Dawson Peak Trail from Fish Fork
Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 9:43 am
On Saturday I found myself climbing out of Manker Flats at 6:10am, not to return again for 14 hours and ~33 miles later. My original plan was to hike to Wrightwood for lunch and back, but I've never been too fond of out-and-back hikes and had another idea after studying Mr. Tom Harrison's map at 4:45am that morning -- the Dawson Peak Trail. I decided to pack enough food and water for a long day, and make a loop consisting of Baldy, Dawson, Pine, Wright, Lupine campground, up the Fish Fork trail to Pine Mountain Ridge, then down to the Dawson Peak Trail and finally up North Backbone back over Baldy.
Everything went mostly as planned. Brought enough food but eventually ran out of water and drank from a few different streams, luckily to no ill effect yet. Was moving pretty quick up until the base of Dawson Peak Trail, but somehow lost the trail completely and bushwhacked through some scrub, seeing lots of bear scat and berries and hoping I wouldn't run into the scat's generator(s). After about an hour and a half of wandering I finally hit the old logging road turned trail, but the 4.5 miles on the map took me over 3 hours and really sapped my energy. Needless to say, the climb back up Baldy on North Backbone was slightly demoralizing, nose to the trail. Topped out on Baldy about 6:30pm and was happy to bomb back down the Bowl Trail to my truck and a cold bottle of chocolate milk (great recovery drink). Called my friends to let them know I was safe and proceeded to sleep like a rock for 9 hours.
Probably around 33 miles with approximately 11,000' elevation looking at a topo. I do know that my knee was sore by the end, and that usually doesn't happen unless I work pretty hard. Mule deer proved to be the only larger wildlife I saw -- was hoping for some bighorn but wasn't graced by their presence this weekend. The stretch from Lupine campground up the Dawson Peak Trail was the real highlight of this trip. Truly a forgotten trail that emanates a lot of history.
Starting off from Manker Flats:
I was told this "smoke soup" was due to the Santa Barbara fires:
Looking east over the high desert:
Descending North Backbone, not thinking of the return climb:
Peaceful trail leading to Pine Mountain:
San Antonio Ridge, Iron Mtn at the western terminus:
Not so peaceful "trail":
Heading down to Lupine campground:
Easy way down? Maybe in my younger days...
Filling up:
Overgrown trail up to the Pine Mountain Ridge:
Atop Pine Mountain Ridge:
Not sure what this once said:
Things started to get interesting here:
Didn't take any pictures along the Dawson Peak Trail as I was preoccupied with navigation, unfortunately.
Back up near Dawson Peak:
Obligatory summit shot:
All in all, a great day in the mountains!
Everything went mostly as planned. Brought enough food but eventually ran out of water and drank from a few different streams, luckily to no ill effect yet. Was moving pretty quick up until the base of Dawson Peak Trail, but somehow lost the trail completely and bushwhacked through some scrub, seeing lots of bear scat and berries and hoping I wouldn't run into the scat's generator(s). After about an hour and a half of wandering I finally hit the old logging road turned trail, but the 4.5 miles on the map took me over 3 hours and really sapped my energy. Needless to say, the climb back up Baldy on North Backbone was slightly demoralizing, nose to the trail. Topped out on Baldy about 6:30pm and was happy to bomb back down the Bowl Trail to my truck and a cold bottle of chocolate milk (great recovery drink). Called my friends to let them know I was safe and proceeded to sleep like a rock for 9 hours.
Probably around 33 miles with approximately 11,000' elevation looking at a topo. I do know that my knee was sore by the end, and that usually doesn't happen unless I work pretty hard. Mule deer proved to be the only larger wildlife I saw -- was hoping for some bighorn but wasn't graced by their presence this weekend. The stretch from Lupine campground up the Dawson Peak Trail was the real highlight of this trip. Truly a forgotten trail that emanates a lot of history.
Starting off from Manker Flats:
I was told this "smoke soup" was due to the Santa Barbara fires:
Looking east over the high desert:
Descending North Backbone, not thinking of the return climb:
Peaceful trail leading to Pine Mountain:
San Antonio Ridge, Iron Mtn at the western terminus:
Not so peaceful "trail":
Heading down to Lupine campground:
Easy way down? Maybe in my younger days...
Filling up:
Overgrown trail up to the Pine Mountain Ridge:
Atop Pine Mountain Ridge:
Not sure what this once said:
Things started to get interesting here:
Didn't take any pictures along the Dawson Peak Trail as I was preoccupied with navigation, unfortunately.
Back up near Dawson Peak:
Obligatory summit shot:
All in all, a great day in the mountains!
