EISPIRATEN

Had planned to do Ross on Sunday but conditions forced us to change our plans and just do B-P. Drove up to Dawson Saddle and saw the trail had snow so we drove to mile marker 71 and spied that mysterious use trail up to Burnham. I appreciate the advice against on this forum, but curiosity got the better of us and we took it. The higher we got the more snow we encountered so we were mostly off trail basically heading straight up toward the ridge. We popped out a little too far to the east so we traversed over until we hit the east side of Burnham then hooked up with the PCT. The PCT was very cold and windy and almost completely covered in a few inches of snow and ice. We didn’t have our crampons but I was very grateful for the ICEtrekkers we packed “just in case.” We met up with someone who took the trail from Dawson Saddle who said it was also very icy. By the time we got to B-P we’d burned a lot of time and energy on the steep trail, route finding, and safely negotiating the snow and ice so we decided to save Ross for another day.

A couple notes about the trail from mm 71 at the former Lodgepole picnic area: In retrospect, I agree this trail is not a good option when going to Ross, at least for me. It’s tempting to save the mileage but I don’t think I’d want to burn that much leg and energy so early in that hike. Maybe younger, stronger hikers would not consider this an issue. I do think it would be a great shortcut for Burnham and it worked out fine for B-P. Without the snow I suspect it would be pretty easy to navigate. Travis says on SummitPost at 1,000 ft and 1 mile this is the easiest route to Burnham and HPS calls it class 1/easy. We used our hands a lot but maybe that was only due to wet conditions. Also note the HPS warns against traversing too far to the north west on your return or you’ll find yourself on a cliff overlooking SR2.

It was a nice trip and beautiful day overall but still chomping at the bit to do Ross. With the warmer weather this week, any thoughts on how long it will take for the snow to melt?

Leslie

Thanks for the TR! First one I've seen on that route up to the PCT.

I saw your question late and was going to tell you that I've done Ross via the Burnham Ridge, Dawson Saddle, and Vincent Gap. Dawson Saddle is the easiest route even though it has more mileage. The climb up Burnham ridge is a bit too much exertion for the reduction in mileage and it is more elevation gain then from Dawson. From Dawson was the last time I hiked it and I felt like a colt hitting that last 1,000 feet back up to Baden-Powell.

Now's the right season for Ross I might want to hit it in two weeks, if anyone wants to enjoy an unpleasant miserable hike, hit me up.

Thanks, David! If you go, please let us know what the conditions are like. I may try again Memorial Day weekend.

any guess as to conditions on Baden Powell this weekend?

Went today(Monday) from Dawson Saddle also hit Throop and Burnham. Ross was pretty busy this weekend with about four different parties there on Saturday and Sunday, prior to that pretty dead. It is already getting warm over there, the peak was mildly uncomfortable with lots of flies but the ridge had a nice breeze.

Hi David,

Missed you by one day! I was one of those parties on Saturday... although it didn't feel like a party. Actually since I had mentally prepared for a very tough hike it wasn't as bad as I expected.

We also took the Dawson Saddle trail this time. The weather was very pleasant on Saturday and that saved us. We met a lot of thru hikers on the PCT and a very nice group from Calabasas Day Hikers meetup on Ross. Saw a deer and a fox on the drive up and 1 snake (skinny and black, not a rattler) on the trail to Ross. I brought 4 liters of water and it wasn't enough! I nearly ran out. Fell on loose rocks on the way to Ross but no major mishaps.

All in all a great hike. Yay!

Leslie