Three Points to Twin Peaks (saddle)

cougarmagic · Post by **cougarmagic** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 8:03 pm

...because I am too lame to go all the way to the peaks. (still did 10.4 miles and 3,178' gain/loss, just a warmup to you lunatics, but it's respectable in my book)

My friend Jane and I hiked this today. I've hiked Mt Waterman countless times, and love that Sierra- looking forest and weathered white granite, and those trees that smell like vanilla pudding. I'd never hiked this route, though, and have been meaning to get up there and set up a trail camera to catch some bighorn sheep.

The weather was great - warm, but never too hot. A nice breeze kept most of the bugs away, though I still wore a headnet at times.

We saw some bighorn tracks along the way, but nothing that I could get a good photo of. Big ones and tiny ones - baby lambs! Cool!

We also saw this blue tailed skink:

Some impressive rock formations along the way:

My favorite kind of trail:

Had a large boulder roll on my leg, so I sawed it off and had to crawl home (not really):

And we found a geocache without even trying!:

There is a camera out there, so in a few weeks I should have lots of videos of peak baggers, and hopefully some other wild animals.

lilbitmo · Post by **lilbitmo** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 8:12 pm

Nice TR there "Aaron Ralston"

Are you know going to go on to do all 57 14'nrs in the San Gabriels?

All kidding aside - what class of snake or critter is that "Blue Skink"?

Was it as hot today in that area as it was for us on Iron Mnt?

I'm still trying to get my body to respond from "Brain Impulses" but all it wants to do is go find "Cool Water"

lilbitmo

cougarmagic · Post by **cougarmagic** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 8:21 pm

lilbitmo wrote: Are you know going to go on to do all 57 14'nrs in the San Gabriels?

I'm going to do the Hundred Peaks list, but stop just short of the summit every time.

The weather was really fantastic - I didn't ever feel hot, and didn't drink all my water (I had 3 liters, maybe drank 2). It's very shady though - so that helps.

I'm still looking up info on the skink. I know that it's an immature version of the Five-Lined Skink, they lose the blue after 1 year apparently. Removable, regenerating tails, and they like to live in rocky areas or woodpiles...I've never seen one before, anywhere. We thought it was a piece of blue plastic on the ground at first.

cougarmagic · Post by **cougarmagic** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 8:37 pm

The Western Skink:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Skink

Post by **HikeUp** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 9:07 pm

Great trip (one of my favorite trails in the San Gabs). Thanks for sharing. Hope you get some good sheep pics!

Can you give an idea of what the north face of Twin was like as far as snow goes?

I've seen one of those blue thingies before (on the Burkhart Trail) but didn't know what it was. Pretty cool looking critter.

cougarmagic · Post by **cougarmagic** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 9:27 pm

There was still a lot of white on them - but it was starting to look spotty. And after these past couple of warm days...dunno, but it should be getting clear pretty soon. This is the only photo I got - sorry it's so far away.

If anybody is going out there in the next few weeks, let me know - I may tag along just to check my camera.

mattmaxon · Post by **mattmaxon** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 5:06 am

cougarmagic wrote: Five-Lined Skink....

When working on the Condor Peak & Colby Cyn Trails I have dug up very immature ones inadvertently....

Cool

You didn't break the femur off? You cheated and sawed it.... I'm assuming the camera is there, to get the elusive Carnivorous Big Horn Sheep

What dedication to your craft!
Cheers
Matt

kgw · Post by **kgw** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 8:25 am

My wife and I have walked that trail for mucho años. . .Hey, CougarMagic , is that map from TOPO? I had high hopes for TOPO, but the maps are blurry both onscreen and when printed.

Post by **HikeUp** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 9:57 pm

Thanks for the picture...exactly what I was interested in seeing. I'd like to head that way soon but am never sure when I can get out. If I do go, I'll be sure to smile as I cross the saddle

.

brian90620 · Post by **brian90620** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 10:15 pm

Nice trip report, My gf and I also saw one of the those blue lizards on the North Devils Backbone trail near the summit of Pine Mountian last summer and it was huge. It looked exactly like the one you saw but the one we saw was almost completly blue. Anyways, cool pics and thanks for sharing all the wildlife videos you take and I hope you can get the bighorns on camera soon.. 8)

406 · Post by **406** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 8:31 am

looks like a nice day.

cougarmagic · Post by **cougarmagic** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 10:09 pm

kgw wrote: is that map from TOPO? I had high hopes for TOPO, but the maps are blurry both onscreen and when printed.

Yes, it's from Topo. It works alright. I just upgraded to the latest version, and it's buggy. It rarely communicates with my GPS, sometimes I can't get rid of the welcome screen until I restart the whole computer, and I can't view waypoints to save my life.

But yeah, other than that, and being terribly inaccurate with mileage when you trace a route, it's fantastic!