain. A friend of mine analyzed the gps track and filtered out any ups and downs less than 40 feet. Before filtering the GPS track indicated around 20,000 feet but that's rarely very accurate.

Finally got my web site resurrected. Photos are here:

www.rickkent.net

Ya I met up with Brian on my way back from Etiwanda (as he was heading to the peak). I was hoping he might catch back up with me but I must have stayed just a little ahead of him.

Started with around 1.5 liters of liquid drinks. Just enough to reach the notch. Refilled at the notch (downed a soda and half a bottle of cranberry juice). Left the notch with 1.5 liters again. Ran short of water on Pine Mtn. Added small amount of snow to bottle before leaving snow zone. Short agai...

That thought had occurred to me earlier in the day since apparently I'll need to tag those two points some day. With a car shuttle it could be a consideration. I also still need Buck Point.

Might be a stretch to call this a loop (it's more of a figure 8) but I did return to my car. It's been a little under 8 months since my ankle was badly broken after being crushed by a boulder. I got back to attempting activities as soon as I was able but it wasn't easy. The prior 4 weekends to this ...

That looks like a very nice canyon! You must take me down that some time!

I definitely considered reversing it this time and almost did but for 2 reasons I decided to go the same way. For one, with 11 peaks, daylight would be a problem toward the end. Coming down the Bear Canyon trail in the dark is far less of a problem than coming down Falling Rock Canyon (from Sugarloa...

Hey Obie! A few months back I tried a couple different ankle braces, wrapping, etc. but didn't really find anything I liked. When I needed it my stiffer hiking boots offered more support than anything else but I prefer to hike in my lighter shoes/boots. I still have some pain in the ankle but it's d...

While not quite back up to the level of doing Baldy 5x in a day I did manage to put the ankle to a test on Saturday. It was time again to see how much it could take. I was pleasantly surprised. I managed to hit my goal of 11 peaks. It definitely felt harder at times than I remember but the ankle did...

Looks like too much flow for me too. Obviously it depends in part on the experience level of all group members. Even with experience however the likelyhood of an accident certainly goes up with the increase in flow. If it were me and I found myself in a canyon with much higher water flow than expect...

It's been 15 weeks since my ankle was broken. Last weekend I finally did a successful canyon descent in Death Valley (a new fork of Styx Canyon) with some friends. Yesterday I tagged my first summit: Mount Baldy via the bowl. This was another test to see where I was at. Everything went about as I ex...

Uh yeah. Probably fine. Can't imagine how much "fun" it would be half way up the east fork right now though.

I wash thinking the same thing today. I have such indredibly fond memories of Eaton as it once was. I sure hope all this flooding results in some good.

-Rick

Great photos Mark! I sure miss Death Valley. I went a few weeks ago but since I was immobile I couldn't really leave the car and could only drive around. That just didn't do the trick. It's so much different when you can get out and away from everything else. Surprisingly I haven't done a solo overn...

I say we go 2 more weeks and then have a race up Iron Mountain!

ha!

8 weeks for me today. I still have some swelling in the foot which makes it painful to try and walk but I assume that's pretty typical. Although I'm probably supposed to be keeping the boot on I haven't been using it much lately. I got on my mountain bike yesterday and rode it around the block a cou...

Thanks Obie!

I found a friend who has a trainer so I'll give that a try and see how it works.

Hey Obie, are you using an exercise bike or one of the trainers for an existing bike? I'm thinking I should probably get one or the other.

Sounds like progress Obie! 6 weeks for me tommorow. Next appointment is Tues. Guess I need to start figuring out how to get some exercise. I've done absolutely nothing. I hope they take this damn cast off and give me something else. Ankle feels good. Feels like I could start putting some weight on i...

The only failure would be to have not tried at all.

You were just getting to the good part!

Ok I have the distance now. It was 48 miles.

SAN GORGONIO TRIPLE 8/20/2010 Last year for me was the year of multiples: Baldy 5x, Whitney 2x, Skyline 3x as well as some other noteable hikes (San Gabriel 25 peaks, R2R2R, etc.) To finish things off I had one last idea: a Gorgonio triple. Unfortunately time ran out and the window of opportunity cl...

Thanks everyone! I'll post a report shortly (been catching up on a little sleep). In short it was a successful day. I reached the summit of San Gorgonio 3 times in 21 hours via 3 different trailheads (Vivian Creek, Fish Creek, and the South Fork).

-Rick

Matt, We did the brushy drop-in too. Hit a few pretty dense spots. The Chorro Grande trail is an excellent trail. No brush at all. The trail is in very good condition (or at least was before the rain). Cougar, Yes that was on the trail beyond Reyes Peak. I wasn't positive but it looked like a kitty ...

I may have seen them Saturday night. A friend and I did Potrero John Canyon on Saturday. We did the last half of the canyon in the dark. On our way out (while on the trail) we saw one or more individuals camping out with a nice fire. They were a bit off the trail however and from a distance we just ...

Oh man ... so close. That has to hurt!



Baldy? Weak.

When are we gonna do Iron 3 times in one day?