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Stoddard, Frankish, Spring Hill

Posted: Fri Dec 13, 2013 7:02 pm
by tekewin
I hiked Stoddard, Frankish, and Spring Hill for my first trip to the San Gabriel Mountains in a couple of months. The trail starts on Barrett-Stoddard dirt road, heading east past some houses and cabins, then south the rest of the way. About a mile up the road, I was startled by a mule deer buck that came bounding around a corner. He was there for less than a second before darting down into the canyon and out of view.

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Alice in Wonderland house?

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Stoddard summit

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Baldy from Stoddard Peak

Since I started early, most of the road was in the shadow of Ontario Ridge, making it cold. In a few more miles, the road became overgrown and shrunk to a single track. It also lost elevation continuously from Stoddard Flat to the base of Frankish. There was a cairn marking the use trail up Frankish. The use trail eventually merges with another dirt road that winds around Frankish. That road leads to the top, but I took a steep firebreak that was more direct.

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Broken gate buried in dirt on the way to Frankish

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Ontario and Cucamonga from Frankish. The pano doesn't capture how dominant Ontario is from this vantage point. It looked gigantic.

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Hazy view of the Inland Empire from Frankish

I found a use trail heading out to Spring Hill on the way back. I was surprised to find a metal pole with what looked like a tin foil flag, and an unusual LA County benchmark. After looking at it, it apparently marks the boundary between LA County and San Bernardino County. It was a lucky Friday the 13th after all. The peak of Spring Hill was still almost 0.2 miles away and I was energized about finding something. The use trail faded and I followed animal trails until those faded, and the last 200 feet was just nasty bushwhacking. I was disappointed to get to the small summit clearing and find a steaming cup of jack squat.

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Burned tree, start of use trail with Spring Hill in background

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Pole and benchmark on the way to Spring Hill

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Boundary benchmark between LA and San Bernardino Counties

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Disappointing Spring Hill summit

Full report:
http://ironhiker.blogspot.com/2013/12/s ... -hill.html

I made a custom Google Map of all my hikes linked to trip reports:
http://ironhiker.blogspot.com/p/map-of-all-hikes.html

Re: Stoddard, Frankish, Spring Hill

Posted: Sat Dec 14, 2013 1:24 pm
by hvydrt
Good job. I have had my eye on Spring Hill. I wanted to check it out when I hike the other 2, which i have been procrastinating on.

Re: Stoddard, Frankish, Spring Hill

Posted: Sat Dec 14, 2013 6:07 pm
by Sean
Cool TR. I did this hike in Jan. 2012. Was there still a bicycle course near the Cucamonga TT junction?

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Re: Stoddard, Frankish, Spring Hill

Posted: Sat Dec 14, 2013 8:10 pm
by tekewin
I didn't notice a bike course, but the junction was quite a bit more overgrown.

This might be the same trail split as your second picture. I went left to head up Frankish.

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In the shade on the north side of Frankish was a slight dusting of snow...
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I only took one picture of Ontario, which stunk because of the light. One of the down sides of relying on the camera in your phone.

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Re: Stoddard, Frankish, Spring Hill

Posted: Sun Dec 15, 2013 7:07 am
by tekewin
hvydrt wrote: Good job. I have had my eye on Spring Hill. I wanted to check it out when I hike the other 2, which i have been procrastinating on.
hvydrt,

Spring Hill was a nice side trip. At the northern most edge, there appears to be an overlook I wish I had visited.

Re: Stoddard, Frankish, Spring Hill

Posted: Sun Dec 15, 2013 7:07 am
by tekewin
hvydrt wrote: Good job. I have had my eye on Spring Hill. I wanted to check it out when I hike the other 2, which i have been procrastinating on.
hvydrt,

Spring Hill was a nice side trip. At the northern most edge, there appears to be an overlook I wish I had visited.

Re: Stoddard, Frankish, Spring Hill

Posted: Sun Dec 15, 2013 8:38 am
by Uncle Rico
Nice one teke. Man Ontario is impressive from that vantage point.

Re: Stoddard, Frankish, Spring Hill

Posted: Sun Dec 15, 2013 8:59 am
by tekewin
It was the best view of the day and I f'ed up the photo.

Re: Stoddard, Frankish, Spring Hill

Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 1:51 pm
by Pat
Nice hike!

A few years back, the miners trail was still passable on Spring. Truck and some other stuff laying around, from the old tree plantation I assume.

The truck trail is a joke. Nothing like the 80s when we used to drive up and park and then head off to camp/hike all along its length.