EISPIRATEN

Turtle's Beak (formerly Peak 6857) is a rather spectacular schnoz along the SW ridge of Ontario Peak.


(The Beak, on the right, seen from Sunset Peak)

We have Turtle and Hiking Jim to thank for giving this peak a worthy and memorable name. Turtle's TR from Oct. 2013 stuck in my mind all this time, but I never got around to visiting the Beak until last weekend.

I convinced my girlfriend, Cecelia, to join me, and early Sunday morning we were walking up the Barrett-Stoddard road toward Cascade Canyon.



The entrance to Cascade is 1.6 miles up the road. From this point it's only another 1.2 miles to the Beak. However, the obstacles and scenery will surely slow you down to a crawl--literally in some sections.



If you're into red rock formations, this is the place for you.



And who doesn't enjoy a canyon with an overwhelming supply of climbing opportunities?



The main challenge tops out at difficult class 3 with bad exposure, but more difficult side-excursions abound.



Around the 5800' mark, above a class 3 fall, the canyon splits, and there is a rather colorful rock marking the point of departure for the summit push.



Turning right, with our back to the colorful rock, we started straight up the slope, in the general direction of the Beak. From this point there is another 1000 feet of climbing.

It begins like most steep, slope climbs in the area.



But then the awesome view factor increases exponentially.



And hopefully you'll find the equally awesome climbing route through the rocky north side of the Beak.







After some of the most rewarding climbing in the Baldy area, we were finally at the final approach.



In a few more minutes we finally stood on the Beak itself.



This amazing mountaintop has few rivals for most beautiful in the San Gabriel Mountains.




(Cecelia on the true summit)

I think I enjoyed the peak itself more than the panoramic views.



And that should tell you something.

Your TR is more bad-ass than mine. 8)

That place looks rad.

Awesome trip, Cascade is one of the best.

Now this here is a proper trip report!

Rico and I made an attempt on the beak yesterday. It didn't go well. The start of Cascade Canyon was mostly clear and there was a use trail of sorts, though we missed part of it on the way up. Pretty good water flow. There was a lot of debris in the canyon and walls of blackberry thorns. At about 4600', with nothing by blackberry thorns as far as we could see, we went right up a steep dirt slope, but ended at a cliff on a side canyon. We could see the class 3 waterfall bypass since someone left a hand rope there. We continued up on rocks until they were overtaken with buckthorn. We returned to the canyon to see if we missed an obvious way past the solid blackberry but didn't find one. Finally, we backed off and had some food on Stoddard. Maybe Cascade was always this overgrown, but it was worse than I expected. This was near the cliff out point..

Well that's a bummer. Cascade is rough. You might need a tool to get through the vegetation at a couple points.

Sean wrote: ↑Cascade is rough. You might need a tool to get through the vegetation at a couple points.

The drainage is a continuous tangle of deadfall, poison oak, brambles, and loose rocks. But scarlet monkey-flower was blooming everywhere which was kinda cool. Unless we failed at navigation, the only way through is to eventually bash through an unrelenting wall of blackberry.

We did get Stoddard as a participation trophy so all was not lost.

This is basically what entire canyon looks like. Definitely a hard slog.

Maybe you guys went left when you should have gone right? There is a split where you go right to the Beak and left to the old mine site.

No, we saw that subsidiary drainage coming in from the left, but stayed to the right. We took a second look at it on the way down and concluded it could not possibly be the correct route. It looked less inviting than the main drainage.

My guess is that the big winter storms contributed to even more vegetation clogging the canyon this year. I remember a lot of ants too.

Yeah, the last few years probably didn't make the travel down there any easier. My recollection from a few years back is that the canyon was medium-clogged, but still passable.

I expected the canyon to be more pleasant than the ridge down from Ontario, based on descriptions from both Sean and Dima. That situation might be reversed for now...maybe.

Well, if you try Ontario to the Beak prepare for the worst wall of thorns you may have ever seen. I believe Turtle avoided some of it by switching ridges.

Justin just tried this route and didn't make it either. But if anyone can reblaze the route, it'll be him.

His second ascent was successful and he made it via Ontario and came down Cascade Canyon.