I prefer pines to chapparal too, but there are some really lovely canyons in the front range.
OK, some favs:
1. Chantry Flats/Mt. Wilson area. Where do I start? So many trails. Love sylvan Santa Anita Canyon area. Sturdevant Falls is always a fun one to take non-serious hiking friends. Hermit falls has some great pools.
Good short loop: Winter Creek Loop (Chantry Flats to Roberts Camp, ascend lower Winter Creek trail, return to Chantry Flats via upper Winter Creek trail).
Good intermediate loop: Mt. Zion loop (Chantry Flats to Spruce Grove Trail Camp to Mt. Zion to Hoegee's to Chantry).
Another good intermediate loop: Mt Wilson - Newcomb Saddle loop (Mt Wilson to Sturdevant Camp to Newcomb Saddle, ascend Rim Trail to Mt. Wilson).
Longer loop: Chantry Flats to Sturdevant Camp to Mt. Wilson, descend Toll Road to Manzanita Ridge/Mt. Wilson Trail, take Mt. Wilson Trail to Upper Winter Creek trail, take Upper Winter Creek trail back to Chantry Flats.
2. OK, this may be lame, but I actually like the
Switzer Falls area. Overused as it is, I like the walk down from the picnic area to the pools below where the trail descends after climbing around the falls. Bear Canyon is also cool and has a nice trail camp.
A fun loop is Eaton Saddle to Tom Sloan Saddle to Bear Canyon to Arroyo Seco to Switzers Camp to the picnic area, ascend Gabrieleno trail to Red Box, descend Gabrieleno trail to Valley Forge Camp, ascend Valley Forge Trail to Eaton Saddle.
3. Bailey Canyon to Mt Wilson Trail to Mt. Wilson Trail trailhead to Bailey Canyon. I used to do this before there was a trail. A lot of poison oak when you get into shady areas, but a lot easier now that there is a trail. A nice half day loop.
4. Mt. Waterman from Buckhorn. A fun hike. An easy snowshoe. A good XC ski area (on top).
Twin Peaks makes a good combo if you're with serious hikers or just Mt. Waterman if you're with light to moderate hikers.
5. Cooper Canyon Falls. Not a big falls, not a good swimmng hole, but it's always been very green down in the sort of grotto area that has been carved out over the years below the falls. Quite popular, but if you go mid week or early in the morning, there's still a lot of solitude. You can enter via Buckhorn CG or from Cloudburst Summit. Lot's of large old grow cedar and white fir. Generally far larger than in other parts of the range.
Nice moderate loop: Cloudburst Summit XC to Winston Peak, XC to saddle N of Winston Peak where the PCT passes through, drop down drainage to service road for Cooper Canyon Trail Camp, take road to Cooper Canyon Trail Camp, descend down Cooper Canyon to Cooper Canyon Falls. On return leg, ascend the trail coming down from Buckhorn, walk through the campground and then walk a mile or two west on the ACH to Cloudburst Summit.
More serious loop: start at Mt. Williamson west trailhead (PCT), ascend Mt Williamson, follow (XC) Pleasant View Ridge NW and then WNW over a couple of bumps to Pallet Mtn. Descend from Pallet Mtn to Burkhart Saddle. From saddle, descend SSW on Burkhart Trail to PCT, take PCT west to junction with trail from Buckhorn CG. Ascend to CG, proceed west through the camp to the ACH. Walk ACH to rejoin PCT near Eagle's Roost Picnic area. Take PCT east back to your car. An all time favorite. A lot of nice XC terrain. If they ever reopen the section of the PCT that goes east from Cooper Canyon to Eagle's Roost, that's actually a much nicer route than walking the road. Trail closure.
6. Mt. Islip. Dunno why I like this one so much but I come back to it year after year. I guess maybe 'cause I can take friends up into a higher altitude environment with a lot of nice coniferous forest and "bag" a relatively easy peak with great views. Been up from all three trails and have taken XC routes in every season. Once was up on summit in Feb in serious snow. Every tree was encased in rime ice. Beautiful blue sky and great views out to sea, etc. Blue sky, bright sun, pure white snow. Out of this world!
7. Mt. Baden Powell. From Vincent Gap is interesting. Can do a side trip to the Big Horn Mine which is fascinating. I personally prefer the 16 mi RT route from Islip Saddle on the PCT. You go through a lot of nice pine forest, get to bag 4 good sized peaks (Hawkins, Throop, Burnham, and B-P). It's a really nice high country ramble.
8. Icehouse Canyon. Of course. Are there people that don't like this one?? Beautiful stream. Reliable water at Columbine Spring. The gateway to the interesting and fun
Three T's trail. Access to
Ontario, Bighorn, Cucamonga, and Etiwanda. What's not to like? An
overlooked option is to descend from Islip Saddle to
Comanche Trail camp. Beautiful site with large cedars, a lot of greenery, and reliable water. Doesn't get a lot of traffic 'cause the Middle Fork Trail from the East is pretty badly washed out in 2 or 3 places.
9. The "Other Devil's Backbone" approach from Blue Ridge to Baldy via Pine and Dawson. Has really nice wild and remote feel to it. Very high country with two 9000+ summits en route and then climaxing at Ol' Baldy. Feel's like ya really done some hikin' when you ascend from Dawson-Baldy Saddle. Steep and loose. Good Big Horn Sheep viewing area. One can extend the hike a bit by starting at the
Acorn Canyon trailhead in Wrightwood. Be really careful on this one. A lot of north facing stuff which can be quite icy. This is where my father died. He didn't bring crampons/ice axe. As much as I admire my father, don't follow his example. If you've got crampons/ice axe and are quite proficient with them, go for it. If not, stay the heck off the mountain until everything's melted. There's still a lot of snow up there right now.
An interesting alternative is to descend from Dawson into the Fish Fork area. It's a nice little canyon that doesn't get a huge amount of traffic 'cause it's kinda remote. A very nice water fall can be reached by descending down the canyon maybe a mile from where the trail from Dawson drops in. I crawled out to the edge of the falls on my belly and stuck my head over the lip. It was really cool to see the water shoot out over nothingness and then drop out of sight.
From fish fork, follow the trail out to Prairie Fork, and then take the dirt road that ascends back to Blue Ridge. I usually cut up a NE trending side canyon instead of following the road all of the way up to cut off some miles. Nice country.
Mt. Pacifico Great desert views from this one. Nice little camp area on top although it can be reached by cars, so go mid week for solitude. Pretty conifers on much of the N face. Mill Creek Summit is a good route. I personally prefer taking the PCT from the east. My route is: park at Alder Saddle which can be reach via the Santa Clara Divide Road that spilts off ACH at three points. Take the old road, now completely impassible by vehicles, west from Alder Saddle. The road comes to a draw shortly after the wash out. From this draw, ascend the steep use trail to a saddle where you join the PCT. Take the PCT to a prominent ridge that descends N directlly from the summit of Pacifico. Follow the N ridge to the summit. From the summit, descend the fire road to a point where an old road can be seen heading east from where there is a major switch back to the west. Follow the old road east. The road eventually turns into an old almost imperceptible jeep trail. Follow the jeep trail down the east ridge of Pacifico. At some point the jeep trail will peter out. Descend ENE back to the PCT. It's a little brushy in a couple of places but it's really not bad. Retrace your inbound route back to your car. A pretty moderate loop. Some nice solitude on that back side of Pacifico unless you're in PCT Through Hiker season. The XC route along the N ridge of Pacifico to the summit is kind of fun too. Really easy nav and pretty easy going. A pretty good "intro to XC hiking" route. The XC route down the E ridge is a more serious Nav and route finding problem. If you screw up, tell SAR Hikin' Jim sent ya.
Seriously, don't do this as a first time XC route. Just go back down the N ridge and take the PCT back to your car if you're not quite comfortable with nav and route finding (now you guys who do this stuff all the time are going to think "what's the big deal?" when you do it; it's not horribly hard, but I wouldn't do it as an introduction to XC hiking).
11. Strawberry Peak via the west ridge My favorite training hike. Love the nice solid class 3 scrambling stuff (this is more low end rock climbing than hiking). You can make
a nice loop: Park at the Colby Canyon trailhead. Ascend to Josephine Saddle. Follow the west ridge to the summit of Strawberry. Someone has painted green (older) and purple (newer) arrows to mark the route. It's generally a good idea to stay on route. It can get a little gnarly off route. There is quite a bit of exposure. Not recommended for those with a fear of heights. From the summit, descend the trail to east to the Red Box - Strawberry Potrero trail. Turn right (south) and take the trail to Red Box. From Red Box, take the Gabrieleno National Recreation Trail to Switzers Picnic area. From the picnic area, ascend to ACH and walk the road east back to the Colby Canyon Trailhead.
12. Mt. Hillyer Not a particularly difficult hike, but I take friends on this one for that very reason. Indistinct summit, so no "mountaintop" feel to it, but there are a lot of cool rocks. It's a very different look than a lot of the San Gabs. Hikin' Jim says "check it out."
OK, there you have it, HJ's top twelve. I could easily write another top 12, maybe even two sets more, but this'll hopefully give you a few ideas. Looking forward to
your ideas as well.
It will be years before it's worth going back to that end of the forest - Looks like Baldy, San J and San G are gonna get busy 
