EISPIRATEN

Nice TR b. I really like that Waterman trail, but my over-active imagination had me thinking about becoming cougar food the last time I was up there solo as well. Looks like your really great doggy had a good time in the snow.

Thanks Rico. I've been contemplating whether my doggy makes me more or less likely to run into a cougar. I hope that the bear bell and pack that she wears helps scare them off. There are so many of them out there that I'm surprised that there are hardly any sightings.

That short loop is a nice one -- a classic of the range. There's an interesting longer loop. It's about 15 miles RT but covers some really interesting country.

HJ

Thanks for the tip Jim. I'll keep that one in consideration. I'm planning on doing 3 points to twin peaks at some point. How is the stretch from Cloudburst Summit to Buckhorn Flat? Worth doing the whole loop just for that one stretch?

I think it's really worth doing as a loop. I generally prefer loops since I get to see something different throughout. The section from Cloudburst to Buckhorn is a classic. You can take either the PCT which is poorly routed or the service road for the trail camp for the first part. There are a number of nice camping options down there and typically water at Cooper Canyon Trail camp and where the PCT crosses Cooper Canyon near the trail junction with the Burkhart Trail. Very worthwhile.

You can also short cut the loop a bit by doing a road walk from Cloudburst back to the Waterman trailhead if need be, but not my first choice.

The other nice loop is the Cloudburst - Cooper - Buckhorn loop, but you pretty much have to do a road walk of about 2 miles. My preference is clearly to do the whole Three Points - Waterman - Buckhorn - Cooper - Cloudburst loop if I have time.

You can also do an interesting XC variant from Three Points heading up the west ridge of Waterman as I've shown here in gold:
http://caltopo.com/map?id=5L3O

HJ

Hikin_Jim wrote: ↑You can also do an interesting XC variant from Three Points heading up the west ridge of Waterman as I've shown here in gold:
http://caltopo.com/map?id=5L3O

The XC ridge route from Three Points up to Waterman is my favorite route in the San Gabs. I returned via the Twin Peak trail for a nice shortened version of your loops. Going from Waterman to Kratka is also a really fun xc stroll.

Thanks so much for the tips. That XC route looks very fun. The Waterman area seems pretty ideal for that, pretty flat for 8k in the mountains.

Yeah, the Middle High Country (Basically Three Points east to Vincent Gap) is probably the best for more moderate XC routes.

Pleasant View Ridge from Islip Saddle down to Thrall Peak or even further west to the unnamed the high points is the classic.

Winston Peak and Ridge are cool beans as well.

Then that whole Waterman to Krata Ridge is fairly navigable.

There are a lot of old logging roads and such in there like those leading to Buckhorn Peak (easy). Those old logging roads are much utilized by the PCT through that section which is one reason why I think that section is interesting. It'd be fun to trace out some of those old roads with a GPS and plot them on a map.

There are several great loops out of Crystal Lake as well as that classic-of-the-range out and back hike, Crystal Lake to Baden-Powell.

One of the most arduous trips in the San Gabs (if not in all of Southern California) lies just south of Waterman: Triplet Rocks. From ACH, climb the flanks of Waterman, then east Twin, then descend the wild ridges to the SE/SSE. The further you descend, the rougher it gets. It's a great way to meet your local SAR team, if not your maker.

HJ

There are several great loops out of Crystal Lake as well as that classic-of-the-range out and back hike, Crystal Lake to Baden-Powell.

Hey Jim, do you have any sense of the mileage/elevation gain if you combine your blue and green routes out of Crystal Lake? Start at Crystal Lake, up the Islip Wawona trail to Islip, down to Windy Gap, east on the PCT to the cut-off to South Hawkins, along the ridge to Middle, Sadie and South, then back to Crystal Lake?

If one starts at/near the lake (although I think the Visitor's Center would be a more logical spot, but whatever), then the entire loop is on the order of 15 miles with about 3600 feet (just looking at the major chunks of gain). The majority of the gain (~2600') is from the lake to the peak. Then you've got some gain coming out of Windy Gap (~ 800'), and then some minor gain if you do Middle Hawkins (~200'). No doubt there's some other odd bits, but those are the major chunks.

Very doable in a day.

HJ