I've had Alto Diablo on my list of peaks to hit for a long time as I've finished all the other officially named peaks in the San G. Wilderness. It has an odd position and unless you make it a destination it gets skipped easily. In addition its prominence is a bit absurd and it makes you wonder if it deserves its own unique naming in the first place. Regardless I needed to get up there and hit that sucka once and for all. I haven't hiked from the South Fork TH since the fire so even though I had heard and seen pictures I was still not ready for the complete devastation that hit one of the most pretty areas in SoCal. I think the word has gone out as typically the lot is quite busy even on weekdays and today there was only three cars. The hike up to Poopout Hill was uneventful and while equally burned didn't have as much an effect on me as much of this sections had been meadows. I was glad to see that the buildings were saved at Horse Meadows.
Once at Poopout the ridge is quite obvious to the right going up in an easterly and then NE direction. The first section with the burned out trees has caused buckthorn to thrive but fortunately it is only about knee high and can be stomped like the vile plant it is. This section had the most undergrowth, quite rocky, and was the steepest section. Fortunately with judicious care you can avoid much of the low hanging brush. From here you get a short level section before you climb up an odd moss covered slope that was a pleasure to hike up after the rocky buckthorn slope. You reach the next step which is covered with low hanging manzanita that can be avoided on the north slope. The slope changes to a more northerly direction and steepens again with no undergrowth and just lots of rocky sections to maneuver up. The peaklet 10,230 is quite rocky and can be skirted to the east but its more fun to climb it and was an enjoyable short diversion. From here you finally get a section of healthy forest and go straight north over a bump and down from the highpoint of the ridge to the trail. For this reason it is quite difficult to tell from the trail where the ridge is.
From here I was uncertain what was the Alto Diablo highpoint and stayed on the ridge. After dropping back down to the trail after getting up too early in the ridge. I saw two prominent bumps with the westernmost one being higher. Sure enough that was Alto Diable which hadn't been signed in since July. It seems popular with the 8 peak challenge set as that was most of the signatures and they like the month of June. From there I dropped down to the saddle and climbed Shields from the east which is a fun peak since it is unusual with all of its large rocks that make up most of the peak. Someone had left binoculars in the canister which was a diversion to use to check out Big Bear Lake and other surrounding peaks.
My way back was to be via Dollar Saddle and the traditional trail. On the way back up to Alto Diablo I annoyed some stinging insect that was determine to sting me but found my clothes offputting and only got a glancing sting on my elbow, I feel for him. The route down is quite unpleasant as the trail is eroded in sections and covered with rocks everywhere from after the fire. I saw nobody the entire day after I reached Poopout Hill which was pretty eerie for this area. The total time was 6.5 hours with about 4,300 elevation gain.