Baldy on Thanksgiving Day?

phydeux · Post by **phydeux** » Sat Nov 21, 2009 7:10 am

Anybody been up there on Turkey Day? Tons of traffic or a nice quiet day? Thinking of a morning hike up the Ski Hut route, just don't want to go up there if its a "zoo" of people (Koreatown group hikes, religious cults, etc).

EManBevHills · Post by **EManBevHills** » Sat Nov 21, 2009 10:03 am

An alpine start is the ticket.
Then you will only need to get to the side of the trail the entire way down from the hut....

phydeux · Post by **phydeux** » Sun Nov 22, 2009 6:29 am

Thanks, eman. Hoping the trail traffic would be lighter on the holiday. I'll just have to suck it up if I make an early morning go of it. Maybe I'll get lucky and everyone will stay down in the flatlands.

Cheers

asbufra · Post by **asbufra** » Sun Nov 22, 2009 8:27 am

I went up Icehouse Canyon last Thanksgiving. It was not crowded at all, maybe a dozen people. I think most people stay around home.

It was a dry cloudy day at the trailhead; as I went higher it started raining and then snowing around the last mile.

phydeux · Post by **phydeux** » Thu Nov 26, 2009 7:00 pm

A little follow-up:

Nice day on Baldy, and it was NOT crowded at all. About 10 cars around the Ski Hut trail starting point (the fire road), which grew to about 30 when I got back. A few other folks on the trail all the way up, but nothing like the usual weekend traffic jam. Clear views all around at the top, with a 10 mph(?) wind, and only enough snow reminants for a short snowball fight

. Came down by the Backbone trail and through the ski resort and it had very few people, too. Traffic on the road coming back down to the flatlands was minimal; I counted 6 bicyclists and only five cars.

Edit: A few pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40389757@N07/?saved=1

Conclusion: Turkey Day is a good hiking day.

EnFuego · Post by **EnFuego** » Thu Nov 26, 2009 7:27 pm

asbufra wrote:It was a dry cloudy day at the trailhead; as I went higher it started raining and then snowing around the last mile.

Oh to dream. If it would only rain and snow this Thanksgiving.

outwhere · Post by **outwhere** » Thu Nov 26, 2009 8:10 pm

About when did this Baldy traffic jam stuff start? From what ya'all report, sounds pretty crowded.

Any reasons behind the increase?

I remember many [nice] weekends when we'd be lucky to see 20 people along the way.

Same goes for Ice House Canyon. Even when we got late starts, we'd find parking without much trouble.

Great Hiking Era Pt. 2 ??

phydeux · Post by **phydeux** » Fri Nov 27, 2009 7:10 am

In the early 1990's the Ski Hut trail was not very well known, at least where you'd pick it up off of the San Antonio Falls Fire Road. Yesterday there was a big cairn by the side of the road signifying where it started. Might as well get CalTrans to put a big off ramp sign up there.

Trail running has increased in popularity, so that adds to the volume of folks, too. Probably 1/3 of the folks I saw on Baldy yesterday were trail runners.

Its near L.A. - less than 1 hour from anywhere in the L.A. basin.

And that Asian thing. . . lots of Asians up there yesterday. Don't know whos Korean, Japanese, Chinese, etc.

moppychris · Post by **moppychris** » Fri Nov 27, 2009 8:41 am

That is good to know, maybe next holiday it would be a good idea. Yesterday was so clear too. I missed out!

phydeux wrote: And that Asian thing. . . lots of Asians up there yesterday. Don't know whos Korean, Japanese, Chinese, etc.

haha. Yeah, I guess this is a growing pass time(for them). I have observed more Koreans cut switchbacks and leave trash than others. Hopefully this changes. But I did meet a very nice Japanese man going down icehouse one afternoon. he said, "i like your dancing."