Los Pinos Peak & Vicker Benchmark

Girl Hiker · Post by **Girl Hiker** » Tue Jan 09, 2018 7:05 am

It's tradition for me to hike on New Year's Day every year. I chose to hike with a new group and check out an area that I haven't really explored. I woke up early and drove to Orange County through the Cleveland National Forest. The plan was to bag Los Pinos Peak and check out the Vicker Benchmark. The drive to the trail was very colorful and I was the only one on the road that morning until the others met me at the trailhead.

I met the group where the Main Divide road and the Long Canyon Road meet.

We hiked passing the gate where the road starts to ascend. It seemed like it went on forever but the views were pretty sweet!

After hiking for a bit I caught my first glimpse of the Los Pinos Peak Ridge.

There was a short steep ascent to a saddle where we had a short break and admired the views of Santiago Peak.

We took a shortcut leaving the road and ascended a short steep trail to check out the Vicker benchmark.

As I descended the path from the BM I had a clear view of the trail leading to Los Pinos Peak

whoohoooo Los Pinos Peak.

There were 2 benchmarks and 2 register boxes

Well unfortunately these are all the pics that this crap talk website would allow me to post. I don't want to make this into two reports. Anyways, the views were awesome. I want to explore this area more. Just a word of caution: some parts of this trail are steep, with loose rocks and slippery. Unfortunately, I lost my footing descending the trail just before approaching the road and tumbled about 3 or 4 times before my face hit a rock. I am still recovering from a bruised face and a black eye. Not a good look for me lol.

I hope the rest of 2018 gets better.

Post by **HikeUp** » Tue Jan 09, 2018 8:45 am

Post by **tekewin** » Wed Jan 10, 2018 5:41 am

Hope you are OK from your tumble. Los Pinos is one of the peaks I've visited the most. There are two other trails to get there. One from Bell Ridge (junction would have been on your left coming down), and the other Los Pinos Ridge trail which continued over the top. Los Pinos Ridge connects to the fire station on Ortega about 8 miles away. Get well!

Girl Hiker · Post by **Girl Hiker** » Wed Jan 10, 2018 5:58 am

tekewin wrote: Hope you are OK from your tumble. Los Pinos is one of the peaks I've visited the most. There are two other trails to get there. One from Bell Ridge (junction would have been on your left coming down), and the other Los Pinos Ridge trail which continued over the top. Los Pinos Ridge connects to the fire station on Ortega about 8 miles away. Get well!

Thanks,
I really want to go back and explore more in that area. Its very nice.

Post by **Sean** » Thu Jan 11, 2018 10:13 am

girlhiker70 wrote: Unfortunately, I lost my footing descending the trail just before approaching the road and tumbled about 3 or 4 times before my face hit a rock. I am still recovering from a bruised face and a black eye. Not a good look for me lol.

There are ways to cover it up, so that you don't look so odd. Try this...

Girl Hiker · Post by **Girl Hiker** » Thu Jan 11, 2018 11:41 am

HAHA!!

David R · Post by **David R** » Thu Jan 11, 2018 9:18 pm

Pics or isn't true! Hope you feel better. I hiked Pigeon Ridge last week and the ground was rock hard eroded with shitty loose rock and there was no way I was coming down that way. I knew the chances for a tumble was pretty high.