I started at 2 PM and made it to the Gazebo by 4:16. Visibility was not outstanding but it was temperate -- 70s at the beginning and 60s later. There were many signs of fire damage from last spring near the beginning. Pix
Mt. Wilson Trail 10-5-08
I had not gotten much exercise this week so I decided to hit the Mt. Wilson Trail in Sierra Madre. A few others had the same idea. I started at 2 PM and made it to the Gazebo by 4:16. Visibility was not outstanding but it was temperate -- 70s at the beginning and 60s later. There were many signs of fire damage from last spring near the beginning.
Pix
I started at 2 PM and made it to the Gazebo by 4:16. Visibility was not outstanding but it was temperate -- 70s at the beginning and 60s later. There were many signs of fire damage from last spring near the beginning. Pix
Hikin_Jim wrote:Cool looking bench up there on top. Must be pretty new; I don't recall seeing it there last time I was up.
This bench is on Manzinata Ridge, where the Mt. Wilson Trail meets the Upper Winter Creek Trail coming from Chantry Flats. It has been there for a while but not long enough to make it look anything other than new.
I looked through some old photos. We did this hike on March 12, 2006 and I mentioned the new (to us) bench in a photo caption. So the bench is at least 2-1/2 years old.
If you insist on turning this conversation serious, you will really kill the George Washington rumor.
The bench was pretty new when we saw it in March of 2006 -- it was not there on our previous trio and we generally get up there at least a couple of times per year.
The bench was pretty new when we saw it in March of 2006 -- it was not there on our previous trio and we generally get up there at least a couple of times per year.
AlanK wrote:This bench is on Manzinata Ridge, where the Mt. Wilson Trail meets the Upper Winter Creek Trail coming from Chantry Flats. It has been there for a while but not long enough to make it look anything other than new.Hikin_Jim wrote:Cool looking bench up there on top. Must be pretty new; I don't recall seeing it there last time I was up.
FIGHT ON wrote:I bet John W. Robinson has seen that bench before!
Dang, alzheimers really sucks when it comes to ... what were we talking about?
I appreciate the serious turn.
Here is a bit of info on David Trinkle:
Here is a bit of info on David Trinkle:
Archive for Saturday, April 08, 2000
Hiker Dies After Falling From Mountain Trail
By Joe Mozingo and Richard Winton
April 08, 2000 in print edition B-1
A Sierra Madre man on a sunset hike with his daughter died Thursday after he slipped off the side of a steep trail in the San Gabriel Mountains and fell hundreds of feet while his 8-year-old girl helplessly screamed out for him.
David Trinkle, 44, a bank vice president, was found barely alive in the narrow canyon late that night, but was pronounced dead shortly thereafter, said Sheriff’s Sgt. Kenneth Handcox.
The Sheriff’s Department did not remove his body until 8 a.m. Friday because navigating a helicopter in the mountains at night is extremely dangerous, officials said.
Trinkle’s death comes as prime hiking season begins and thousands of people pour into the rugged terrain of the so-called front range, where trails follow scraggly canyon walls straight from neighborhood streets into the isolated wilderness. The Mt. Wilson Trail is one of the most popular and historic, winding to the Wilson summit, with its world-famous observatories.
But the unique geology of the San Gabriels creates special hazards, forestry officials warn. Because the mountains are so young and fractured by seismic faults, the rock is loose, the trails are narrow and the slopes are steep.
Trinkle was an ultra-marathon runner who decided to take his daughter Andrea on a hike because she was out of school for spring break, according to friends.
“He was trying to spend time with his daughter,” said one friend, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “He has a very high-pressure job.”
Trinkle took part of the afternoon off from his job at GMAC Commercial Credit bank in Los Angeles.
His wife dropped him and his daughter off, along with their Dalmatian, at the Mt. Wilson Trail near Baldwin Avenue in Sierra Madre. Trinkle and his daughter started up the twisting path, traversing rocky, sun-beaten terrain toward a lush creekside spot called First Water.
About 6:30 p.m., Trinkle and his daughter were walking back to town when a jogger named Will Sera came up behind them. Just above some steep switchbacks, he saw them climb off the main trail, over a berm and onto an old trail that had been washed out.
“Those of us who go up there a lot, you know the area and want to see what happened to the trail,” said Sera, explaining that he too had once climbed onto the lower trail.
Sera kept jogging past them. But suddenly, he heard the little girl scream, “Somebody help!” and turned around to see her and a plume of dust. He rushed to her and could see her father hundreds of feet below, slumped in a heap. Then Trinkle slid off another cliff out of sight.
Sera blocked Andrea from the view of her father, and brought her down to the trail head, he said. When Trinkle’s wife arrived, Andrea was waiting at the bottom in a frenzy. It would not be until the 11 p.m. television news that she learned of her husband’s fate, according to friends.
The Sierra Madre Search and Rescue Team reached the cliff about 8 p.m., according to Sera. He said the rescuers had difficulty getting down to Trinkle because the rock was so loose that they could not set spikes on which to tie their rappelling ropes. When they finally reached Trinkle, he was still breathing, Handcox said. But he was pronounced dead about 11:30 p.m.
Officials of the rescue team did not return calls seeking comment.
George Duffy, wilderness and trails program manager for the Angeles National Forest, described some problems on the trails: “The angle of the majority of slopes in our wilderness area exceeds 60%,” he said. “It’s like navigating a rooftop.”
Duffy said hikers must pay attention and understand that the ground may not be as stable as it looks.
Still, he said, it is rare for a hiker to slip off a trail. Most people in need of rescuers have climbed up slopes they can’t get down, or have overextended their journey and found themselves wandering blindly at night.
About 7,000 people hike the Mt. Wilson Trail every year. Spring and fall are the busy seasons because the weather is favorable.
Thanks for the story Alan. First time I saw the bench was Jan. 15, 2006. It was covered in a thin layer of ice, but it was sure a welcome sight for tired legs and feet. After returning home I looked up the story behind the memorial plaque. A very thoughtful memorial indeed.