Lookout Mountain via West Fork of Bear Canyon (My Bday Hike)

[Girl Hiker]

Lately, I haven't had time to post my hikes as often as I would like but I wanted to share my birthday adventure that took place on November 22nd. Some of my wild Wednesday hiking friends planned a fun adventure bagging Lookout Mountain via Bear Canyon, scrambling up a steep ridge. I have bagged this peak before with Sean but we did it the easy way starting from the parking lot of Cow Saddle many moons ago.
Anyways, we met up at the Baldy visitor Center early Wednesday morning.
After walking past the cabins we continued on the main trail and found a sweet spot to scramble down into the West Fork of Bear Canyon.

As we descended deeper into the canyon, there were lots of trees, rocks and a couple of small dry falls to climb over.

There were lots of trees to climb under.

I was so excited because I have never hiked this off trail path to Lookout Mountain. We were looking for a good spot to start ascending up the steep ridge and we found one.

Here we are on the ledge of a dry fall.

After this we continued on climbing up but had to push through some Yucca plants because there was no other option. Unfortunately, just a few feet from this yucca plant is where we encountered a class 3-4ish rock that three of us were able to climb over. I don't have a picture of it. One of the members of the group lost his footing, fell and tumbled down about 20 feet. Luckily a bush halted his fall but he injured his ankle. I wrapped his ankle and that's all we could do.
Thank God that was his only injury.

So this is where my adventure ended. We were so close to the ridge but safety is first. It was a slow, exhausting hike descending the ridge, into the canyon with our friend hobbling step by step. He insisted on just getting back to his car, didn't want us to call for help, and he painfully made his way down into the canyon with the assistance of my friends. Needless to say, he slipped again falling on his butt. Luckily, it was only a short distance and again his fall quickly came to a halt by a fallen tree. Once again we assisted him and our only concern was getting him back to his car in one piece.
This is where he slid down past this rock. It doesn't look like much but around the corner is where he fell. After helping him, I decided to go on ahead of the group, swiftly through the canyon, finding my way onto the main trail, running back to get his car and making sure I didn't fall. I drove up as far as I could onto the road by the cabins and waited untill the remainder of my group brought him back to safety.

View from the trail.

Despite my injured friend and my special day coming to a quick halt, we all made it back safely to our cars. On a positive note, we hiked a good distance in the canyon. It was a beautiful day and not the worst canyon I have hiked through. To add, at least we were able to scramble up a good portion of the challenging ridge. It was a bit risky but doable. I want to go back again to finish what we started.

A final thought. Some of the most experienced hikers fall no matter how good you think you are!

[David R]

That doesn't sound good, you were quite fortunate as those injuries could've been much severe. There is a much easier way to the ridge from Bear Canyon where you ascend a small gulley that takes you to the saddle right below Pk. 5,696. I have tried the other gullies/ridges closer to Lookout and it gets steep and advancement is impeded by lots of brush.

[Girl Hiker]

Hi David,
Thanks for the information. I would love to go back there some day. Maybe you would like to show us the way? My friend Henry wants to go too, after I told him about my adventure. I have to admit it was fun but could be dangerous and if there is an easier but cooler way I'm down!

[dima]

I second David's suggestion; it's a nice route. The way-finding is pretty simple. Start out on the normal Bear Canyon trail. When the trail leaves the river (or maybe a bit before) you leave the trail, and take a gully to the left. There's a use trail eventually, and you end up at the saddle between 5696 and lookout. It's the obvious gully:

https://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=34.2433 ... 5&z=17&b=t

At the saddle you rejoin the main approach to Lookout. For an even better time, follow the ridge past Lookout which rejoins the main Bear Canyon trail eventually.

[Girl Hiker]

I second David's suggestion; it's a nice route. The way-finding is pretty simple. Start out on the normal Bear Canyon trail. When the trail leaves the river (or maybe a bit before) you leave the trail, and take a gully to the left. There's a use trail eventually, and you end up at the saddle between 5696 and lookout. It's the obvious gully:

https://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=34.2433 ... 5&z=17&b=t

At the saddle you rejoin the main approach to Lookout. For an even better time, follow the ridge past Lookout which rejoins the main Bear Canyon trail eventually.

Thanks Dima.
Next time I will look out for the gully.

[tekewin]

What David R said. A 20' fall/slide could have been so much worse if he had hit his head on a rock. Glad everyone got out safely. 16-30' vertical is usually a serious or life altering injury, but I know he wasn't falling vertically.

On the plus side, beautiful canyon! You should definitely go back and finish it.

[Uncle Rico]

I found myself out in Pomona yesterday a.m. so took advantage of the situation and decided to give the David R/dima route to Lookout Mountain a go. I don't know whether I was doing it right or not, but I didn't achieve the objective, probably due to poor navigation.

I parked in front of the visitor's center and started up Bear Canyon. I followed the road until it became a footpath and then followed that to the point where it begins the short series of switchbacks climbing east. This is a bit below where the last 2 cabins in the canyon are. Immediately adjacent to this spot, a drainage comes in from the west. I crossed the creek here and started up the drainage that had been traveled as there was blue tape and cairns along the way. So I figured if I wasn't on the right route, at least I was on a route.

I rock-hopped up the drainage to a point where a subsidiary drainage entered from the west. I figured this couldn't be the right drainage and continued up the "main" channel. I came across a trail cam just after that, but beyond that, I noticed the blue tape and rock cairns disappeared. I pushed on and finally came to a dry waterfall that was probably 20 feet high. Its climbable and there appeared to be a steep bypass on the right, but since I was solo, I figured I probably shouldn't chance it. I also thought there was a good chance that I was in the wrong drainage anyway, so I backtracked to the junction with the subsidiary drainage and began up that.

Ascending this drainage, I saw signs of travel by others so I was optimistic I was now where I was supposed to be. There was deadfall and rocks to negotiate, but nothing terribly difficult. Then I came to a huge tree that had fallen across the drainage. This is where I think things went awry. Instead of going under or around this tree, I climbed on top and used it to cross to the south side of the gully because the going looked easier there. And I saw signs that others had done this as well. So I left the drainage and began ascending the steep, forested slope.

As I got what appeared to be closer to the saddle, the brush got thicker. Ultimately, I ran into several impenetrable walls of brush and decided to abandon the effort. I probably should have made my way back to the channel and continued upward, but figured I'd save it for another day. So I retreated back to the main trail and decided to go to Bear Flats just to see if I could see the beginning of the faint use trail that can also used to access Lookout.

Bear Flats seems like a misnomer to me. I didn't see any bears and its not particularly flat. I also didn't see any trace of a use trail veering off to left as a possible route to Lookout. So I found a rock to sit and have a snack while I contemplated my navigational loserdom.

Here's a few pics:

This is just after leaving the Bear Canyon trail.

The "main" channel after the split.

The waterfall obstacle

The junction with the subsidiary drainage entering from the left.

Entrance to the subsidiary drainage

My route (as best as I can determine).

[tekewin]

13_My Route Up Lookout Canyon.pngMy route (as best as I can determine).

Did you draw out a route and load to a GPS beforehand? Purists will poo-poo me, but I am a big GPS fan, especially when the nav is going to be tricky. The drainage looks cool just like Cecelia's pix.

[Uncle Rico]

13_My Route Up Lookout Canyon.pngMy route (as best as I can determine).

Did you draw out a route and load to a GPS beforehand? Purists will poo-poo me, but I am a big GPS fan, especially when the nav is going to be tricky. The drainage looks cool just like Cecelia's pix.

As you've probably already, surmised from looking at the rudimentary image of my maybe route, "no." I haven't really used all those new-fangled gizmos you youngsters are into. I looked at a topo, read David and dima's description, and launched off. I kinda enjoy trying to find my way sometimes (cue search and rescue).

[HikeUp]

You were close to making the saddle - nice effort!!!. The route between the saddle and the peak is steep but easily managed.

The trail from Bear Flat towards Lookout begins behind the cute little bear flat sign - you have to crash through some bushes before you start to see evidence of the use trail (it clearly used to be a real trail quite a long time ago). In this picture it is directly behind the sign (clearly not obvious).

This was 9 years ago so it's all FWIW. Descending the gully you tried to go up is extremely easy...just go down down down...no decisions to make. Going up you have to make decisions without being able to see landmarks.

More pics of route I took...https://www.flickr.com/photos/hikeup_pa ... 055268580/

[HikeUp]

Lookout Mountain 2.kmz

(7.92 KiB) Downloaded 51 times

[JeffH]

Bear Flats seems like a misnomer to me. I didn't see any bears and its not particularly flat. I also didn't see any trace of a use trail veering off to left as a possible route to Lookout. So I found a rock to sit and have a snack while I contemplated my navigational loserdom.

It doesn’t look flat to me either and I’ve also never seen any use trail. Last time I was there I was happy to find a trickle of water.

[David R]

I can't tell if you were in the right gully from the pictures but from your red line you were except you would continue straight up, not in the subsidiary gully. When you get to the switchback there is a gully in front of you with some cascades coming down it. This is the WRONG gully. You need to backtrack slightly to a non-descript dry gully that is easy to miss but moving in a clear line towards the saddle. This gully has some foliage over it and is easy to miss. From there, I think there is one minor scramble but no major obstacles like a waterfall. The most challenging point is just before the saddle foliage blocks your way and you need to move out of the gully slightly to the left to follow a poor use trail around it.

GPS for me is a no go except if I'm in a jungle/very forested area or trying to find a high point among a jumble of rocks. I mean really what is the fun if technology is telling you how to get there, most of the fun on xcountry is figuring that all out.

With so much confusion about this route I'd be fine with leading peeps up this gully once and for all sometime, let me know.

[Uncle Rico]

With so much confusion about this route I'd be fine with leading peeps up this gully once and for all sometime, let me know.

It felt like I was in the right gully. You and I might just be describing the same thing differently.

I'd definitely be up for another go if you want to show the way some day. I think Cecelia wants another shot as well.

As an aside, why isn't the route straight up the West Fork an option? Looking at HikeUp's GPS track, you ultimately end up there anyway, but you swing way over to Bear Flats first before cutting back and joining the canyon further up. Is it a private property issue? Or is the lower West Fork not easily "travelable?"

[HikeUp]

As an aside, why isn't the route straight up the West Fork an option? Looking at HikeUp's GPS track, you ultimately end up there anyway, but you swing way over to Bear Flats first before cutting back and joining the canyon further up. Is it a private property issue? Or is the lower West Fork not easily "travelable?"

Good question...I don't know the answer. The portion of the West Fork route that I took is very manageable, and I don't recall ever looking down canyon from where I was.

There's always the old route from Cow Canyon Saddle...never have taken it because it always looked like the steepness and brushiness would just annoy the hell out of me

[Girl Hiker]

The old route from Cow Canyon isn't bad but been there done that twice. I rather go back and start from Bear Canyon and continue where I left off. I'm free next week. I'm on vacation from work.
Whooooohoooo! Prefer Wednesday or Friday if you are available during the week.