Cecelia and I drove up the ACH yesterday looking for something to do. The fog was pretty thick up to Mt. Wilson, so we kept driving, past Chilao, and turned onto the Santa Clara Divide Road, hoping it was open to the parking for Bare Mountain. It was, and we were walking the Little Rock Truck Trail through Pinyon Flats by 10am.
This area had some big pine cones scattered on the ground.
After an easy, mile-long road walk, we came to the junction with the firebreak which follows the south ridge of Bare Mtn.
The old firebreak has a nice use trail, sometimes lined with clusters of little flowers. The ridge consists of gentle, meandering stretches, separated by two steep climbs, then the final summit push. Total gain is about 1200' in 1.75 miles.
In addition to many flowers, we also saw several horny toad lizards.
We spent an hour on the summit, eating lunch, looking for the nonexistent benchmark, and picking up other people's beer cans. The sky was clear, and we could see Mt. Emma to the west and Pleasant View Ridge to the east.
The bump a little north of the summit offered a better view of the desert side, as well as the Little Rock-Palmdale reservoir.
After that we backtracked over Bare Mountain and returned down the trail.
Bare Mountain
- EnriqueFreeque
- Posts: 13
- Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2016 7:51 pm
I remember doing Bare Mtn in '95 when the nearby shooting range at Pinyon Flats was still open. On the way back as I got to the last little ridge to ascend before the trailhead came into view, bullets were whizzing past my head. Some moron was shooting blind over the ridge! Scariest hike I've ever been on.
That's nuts. Now, whenever I look at the bullets and broken glass at the Flats, I'll think of your near-death experience.EnriqueFreeque wrote: ↑I remember doing Bare Mtn in '95 when the nearby shooting range at Pinyon Flats was still open. On the way back as I got to the last little ridge to ascend before the trailhead came into view, bullets were whizzing past my head. Some moron was shooting blind over the ridge! Scariest hike I've ever been on.