I got an early start (6:10am from Torrance) and arrived at chair #1 at the Mt. Baldy ski resort at 7:30am. After buying my round trip ticket (this used to be a nominal fee but now costs $18 - talk about inflation!!), I started my journey for the day. There was a light breeze blowing most of the day so the sun was not too unbearable. I'm still not in my best hiking shape so I forgot just what an uphill adventure this was going to be! (2,993 ft. gain/loss) I marked my exit point from the trail (001 on the map) as I traversed up the scree slope of Mt. Harwood.
This wasn't that difficult to gain the top. After a quick break I headed back down and rejoined the main trail (002 on the map). It was an extremely busy day on the backbone trail with many people going up and down.
I reached the top before noon only to be greeted by hoards of hikers!! (My estimate was well over 50!)
I didn't stay too long and decided to have lunch on the top of West Baldy which I hadn't bagged before. Other than two other hikers I had the top to myself!
An amazing view with wonderful solitude and a light breeze. I left just after noon and made it back to the notch by 2pm. Here is a log of my travels:
07:45 am Mt. Baldy ski resort parking lot
08:09 am Baldy Notch
08:56 am Start of backbone of trail
09:55 am Mt. Harwood
11:06 am Mt. Baldy
11:41 am West Baldy
02:01 pm Baldy Notch
This was another amazing day of hiking in SoCal! The rest of the pics are here.
Be sure to bring enough water.