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Two Days, Two Ridges (Bailey-Hastings and Lower Santa Anita)

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2016 9:43 pm
by Sean
Yesterday evening I joined Brad and his Early Bird group of speed demons for a little stroll up Bailey-Hastings Ridge, which begins behind the Mater Dolorosa Monastery in Sierra Madre.

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The ridge is brutal--harder than Bastard Ridge to Jones Peak. There is quite a bit of class 2 clawing at loose dirt and pushing branches out of the way. The ridge offers a network of often faint and overgrown deer trails. The trip from Bailey Canyon Park and up the ridge to Hastings Peak is about 2.1 miles with 3000' of gain.

I couldn't keep up with the speed demons, who topped out in two hours, but Willie kept me company as night fell before we reached the peak a half hour later.

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And today I continued efforts to kick my own ass by letting Henry take me up Lower Santa Anita Ridge, from the Arcadia Highlands to the Communication Site atop the San Olene Fire Road. This route climbs 2350' in about 1.4 miles. We started from Camillo Street, and maybe we trespassed a bit to reach the ridge. Maybe we didn't. Our route was moderately brushy much of the way. Initially very steep, it mellowed out a little higher up, where the brush also gave way to clearer deer trails.

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As a reward for making it up the ridge, I was granted the priviledge of watching Henry get attacked by bees.

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Re: Two Days, Two Ridges (Bailey-Hastings and Lower Santa Anita)

Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 4:27 am
by jfr
Sean wrote: Image
Nice set of hikes! And a fun photo of a ladybug.

But wait! I think I recognize that fuzzy flower! It's POODLE DOG!

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Re: Two Days, Two Ridges (Bailey-Hastings and Lower Santa Anita)

Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 7:27 am
by Sean
jfr wrote: I think I recognize that fuzzy flower! It's POODLE DOG!
The flower is similar to Poodle Dog, but it's actually Thick-leaf Yerba Santa. Here's a wider shot. You can see the leaves are much thicker and broader than PDB.

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PDB should start blooming around June.

Re: Two Days, Two Ridges (Bailey-Hastings and Lower Santa Anita)

Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 8:12 am
by HikeUp
South ridge of Hasting's has a notch in it down low. Looks very steep on the uphill side. How was it?

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Re: Two Days, Two Ridges (Bailey-Hastings and Lower Santa Anita)

Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 8:27 am
by Sean
HikeUp wrote: South ridge of Hasting's has a notch in it down low. Looks very steep on the uphill side. How was it?
It's the sort of class 2 steepness where you're grabbing at whatever for any semblance of leverage. A real grind up a lot of loose slopes combined with consistent, light to moderate brush.

Re: Two Days, Two Ridges (Bailey-Hastings and Lower Santa Anita)

Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 9:07 am
by HikeUp
Ah...in other words... better you than me. :)