Heaton Flat to Baldy summit loop up Big Horn Ridge and down San Antonio Ridge - trip report and photos

[headsizeburrito]

I'm moving to the east coast at the end of the week, so this was my final hike here! ? I had to make it a good one!

Placing the register at West Mermaid and reaching Triplet Rocks were the other hikes I wanted to get in and did in recent weeks, and something on Baldy was going to be my last one. Baldy might be a bit overdone and I've been there plenty of times, but it's place in local hiking made it appropriate for a last trip. The great thing about it is that there are so many possible routes that aren't like the 405 at rush hour, so I figured I'd do one of the harder ones. The original plan was to carry a bunch of beer up and pass it out to random people on the summit just for fun, but as my planned route got harder with each iteration (first North Backbone to Baldy and back, then Heaton to Iron to San Antonio Ridge to Baldy and back) I realized it would be hard enough without 24-36 cans of beer weighing me down. Looking at the map I was reminded of Big Horn Ridge and since it's so rarely visited I figured that would be a good option. A loop is always cooler than an out and back and I'd be solo so I needed a way back to my car anyway. I decided I'd start at Heaton Flat, find a way to Big Horn Ridge, take that to Baldy, then return via San Antonio Ridge and Iron, then back to Heaton. The only other trip report I've found was Ze's from 2009, so information is obviously a bit limited, but I knew if I found a way to BHR the rest would be fine. The unknown part was just how to get to the ridge from Heaton Flat, since Ze did it from the east side of the ridge and I'd be coming from the west. Thanks to Dima's mine exploration I knew it would be pretty easy to get to Coldwater Canyon from Heaton. The western slope of BHR in that area is heavily vegetated, so my plan was to hopefully take a random gully that would hopefully be brush free and just follow that up to the ridge, the same way Dima and I reached the ridge below Triplets last week. If that didn't work, I'd just try and figure something out while there.

I left Heaton Flat right at 6am and began the climb, I was moving slower than I hoped but eventually reached the junction with the old trail at 8am. The trail is crowded with brush and washed out in places, but easy to follow. I was very appreciative of Dima's work cutting back the yucca along the way! After passing Widman Ranch I eventually reached a point where it was so washed out and steep it was pretty sketchy, but when I looked back behind me I saw the old rope tied there and realized this was the spot to drop into Coldwater Canyon. The area is shady and pleasant, with steady flow in the stream. I had originally intended to follow the canyon up past the bend and take one of the gullies there, but pretty quickly I saw a very minor one that looked viable and decided to just start heading up there and see what happened. It ended up not continuing very far, but luckily all those small trees (scrub oak I think?) actually do a great job of shading the ground to prevent much plant growth at ground level. As a result the ground is covered in a somewhat slippery layer of dead leaves, but has almost no other vegetation to get tangled up in. Once my little gully ended I basically just went straight up the slope, dodging between the trunks. There were a few rocky spots, I slipped a little here and there on the steep and loose slope, and had to make some minor adjustments around denser patches of vegetation, but there were no significant obstacles overall. It certainly took a fair bit of energy, but I eventually made it to Big Horn Ridge at point 6388 without much trouble. From reading Ze's description of getting there from Cattle Canyon I think this approach is easier due to lower vegetation density.

Once on the ridge I took a break and saw a helicopter flying around the summit of Baldy. I wondered if there was a rescue operation, but from what I saw it didn't seem stop long enough to pick anyone up and I don't see anything in the news today. From 6388 the climb up to Baldy is long and steep, but very straightforward. You can generally stay very close to the top of the ridge, occasionally dropping a little below on the west side to avoid some tricky spots or areas of dense vegetation. The eastern side is generally too steep and should be avoided. At times you have drop down a bit to cross some pretty steep slopes and then go back up to the ridge again, but overall it isn't too bad. At least with the line I took I rarely encountered anything more than steep class 2 terrain, as long as you stay away from the eastern side the exposure is very limited. There are very old saw cuts on some trees and large shrubs along the ridge and I saw a small cairn on point 7245, but saw no recent signs of people. Ze posted a picture of one of the old metal triangle signs at 6388, I didn't see it but wasn't specifically looking. There are frequent game trails that are often on or just below the ridge line that were helpful in places. Other than that you just keep going up, with the vegetation gradually thinning as you gain elevation, with nice views of the neighboring ridges and peaks. Once on the ridge it's basically the same terrain and conditions as the Bear Canyon trail on the next ridge over, except without the whole trail part.

I eventually got to the end of Big Horn Ridge at point 9425 and rejoined the trail, following it to the Baldy summit. There were three female bighorn right along the ridge which was nice because I hadn't seen any in quite a while. The summit was a zoo as expected at 3pm on a Saturday, so I tagged the sign then went 100 yards west along the ridge to watch the sheep that were still there and enjoy my summit beer (I didn't bring any to share, but didn't deprive myself!) and food in peace. While doing this a glider flew over the ridge, which was kind of neat. After a nice break I passed over West Baldy and started down San Antonio Ridge. While this isn't an official trail, it seems more worn in than the last time I was there, with more (and sometimes excessive) cairns along the way. The main use trail along the ridge fades a bit at the halfway point and I ended up wading in pointy bushes a couple times, but overall it's pretty easy to follow. The scrambling at Gunsight Notch and beyond definitely requires care and attention, but I had already been there three times before, so it went smoothly, reaching the summit of Iron at 7pm. The descent from Iron after a long day is always a bit of a slog, but was uneventful besides stirring up a rattlesnake in the bushes just off the trail. I got back to my car at Heaton Flat at 10:20pm, very satisfied with the trip!

Stats: 16 hours and 20 minutes, 22.8 miles, 9,800ft gain/loss.
Trash found and packed out: Two water bolttles, one food wrapper, ~15 balloons.

[headsizeburrito]

The old trail into Coldwater Canyon, thanks for the pruning Dima!

The creek above Widman Ranch

Typical terrain and vegetation while climbing the slope up to the ridge

Nice view of San Antonio Ridge on the way up

Looking up Big Horn Ridge towards Baldy

Looking back down Big Horn Ridge

North end of Big Horn Ridge and point 9425 just before joining Bear Canyon Trail

Nature!

Baldy summit on a Saturday!

Summit beer!

[headsizeburrito]

Glider flying over the ridge and sheep while I was taking a break

Starting down West Baldy towards San Antonio Ridge

Iron as the sun is going down

Time to get the headlamp out

Snake friend

Detail of my GPS track from Widman up Big Horn Ridge to Bear Canyon Trail

[dima]

Cool trip, and thanks for the report! Predictably, I'm interested in details about how you gained Bighorn Ridge. You just picked a line, and it ended up working, right? You didn't try to follow old trails and in particular, you didn't end up walking the one visible switchback above Widman Ranch? I'm pleasantly surprised to hear that the whole area isn't full of brushy murder.

Glad your final hike before you move was a good one. Enjoy DC, and come back and visit us.

[headsizeburrito]

You just picked a line, and it ended up working, right?

Pretty much! I did see that bit of old trail above Widman, but since it didn't seem to connect to anything and was so low anyway I didn't bother checking it out. I figured a direct line one way or the other would work a lot better. I didn't see anything that looked like a trail once I left the bottom of Coldwater, just animal trails. Here are a couple terrible pictures I didn't post because they were blurry, but this is what I started up. Very soon it starts to get quite steep, but is very doable. Honestly I was surprised at how easy it was to get to the ridge from this side, brush was basically a non-issue. Maybe I got lucky, but from what I could see there were plenty of spots like the one I took that would be easy places to start going up and just figure out a passable line from there as you go.

Once you get closer to the ridge and the vegetation starts to change it's more like this, which is also easy to travel through.

[tekewin]

Creative combo of routes to go out with a bang! Well done!

[bcrowell]

Cool TR!

It's weird that there are two completely separate Coldwater Canyons in the same area. The other one is to your north if you're at the saddle between Telegraph and Thunder.

[Girl Hiker]

Nice trip report and awesome pictures, especially the Big Horn sheep. Good luck with your future adventures. It was nice hiking with you, the one time you hiked with us to Occidental Peak.

[walker]

Going out in style! Congratulations on a successful hike and thanks for posting the report. Nice to know that there's a path that will go without major difficulties - if it had been a brush garden, that would have been a major ordeal.

Regarding the old trail network in the area - the main trail seems to have contoured from above Widman Ranch around the ridges and into an eastern branch of the canyon. It appears there was a use trail ascending Big Horn Ridge, but not a built trail going up the ridge.

If you use UCSB's aerial photography frame finder - you can go directly to the image directories and look for flight c-300 from 1927/28 - the frames that contain images of this area are c-300-g-416 and c-300-g-367.

If you use the flight index to find adjacent frames, you can see the Alison mine trail and some of the other mine trails in the East Fork on other images from this series as well.

[Sean]

Thanks for the report! Another awesome route and story of adventure. It's great that you got to do all these hard hikes before leaving SoCal--and say farewell to the sheep!

I've considered accessing BHR from that side. I believe the old trail went through Fossil Canyon. Did you see any signs of an old trail on the ridge?

SAR practices landing on Baldy. I've seen the helicopter up there before doing touch and go.

[JeffH]

....it's basically the same terrain and conditions as the Bear Canyon trail on the next ridge over, except without the whole trail part.

My new favorite line from a TR!

Best wishes for your move, it was a pleasure meeting and hiking with you.

[Uncle Rico]

Wow! Looks like I've missed out on quite a bit while on hiatus. You had some big days leading up to your departure. Way to go out in a flash of glory.

[headsizeburrito]

Thanks everyone for the nice comments and greetings from the east coast! Arrived a couple days ago and still just getting settled, the movers coming with most of our stuff will be here on Monday. I took most of my day hiking and running gear in the car for the cross country drive so I'd have something to do before the rest of the stuff arrived. Unfortunately in Kansas City, MO our car was broken into and nearly all my hiking gear was taken, along with most of my clothes and a bunch of my wife's stuff, including some irreplaceable research notes and other work materials. So that sucks, but at least insurance is doing it's job and the rest of it is just stuff that will be replaced, minus the deductible. I suppose it's an excuse for some new gear and I've been on a replacement shopping spree as a result. Got some new trail runners I've been wanting to try out and will replace my InReach with the newer Mini model I had been previously eyeing. Maybe I'll be able to get out for a first hike in the area in the coming week once some gear arrives in the mail and post a little report.

Sean, I didn't see anything on the ridge that looked much like an old trail, but there were animal trails here and there at least. The saw cuts I noticed here and there I assume were from an old firebreak and only went partway up the ridge.

Rico, it was great to be able to get so much done in my last few weeks! Of course I have a long list of things I would still like to do in the area, but I got most of the big ones!

[Ze Hiker]

badass!

The route from Coldwater you took I think was quite likely an easier route from my experience.

While waiting for hikers to go up to Eagle Mine, I went and started following the old Big Horn trail as it wrapped around back south. Actually that part was easy to follow as far as I took it. But it would just add time and another chunk of brush to deal with once you gain the ridge. Where you took is generally less brush to avoid than on the east side.

What an obscure hike lol

[dima]

I want to say that I looked up that old trail on the old aerials, and it didn't climb the ridge. Rather it traversed over to cattle canyon, and then up to cow saddle. I think.