EISPIRATEN

I had about 2 hours to squeeze some sort of hike into so I explored the HPS route up to the west ridge of Josephine. Parked at mile marker 22.45 on the Angeles Forest highway (about 2.5 miles north of Clear Creek Junction) at elevation 3340'. I didn't make the ridge but I was able to eliminate one route from several apparent possibilities .

After by-passing the (dry) waterfall by scrambling up a scree slope to the right, I went up a gully to the left (right gully looked more brushy). It eventually cliffed out, so I traversed left to the ridge on the north side of the gully and ran into impenetrable brush at about 3900'. Ugh. Retraced my path, learning how to ski the scree out of necessity :?. Lesson learned...don't go left after by-passing the waterfall and read the HPS trip reports more carefully .

Parking spot across the street from the beginning of the route...


Google Earth image of route I took (purple) and what I think I should have taken (white)...

Cool exploratory!

I'm with you on the reading trip reports thing. I used to just read 'em, and that'd be fine for the trip. I'd do it by memory. Now, I print 'em out, 'cause I got no memory left. Sigh.

Hikin_Jim wrote:I used to just read 'em, and that'd be fine for the trip. I'd do it by memory. Now, I print 'em out, 'cause I got no memory left. Sigh.

Yup. I was asking myself, "SELF! Did the TR say right then left or left then right?" I did not get the answer right, and went left. I'm new to this cross-country route finding gig and have yet to find the fun in it - maybe if I had been successful I'd understand it. I'm more of a goal oriented guy I guess.

The gully I did take was sustained 2nd class with a 3rd class move to get around a particularly ill-tempered yucca .

At least you got to do some scree skiing! That's a useful skill to have and a lot of fun if the scree is just right. XC is an extreme sport--it's either wonderfully exhilarating or down right annoying.

especially if the TRs are saying 2 different ways...
1)"At the start, one surmounts the 20' dry waterfall by a scramble on the left. The route then goes up the dry creek bottom, taking the left branch after gaining about 40' elevation and then the right branch after another 40'. The route then goes up to the left to a grassy slope under trees and then up deer trails, keeping somewhat to the right, to the main ridge"

2)"The waterfall was flowing freely due to recent storms. Carefully scramble to the right, on class 2 dirt and decaying rock, for about a hundred vertical feet to better footing. From here, another 500' gain along the subsidiary rib leads to the relatively bare main ridge that is visible above. This comprises the only steep stretch and appreciable brush on the route. The latter is made readily passable by game trails"

>Lesson learned...don't go left after by-passing the waterfall

First TR indicates to go left after a meager 40ft after the waterfall. Second TR indicates not to bypass the waterfall and start a new route with direction change uphill.

AW wrote:especially if the TRs are saying 2 different ways

That's probably why I didn't commit them to memory too well. Based on those TR's, I figured it was kind of a "find your own way up" type of situation. Oh well, what can ya do - it was free advice!