This was part two of my trip last month to East Mermaid/Peak 3702 and Middle Mermaid/Peak 4065 . I still wanted to reach the highest of the group of three, but needed to try a different route due to the vegetation along the ridge that is so dense it may be impossible to do in a single day. I haven't found a single trip report for this peak, it doesn't have a page on Summitpost, and while it does have a page on Peakbagger (as Peak 4654), it only lists a single unsuccessful attempt in 2016 with no info on their route. This meant it was up to me to come up with a route based on looking at maps and not much else. I knew the Bear Canyon Trail was easy from my last trip, and looking at the maps it seemed that West Fork Bear Creek, which joins Bear Creek a few miles up the trail, was at least gradual in elevation gain. One sentence from an unrelated trip report I found suggested West Fork was passable, so I figured I'd give that a shot and take the creek as far upstream as possible, then look for a route to scramble up the north slope to the summit.
I started shortly before sunrise, walking the road to the south end of the Bear Canyon Trail and crossing West Fork San Gabriel River. A couple miles up I saw an occupied tent in one of the campsites along the trail, the only person I would see until getting back to the road at the end of the day. The last time I was here the trail required a lot of creek crossings and rock hopping, but I managed to stay dry. This time the water level was noticeably higher and I dipped a toe or foot in the water several times trying to jump across, even slipping twice and getting wet up to my knees.
The junction of Bear Creek and West Fork Bear Creek is a scenic spot for a quick break and snack, with large boulders, pools, and little falls. I was looking forward to leaving the main creek for one with less water, hoping I would have an easier time with the many inevitable crossings ahead. Leaving the Bear Canyon Trail and heading up West Fork, the first thing I noticed was what appeared to be a faint use trail. Spoilers, this is at least partially the result of illegal pot growing operations in the area, discussed in a separate thread. The canyon is otherwise very pleasant, with lush vegetation, more nice boulders, pools, little falls, etc. It's significantly narrower than the main Bear Canyon, but you never get too squeezed in. There is also a fair bit of poison oak in the first half. It's usually easy to avoid, but I kept long pants, long sleeves, and gloves on almost the entire time as a precaution. The route upstream is obvious, and the minor footpaths from our narco friends are actually fairly useful. There are very frequent stream crossings with a lot of rock and boulder hopping, I ended up getting my feet wet a few more times in the lower section. After finding the irrigation tubing I slowed down a little, trying to listen for people and generally being more alert to my surroundings. I suppose this added to the adventure, but was a little stressful when I thought I heard voices and movement at one point.
The upper half of the canyon narrows significantly, but the creek is quite small here and it's easy to stay parallel just up the slope. Faint use trails continue to be visible in many places along the way, though I didn't see anything more than that in this section. There are a couple small falls that are easily bypassed, and one quite scenic fall of maybe 30ft that required a steep traverse of the north slope, though there may be a better way if you looked around and started up further downstream. The final third of the canyon continues west while the main creek curves to the north. There was still a trickle of water along this way, with some occasional nice open areas of flat rock with small pools. The canyon walls become much less steep and the vegetation transitions from trees to shrubs, requiring some light bushwhacking to continue along the creek bed. I approached the saddle carefully because I was slightly concerned that the relatively open and level area might be a prime grow site. Luckily I didn't see anything at the saddle beyond a use trail continuing west, and finally got a proper view of West Mermaid.
From the saddle it's a fairly straightforward 700ft scramble up the north face with some minor bushwhacking and soft, loose soil with some rock in places. I aimed for the saddle and point slightly NE of the true summit because the route looked easier, which also provided some excellent views east towards Middle and East Mermaid, Smith Mountain, Hawkins Ridge, and Baldy off in the distance with a little snow still visible. This also put a somewhat treacherous looking rock formation between me and the summit, but it turned out to be pretty easy to find a short class 3 scramble to the top. It's a shame this isn't the true summit, because it's more fun to get to and looks much cooler! But of course the actual high point is a few hundred feet away through dense vegetation. After a short but intense bit of bushwhacking I made it to the summit, which is fairly level and vegetated, but has a small clearing with a chunk of crumbly rock sticking up. I saw no signs of visitation, and stacked up a few rocks laying around to make a small cairn.
The way back went much faster and other than cutting directly down the slope to where I started from the saddle to avoid repeating the worst bushwhacking, I followed the exact same route back. Back at the irrigation tubing I stopped for a while to cut it up so it was unusable, then a little downstream found the abandoned campsite of the growers. Once back on the main Bear Canyon Trail I gave up keeping my feet dry after one or two accidental foot dips and waded up to my ankles in numerous places instead of spending the time to try and manage dry crossings that could risk a fall anyway. I made it back to the trailhead shortly before sunset.
Some nervousness about the risk of running into illegal pot growers aside, it was an excellent trip. In some ways it was easier than I expected. Compared to my last time in these peaks there was almost no hard bushwhacking, which took over four hours on my last trip. Wet feet aside, the route up the canyon was quite scenic and pretty easy, with a gradual slope and no major obstacles along the way. That said, all the jumping around on rocks and over the creek does add up to some tired legs! I plan on going back before too long to place a summit register for the few hardy souls that bother to go out there, though I might try a different approach from the west to mix things up a little.
This trip was unusually costly for me in a number of minor ways. Let us remember their sacrifices:
- My pocket - The right thigh pocket of my pants was caught on a branch and ripped half off, I cut the rest off so it would stop catching on more branches.
- Water bottle - One of my collapsible bottles developed a pinhole leak, it took me a while to realized my back wasn't just wet with sweat! I've had them for years and have plenty more, so not a big deal.
- Sock - One of my thin toe sock liners, which look silly but have helped significantly reduce blisters for me, developed a hole in the big toe.
- Shoe - After a month of suspense, a damaged eyelet of my trail runners finally broke, meaning I can't tie my shoe properly anymore. This was my fourth pair of these shoes and the second time this has happened, time to try a different model I guess.
- My toenail - Both big toenails got pretty beat up way back in November on the San Gabriel Death March and had not fully recovered. When I took my socks off in the parking lot I found that my toenail had almost entirely separated. Gross. I guess being wet almost all day combined with lots of miles was too much for ol' Lefty.
Stats: 17.1mi, 13h12m, 3250ft gain/loss.
Trash found and packed out: Approximately 25(!) mylar balloons plus some other minor stuff, though once I found the abandoned camp/dump site my new balloon haul record didn't feel like much...
