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Peak 7465 and Telegraph's East Ridge

Posted: Sun May 13, 2018 10:10 am
by Sean
Each year Madison (Uncle Rico) celebrates his birthday with a special excursion into the mountains. I've joined him on these trips for the last three years now. In 2016 it was Copter Ridge. Last year was Hawkins Ridge. And yesterday, continuing with the ridge theme, we explored Telegraph Peak's great, eastern ridge, which divides the north and middle forks of Lytle Creek.

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Madison and I met at the Glendora Park and Ride around 7:30am. It was cold and raining lightly but steadily, and we had some concern about attempting this hike in such foul weather. But when you reach a certain age, you learn to check your concerns at the Park and Ride, and push on with the predetermined plan. Also, you realize the value in carrying on until something actually physically stops you from doing what you want to do. We weren't going to let the mere threat of failure prevent us from actually experiencing failure. And in order to fail, we would first have to get our actual butts onto the actual ridge.

Of course, when you reach a certain age, you also start to forget things, like the fact that even though it's raining in the low valley, it might very well be sunny and dry on an 8,000-foot high ridge that rises above the storm clouds. And this indeed proved to be the case. We had excellent weather for the duration of the hike.

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After being chair lifted to Baldy Notch, we walked the dirt road to Thunder Mountain and the 3Ts trail, and then up to Telegraph.

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Both of us were hauling extra water to stash along the ridge. So with the extra weight we took it easy during the climb. And with the additional time, I think we made progress on several intellectual topics, such as the finer points of evolution and, of course, the riddle of the female.

While answering deep, philosophical questions on Telegraph, Madison noticed these painted rocks.

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We then had a choice to make. In order to hike Telegraph's east ridge, you first have to get off Telegraph Peak, and that's easier said than done. You can drop directly down the super steep northeast slope, or you can take my super secret route, which is slightly less troublesome, but more roundabout. After peeking at the direct drop, Madison put his trust in my roundabout way.

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Whichever route you take off Telegraph's east side, the ridge doesn't get easy until four hundred feet below the peak. After a bit of serious navigating and scree-filled class 2, we finally made it to the nice use trail and gentler terrain.

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Under a tree we stashed some supplies and continued toward the first point, Peak 8540, located at the end of a series of small, rocky bumps.

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The next point, Peak 8325, marks a prominent ridge junction, where you should probably check your navigation. This spot contained a triangular sign with some writing etched into the metal.

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Continuing straight (northeast) leads to Peak 7665. But our goal was Peak 7465, so we turned right, heading southeast. At first the drop is gentle through easy, slightly rocky, terrain.

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Then there is a steep section, where you drop down to a plateau. We figured this might be an ideal spot for people interested in camping out here.

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After the flat area, we went over a little rise and came to the highlight of the day, which I'll go ahead and call Grizzly Bluff.

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This is the unique cliff area atop Grizzly Gulch. It looks and feels very much like a beachside bluff along the Pacific Ocean. The sand has been crushed into a fine white powder. A few dead, twisted branches resemble driftwood, and some of the bushes are reminiscent of coastal vegetation.

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Also, you fear getting too close to the cliff edge, which might slide out from under your weight. And on this day the clouds rolled up the canyon to provide a phantom sea, helping to complete the comparison.

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Crowning the bluff is Peak 7465, our ultimate destination.

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A short climb got us finally to the point, where HeadSizeBurrito recently visited coming up from Lytle Creek.

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We enjoyed the views and some lunch while flipping through the old register.

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We tried to think of cool names for the ridge we just hiked. While in the moment, we thought Queasy Stomach Ridge was hilarious, but might be too subjective for common acceptance. Yes, my stomach wasn't doing so great that morning. In hindsight, though, I like the sound of Snow Plant Ridge. Only moments after I asked Madison if he had seen any snow plants yet this season, bam!-- there was a snow plant right next to the trail. Then we started noticing a lot more of them as we kept going. In fact, I have never seen so many on a hike. So, happy birthday, Madison, here is a snow plant for you!

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Re: Peak 7465 and Telegraph's East Ridge

Posted: Sun May 13, 2018 3:31 pm
by HikeUp
Great TR guys! Now I can check that off my virtual to do list...lol.

Interesting bluff, not what I had imagined.

Happy B'day.

Re: Peak 7465 and Telegraph's East Ridge

Posted: Sun May 13, 2018 5:03 pm
by tekewin
Love it. I was picturing headsize scrambling up those white cliffs. Congrats on a sublime hike!

Re: Peak 7465 and Telegraph's East Ridge

Posted: Sun May 13, 2018 6:42 pm
by headsizeburrito
Great report and pics!

Cool to hear that is a good spot for snow plant. I'm a big fan of those too and was very happy to see some around Lupine Camp last weekend.

Re: Peak 7465 and Telegraph's East Ridge

Posted: Sun May 13, 2018 7:26 pm
by Uncle Rico
Thanks for coming along Sean. Very much appreciate your deep and wide knowledge about the range. Don't know that I would have continued past Telegraph absent your presence and your "super-secret" alternate route off Telegraph's minor south-east ridge. That was one of our more fun and funnier adventures. Good thing you didn't share our (ok, my) philosophizing on this family-oriented forum.

Missed you this year teke.

Couple of things. The crux of this route is getting off (and climbing back up) the east face of Telegraph. It's steep and loose. But once you get to the ridge about 500 feet below, its easy travel along a very visible use path all the way to 8325. The use path vanishes at that point, but the way to 7465 is obvious and very pleasant. Reminiscent of Copter Ridge. We discussed a number of names for this ridge, but I'm kinda fond of Sean's suggestion of Pulled Pork Ridge.

The view into Grizzly Gulch is very dramatic. Sean christened the flat area atop the bluff "Grizzly Beach" for the reasons mentioned in his TR. Interesting perspectives from 7465 of Cucumonga Saddle and Telegraph.

The register atop 7465 has very few entries. Before burrito signed in on April 27, the immediately preceding entry was 25 years ago in 1993.

Couple of additional pics from the adventure. Captions at the bottom.
2_Baldy Ski Lifts.JPG

Cheating on the way up to the Notch

11_Sean on the 3 T's Trail.JPG
Cucumonga Man at Thunder Mountain

17_Pt. 7465 from Telegraph Spur.JPG
First glimpse of 7465 from the spur to Telegraph

20_Baldy, Harwood, and Dawson from Telegraph.JPG
West Baldy, Baldy, Harwood, Dawson Complex from Telegraph

23_Pts. 8450 and 7465 from Telegraph.JPG
Pt. 8450 and 7465 from Telegraph

25_Drop off Telegraph's East Face.JPG
Drop off of Telegraph's East Face

26_Ridge to Pt. 8450 from Telegraph.JPG
Ridge Leading to 8450

30_Telegraph's East Face.JPG
Telegraph's East Face

Re: Peak 7465 and Telegraph's East Ridge

Posted: Sun May 13, 2018 7:33 pm
by Uncle Rico
More pics
31_Thunder and Thunder Saddle.JPG

Thunder from the ridge

35_Mt. Baldy from Telegraph's East Ridge.JPG
Baldy and company from Telegraph's east ridge

42_Sean on Telegraph's East Ridge.JPG
Cucamonga Man wrecking Telegraph's East Ridge

43_View Back Along Ridge to Telegraph Peak.JPG
Looking back at Telegraph

46_Ridgline to Pt. 7465 from Pt. 8450.JPG
7465 from 8450

51_Cairn Atop Pt. 8325.JPG
Summit of 8325

54_Triangular Maker Atop Pt. 8325.JPG
Triangular Sign Post just below 8325

Re: Peak 7465 and Telegraph's East Ridge

Posted: Sun May 13, 2018 7:40 pm
by Uncle Rico
More, more pics
56_Sean Descending Ridge to Pt. 7465.JPG

Cucamonga Man descending the ridge to 7465

58_Pt. 7465 from Along the Ridge.JPG
Target in sight.

60_Atop Grizzly Gulch.JPG
Looking into the void

64_Pt. 7465 Summit Register.JPG
Summit Register

68_Middle Fork Lytle Creek from Pt. 7465.JPG

Middle Fork Lytle Creek

70_Telegraph Peak from Pt. 7465.JPG
Telegraph from 7465
73_Sean Atop Pt. 7465.JPG
Sean atop 7465

Re: Peak 7465 and Telegraph's East Ridge

Posted: Sun May 13, 2018 7:45 pm
by Uncle Rico
More, more, more pics

75_Mt. Baldy Enshrouded in Clouds from Telegraph's East Ridge.JPG

Baldy on the way back.

79_Zoom of Clouds Over North Fork Lytle Creek.JPG
Clouds over the desert


80_3 T's Trail from Telegraph's East Ridge.JPG

3 T's from Telegraph

81_Sean Atop Telegraph Peak.JPG
Smells like...victory.

Re: Peak 7465 and Telegraph's East Ridge

Posted: Sun May 13, 2018 8:12 pm
by HikeUp
woot!

Re: Peak 7465 and Telegraph's East Ridge

Posted: Mon May 14, 2018 1:33 pm
by Sean
Uncle Rico wrote:We discussed a number of names for this ridge, but I'm kinda fond of Sean's suggestion of Pulled Pork Ridge.
Ha! So the story behind this "suggestion" starts with how Taco named his climbing ridges in Icehouse. He called them Kimchi and Soba, after Asian food items. I told Rico that we should start naming ridges after American food items, and "Pulled Pork Ridge" had a nice ring to it.

Re: Peak 7465 and Telegraph's East Ridge

Posted: Tue May 15, 2018 9:19 pm
by JeffH
Cool adventure guys, looks like loads of fun.

Re: Peak 7465 and Telegraph's East Ridge

Posted: Tue May 15, 2018 9:58 pm
by JeffH
And happy birthday Rico!