I decided to ditch my Wild Wednesday hiking buddies and finish completing my list of peaks in the San Gabriels. This time it was the long-awaited Colver Peak.
I had a late start. The initial plan was to bag Ontario Pk but there was smoke from a fire in the area that was covering the surrounding mountains by Ice House Canyon. So we drove up the Glendora Ridge Road and parked at the gate of Forest Service Road 2n07.
When we arrived at the gate there were two Edison trucks and a forest service ranger on site. They were doing some work and the gate was opened. Further down the road there was a tractor doing some maintenance and there was debris on the road.
Since we got a late start the heat was just unbearable at times but I was determined to bag another peak. Very few areas of the fire road were shady and the gnats were going crazy. Usually they don't bother me but today was not the case. Good thing I had a mosquito net.
After passing the first junction on the Sunset Peak Road, we bypassed Sunset Peak especially because I've bagged it at least 5 times. So we continued on to the Sunset Ridge Road towards Colver Peak.
View of Browns Flat.
After a long walk in the blazing heat, I got my first glimpse of Colver Peak and Sunset Ridge.
Found the old trail sign for Colver in the brush.
Sean was exhausted and chose to meet me on the other side of the road by the towers. I scrambled up the steep firebreak. There was one false bump before climbing the second steep firebreak up to the summit.
Whoooohooo, finally conquered another peak on the list!
Summit selfie of course.
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Summit views
Sean decided to wait for me under the shaded tree and take a nap while I walked up to every tower and building, hoping to find something. I walked to the furthest towers.
A friend joined us on the road.
Butterflies by Sunset Ridge.
It wasn't such a good idea to bag this peak on such a hot day but determination sometimes wins. I ended up hiking 15.6 miles roundtrip due to my curiosity. Colver Peak is pretty cool but it's a long way to go on a boring fire road, though as you get closer to the peak it gets a lot prettier.
Uncle Rico wrote: ↑Is Colver in the San Dimas Experimental Forest?
The peak is on the boundary line. Technically some of the service road (2N07) crosses into the Experimental Forest, but I've never been told to stay off it, and I've walked right past rangers and work crews there. Stay on the road and ridge route over the peak, and you should be fine. There are other roads in the Experimental Forest that are definitely closed to the public, but those are well-signed as such.
rastagoldilox wrote: ↑I hiked the sunset ridge road almost to the kdoc Anaheim radio tower yesterday but couldn’t manage to see it. Were you on a different road higher up?
Did you hike from the bottom in Claremont? We started from the top along Glendora Ridge Road. I believe the view is looking southwest from the Sunset Ridge Road around 5200', near the top of Fern Canyon.
Which one is Colver? In this pic? Here I'm standing on the little peak just south of Sunset after walking up the ridge, started at the same trailhead as you.
"Argue for your limitations and sure enough they're yours".
Donald Shimoda
Jeff, Colver is not seen in that photo. It would be to the left. On maps it's the 5480 peak just north of the towers. The road passes around its eastern slopes.
rastagoldilox wrote: ↑I hiked the sunset ridge road almost to the kdoc Anaheim radio tower yesterday but couldn’t manage to see it. Were you on a different road higher up?
Did you hike from the bottom in Claremont? We started from the top along Glendora Ridge Road. I believe the view is looking southwest from the Sunset Ridge Road around 5200', near the top of Fern Canyon.
I planned really poorly and parked at san Dimas canyon rd, by the dam, and hiked sunset ridge rd all the way over to Claremont. I thought that would be the slickest way into the experimental forest, but it was a huge energy suck. I almost made it to the kdoc tower but stopped about a mile or two short at nearly 4000 feet, because I didn’t think I had enough water for the return hike. So, if I had reached the radio tower, could I have seen the flat from there? There def was another 1000 foot ascent ahead of me to get there. Those photos seem like they are taken from much farther away than that, though.
Those photos were taken from near the top of the road, quite a ways north of the towers. I don't know if there is a view of the flat from the towers. I didn't look for one. But I first visited Colver in 2012 and managed to get this shot.
So if you go up to Colver and walk around the ridge you should find that view.
Also, rather than starting from the San Dimas Dam, there is a shortcut from Claremont that involves going up a firebreak off the Evey Canyon trail. Maybe you want to try that instead.
Sean wrote: ↑Those photos were taken from near the top of the road, quite a ways north of the towers. I don't know if there is a view of the flat from the towers. I didn't look for one. But I first visited Colver in 2012 and managed to get this shot.
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So if you go up to Colver and walk around the ridge you should find that view.
Also, rather than starting from the San Dimas Dam, there is a shortcut from Claremont that involves going up a firebreak off the Evey Canyon trail. Maybe you want to try that instead.
Those pictures are incredible! Thanks for the suggestion about the Claremont wilderness park. Would you recommend that way, over parking off of Glendora ridge rd up top and hiking the sunset ridge fire road down? Since I ascended on the way last time, I thought it would be nice to do the opposite
