EISPIRATEN

Hiked up to Lookout Mountain #2. Temps were slightly chilly at the beginning but it warmed up significantly by the time I was on the return leg of the trip.

Took the trail from Baldy Village to Bear Flat, then traversed west to the West Fork Bear Canyon and followed it up to the ridge north of Lookout. From there it was a traverse south across several snow fields around high point 6930' to get to the peak. I returned by down climbing the south ridge of Lookout to a saddle at elev. 5480+, then I mostly slid down a gully to the Bear Flat trail. Much shorter return route but very steep. Same route as in this TR from 2007 before the Bear Flat fire.

The trail from Bear Flat to the ridge north of Lookout is in okay condition (the brush factor is minimized by last years Bear Flat fire) at first but as I got closer and closer to the ridge it disappeared or I just couldn't find it. Didn't matter because it was in an area of lush pine forest with minimal undergrowth so navigation was easy. Then the snow fields obscured the trail that traverses around high point 6930 until I thankfully happened upon it.

The snow fields offered me a chance to try out my new (thanks REI dividend!) Microspikes. Not quite sure I needed them to cross the snow but I sure felt a lot more comfortable with them given that it was rather steep terrain and quite a long distance before I hit any thing solid if I had slipped and couldn't stop on my own. The never ending accumulation of gear continues.

Pics.

Cool tree...

Hikeup:
Great hike! I've often thought about getting over to lookout, but haven't actually done it yet. Thanks for the report and the pix. I've been wondering how those micro spikes work too. Were you pretty happy with them?

Looks like a nice hike. In picture 16, there are some wood remnants. is that from an old gate of some sort?

I highly recommend this hike - very scenic and toss in a bit of class 2 ridge scrambling if you descend the south ridge from the peak.

lik2hik: The microspikes worked great for the most part. Certainly wouldn't have attempted what I did without them. I was mostly sidehilling across snow fields that alternated between hard pack in the shade and a soft layer on top of hard pack in the sun. They seemed to work the least when there was a soft layer since the spikes weren't long enough to get a bite into the hard layer below. In these cases my foot on the down hill side tended to slide downhill a bit before they would bite or all my weight was on the uphill foot. I don't own crampons but these are certainly cheaper and easier to pack.

Enfuego: The picture is of what's left of a wooden gate. It is very steep to the left and right of this gate so it would certainly not have been easy to get around the gate if closed. The real question is 'what was behind the gate that needed that level of perimeter security?'. There is mention of an old camp in the HPS guide.

Here's a google earth view of the route...

Click to see full size image

How bad was the scree on your descent? Do you think it would be a reasonable way to ascend? How many miles to the peak from that way? Do you like orange juice?

Zé: The descent was steep but not anything serious. From the peak to the saddle is at worst something like the worst parts of Rattlesnake Peak's main route. From the saddle down to the main trail is under a canopy of trees and is thus covered in leaves and needles for the most part - a soft version of scree! You wouldn't have too much trouble ascending either section. The HPS guide is pretty much 100% accurate, although I think even after descending the route, I'd have a hard time finding where to leave the main trail, cross the creek and find the right gully to ascend. I might be able to give you a gps waypoint if you need one.

It's 2 miles from the visitor center to the peak via this route. And I don't know what orange juice is...some kind of beer?

I bet you are thinking of combining this with an ascent of Baldy via the bear flat trail.

oh you mind reader you!

i got some hps waypoints, should be sufficient.

orange juice with some vodka of course. can be deceptively strong (witness Zé's 2002 St Patrick's Day in Sydney debacle)