It was a bright, July morning in the San Gabriel Mountains. After a long drive, Cecelia and I parked at Inspiration Point along the Blue Ridge. Our goal was to hike westward on the Pacific Crest Trail and bag three minor points that I had found marked on Peakbagger.com. This particular trail segment offered perhaps the best panorama of Pine Mountain Ridge and San Antonio Ridge, both seen in the distance to the south.
Our first summit, called Peak 7600, came up quickly, sitting just west of Inspiration Point. A narrow, but clear summit path split off from the PCT and led up the peak's southeast ridge. The top contained a small rock outcropping, but no register.
We dropped off the west slope of the summit and discovered a steep, abandoned trail with tiny, old benches. This route soon re-joined the PCT.
Cecelia spent a minute investigating a hollowed out, fallen tree. She asked me to take a picture through the hole.
We arrived at Grassy Hollow, and I learned that it's not the PCT's halfway point between Mexico and Canada.
At Grassy Hollow, there is a visitor center open on the weekends. You can buy some souvenirs and check out the displays in there. But the real wonder is Bob's Rock, named after a man called Robert whose buddies called him Bob. The rock is a migmatite, part metamorphic, part igneous. This mutant creation acts as a natural seismograph, measuring earthquakes in Southern California. Hence all the wavy lines.
After Grassy Hollow, Cecelia and I continued on the scenic PCT. That's Mt. Baden-Powell on the left, and Jackson Flat up ahead.
At Jackson Flat, we walked through the busy campground to reach an Observation Tower, which stood atop a small highpoint on the ridge. The round structure was built in 1980. A concrete staircase wrapped around and took us up to the viewing deck, which, I must admit, was a pretty nice viewing deck--nice enough to have a keg party up there.
Back on the trail, our next and final summit, something called Vincent Gap Peak, was about one mile away. We didn't see a clear use path splintering from the PCT, so we just went cross-country, finding a decent, slightly brushy route on the north slope. At the summit, there was a rock cairn but no register, plus a triangular metal sign. The flies were quite a nuisance, so we left quickly.
We scrambled down the northwest slope and followed the PCT to a fire road junction, where we ate lunch at this shady spot.
For part of the return, we utilized the fire and service roads that run along the south side of Blue Ridge.
This trip balanced out to around 8 or 9 miles, which included a little detour to check out the Lightning Ridge Nature Trail back near Inspiration Point.
