EISPIRATEN

The trip was Saturday and Sunday May 14-15
Marty and I hit the trail at about 8:30 am on Saturday and had great weather... to start.

The hike up to smith saddle was awesome. Trail in perfect condition with 3 or 4 water crossings on the way up. The trail going down the other side was not so perfect. Somewhat overgrown and washed out as you will see in the pictures.

When we got to the upper bear creek trail camp, or at least what we thought was the camp, it was completely overgrown and lots of poison oak. But we made the best of it and camped on the only piece of real estate we could find. We were right on the beach.

At about 2 am the clouds opened up on us and it continued to pour the rest of the night. We packed up in the rain about 7:30 am and we hiked out. It rained on us all the way to the saddle. I try to see the positives in everything I do and there were many on this trip.
1. First Camping trip with my new friend Marty that I met on this forum.
2. No Crowds... lol
3. Clean Crisp air to breath
4. Incredible cloud formations surrounding us on the hike out
5. No Bugs
6. Low Fire Danger
7. The list goes on

One especially nice thing on this trip is there was no complaining by either participant in spite of potentially unsavory conditions. Usually when I am backpacking someone always complains about something.

Total Mileage was 12 mi round trip
Saw one rattle snake, millipede and pissed off bird.

Photos are a little out of order but you get the idea.

Was definitely a good trip despite the rain. Hiking through the clouds on the way out was awesome!

AND we didn't get poison oak!

Great pics. Was that snake in your camp or on the way there??? Looked like a nice campsite.

Nice TR Logan and Marty, Great pictures, I'm learning more everyday about the San Gabriels through other trip reports, please keep them coming

Those are some great pics!

hvydrt wrote: ↑Great pics. Was that snake in your camp or on the way there??? Looked like a nice campsite.

That snake was about 50 yards from camp up stream. The snake was on a rock that was in the middle of the creek. He was going to have to swim to get to shore.

Good stuff.

Looks like the trail was sketchy in a couple of spots but mostly followable, yes?

HJ

Cool TR --- any idea what this is --- any chance of it being a succulent? I really like succulents but can't be for certain if it's a succulent. The leaves and the flowers seem to lean in that direction. Maybe an echeveria ???

How was the spaghetti? I cant seem to find a meal I like besides Lasagna, figure Spaghetti is pretty close!

Funyan005 wrote: ↑How was the spaghetti? I cant seem to find a meal I like besides Lasagna, figure Spaghetti is pretty close!

The spaghetti was awesome. That made 16oz so it was a good sized meal for one.

outwhere wrote: ↑Cool TR --- any idea what this is --- any chance of it being a succulent? I really like succulents but can't be for certain if it's a succulent. The leaves and the flowers seem to lean in that direction. Maybe an echeveria ???

I believe Marty said it was a succulent.

Hikin_Jim wrote: ↑Good stuff.

Looks like the trail was sketchy in a couple of spots but mostly followable, yes?

HJ

Yes the trail was easy to follow all the way down but the camp was way overgrown.

Logan wrote: ↑

Live-forever (Dudleya)

Yes, it's a succulent.

HJ

I was up on Smith Mt. a couple weeks ago. One of the nicest views below 8,000 ft. in the area IMO.

Did you get an impression of what the trail looked like going down the Bear Creek drainage? Passable?

arctic_grayling wrote: ↑I was up on Smith Mt. a couple weeks ago. One of the nicest views below 8,000 ft. in the area IMO.

Did you get an impression of what the trail looked like going down the Bear Creek drainage? Passable?

I would say passable but you will do some bush whacking.

"Some?"

Getcha some poison oak blocker.

HJ