EISPIRATEN

I desperately needed to get back into the San Gabriels, due to great rock climbing weather in Joshua Tree, two huge meetings at work and my brothers upcoming wedding it had been about 4 weeks since I last made it out into the mountains. So yesterday, my first day off in 9 days, I was itching to get out into my backyard.
A friend of mine from work picked me up, from home, at 6am and we drove to Crystal Lake where we hiked up to Windy Gap and then headed east on the Pacific Crest Trail/Silver Moccasin Trail.

It was a beautiful day, there was still some snow on the trail and on a few of the peaks too! In a few spots I even glissaded down some snow slopes just for fun



We summited Throop Peak 9,138ft and Mount Hawkins 8,850ft. The bugs were out in force, I guess it's time to get bug spray.



There are quite a few rock slides and fallen trees on the last section of the trail going to Windy Gap. The trail definitely took a beating after the fire.


A fun diversion at about the 1.5 mile mark approximately 25 feet off the ground


A rock slide just before Windy Gap, it is pretty unstable. On the way down a few rocks and clumps of dirt spontaneously began rolling down the slide. A bit odd and spooky.




First sighting of Mt. Baldy! I could not tell if the other mountain (the smaller one with snow on it) to the left (or North) was Pine Mountain or Dawson Peak. Anyone know?


Baden - Powell 9,407'


Mt. Hawkins 8,850'

From the summit of Mount Hawkins we spotted a thru hiker on the PCT/SMT and on the way down from Windy Gap we spotted a group of hikers way below us on the Islip Ridge Trail. We practically had the whole place to ourself

Trip Stats -
11.1 miles round trip, 21 minute mile pace and a little over 7,000 feet of elevation gain and loss. Not a bad day!

L to R Pine-Dawson-Baldy.

Nice one!

HJ

I was near Windy Gap two weeks ago.

On our way up, we hear something that sounds like thunder. We look up through the trees and see a massive rockslide. I'd never heard anything like that before. Pretty scary stuff.

Very nice pictures by the way!

@ Rios - That sounds intense! Nothing like a rock slide to remind you of the raw power of the wilderness and mans frailty.

@HikeUp - Thank you for the clarification. I was confused because Dawson looks so small but I guess that is just the angle...

rokclimbr wrote: ↑ A rock slide just before Windy Gap, it is pretty unstable. On the way down a few rocks and clumps of dirt spontaneously began rolling down the slide. A bit odd and spooky.

Yeah, I keep turning around here. I keep thinking the more people hike it the better it'll get, but alas, that hasn't seemed to have happened...