EISPIRATEN

On Sunday JeffH myself and Sean did a very enjoyable lollipop loop of Strawberry Peak starting from the road to Colby Camp on the Tujunga side. Great hike. I'm taking a little different approach to the TR this time.

Let me preface this by saying, I'm the sort of hiker who is attracted to going off the beaten path, quite literally. I am attracted to obscurity, and finding one's own route: I am drawn to the unnoticed and the untrodden. The first hike I ever went on was 4 years old crashing into the Maine woods to find the Easter Bunny and the rest of the holiday icons my parents said lived on this unnamed hill I could see from my bedroom window. That experience of stepping into the woods not knowing what might be ahead and wondering if I would come across Santa Claus waiting out the summer in a cabin is the dragon I've chased ever since.

The trail up from the Colby Camp camp was what I have become accustomed to - an obscure and underused, underfunded, overlooked corner of the mountains where few others have interest in going or know exists. My kind of place.

But then the Strawberry Peak trail, and the use trail ascending the west ridge to the summit, was very different. I've never hiked anything like the west ridge of Strawberry Peak before - an unofficial use trail, traversing very difficult (and very fun if you are up for it) class 3 scrambling along an exposed ridge line. What was really unique is how many people were up there doing it - on a chilly, blustery sunday in November we came upon like 20 people doing this thing. They were a remarkable diversity of ages, races, body types, etc. There were trail runners without shirts, teenagers with their friends, asians with go-pros strapped to their heads, Korean retirees, latin americans, etc. I have no idea how much experience any of these people had, as I didn't ask them. All going up this informal use trail with sustained class 3 rock scrambling. It was a unique experience for me, and I'm not sure how many routes are out there like this in Angeles and beyond.

I'm going to focus on a particular group of women who were hiking together. Must have been 8-10 of them. In their 40s and 50s, maybe older, variety of body types, variety of clothing and gear. They were speaking Spanish to each other, so probably latino of some kind. I haven't really seen a group like this out on a serious mountain before, and CERTAINLY not on a route like this one. They were moving quite a bit more slowly then me, and I bushwhacked around them. Not going to lie, at the time I was questioning "wether they should be there" in my mind. Of course I didn't say anything, but I did think it. They *must* be in over their heads. Didn't realize what they were getting themselves into. They could hurt themselves, etc etc. They will have to turn around, which will be dangerous as well. What a zoo this place is. The dangers of 'viral' instagram routes...

I make it to the summit after some pretty intensive class three scrambling. It was no joke, serious climbing. I eat lunch, chill with JeffH, nerd out identifying peaks, etc.

30 minutes later, guess what?

The whole group of women arrive at the summit. I was surprised and impressed, and wished them congratulations.

In fact all of the diverse people we encountered on the way up summited.

Its a good reminder that the gatekeeper mentality when it comes to the outdoors, often cloaked with the word 'safety', is real and can effect any of us. A safe and capable hiker crushing challenging routes doesn't need to be a slender white guy in technical pants who uses CalTopo. An Ice Pirate can be anyone who loves exploring the mountains. Its only a question of who they are, not what.

I'm glad on Sunday I uncharacteristically took the road more travelled, staying on the beaten path, to be reminded of it.

Peace!

I didn't do the west ridge. I'd done it before, so it wasn't exactly on my bucket list, plus I'm saving my back for future hikes. I was excited for Jeff and Nate, though, this being their first time doing the scramble route.

Instead I followed the guys to Strawberry Meadow junction, then turned left toward Strawberry Spring. They were far ahead of me already, having turned right toward the west ridge. I figured I'd head up the trail and see how far I could get before something started hurting.

I met four runners. We talked about the AC100 and favorite trees at Little Jimmy Spring. At Strawberry Spring the trail crossing was slightly moist, but the flow above the trail was merely dripping very slowly. Filling a bottle would take a long time. Thankfully I had brought plenty of fluids.

I reached the Lawlor-Strawberry Saddle and decided to continue up the summit path toward Strawberry Peak. By now the wind had picked up considerably. It was quite cold. I was in pants and long sleeves, with a winter jacket and gloves. Earlier I had stashed my beanie in favor of the hat, as the sun started poking through the clouds. I met a dude in shorts and a T-shirt. I asked, "Aren't you cold?" "Freezing," he replied, "I didn't bring enough layers." He didn't bring ANY extra layers! He wasn't even carrying water or a backpack. Oh, well, it's not so bad if you can keep moving at a fast pace to generate body heat. These days I'm lucky if I can manage 2 mph.

I made it to the first bump with a nice view of Strawberry.
I figured I could make it to the summit if someone pointed a gun at my head and yelled, "Move!" But, as that wasn't the situation, I chose not to push it. My back was mildly complaining and the wind was mildly biting. Been there, done that, yadda yadda. Instead I sat and watched the beautiful people hiking up and down the trail. I asked a few hikers if they had seen two guys on the summit. They weren't sure. Apparently there were a lot of people up there, which made sense considering how many were ascending and descending past me.

I dropped back down to the saddle to escape the wind and eat lunch. An hour later the guys still hadn't come down. I figured they were enjoying the summit. I hiked back down to Strawberry Meadow and bumped into the Lowelifes trail crew. They were working on the Strawberry Trail just below the junction with Colby Trail. The Strawberry Trail isn't fit for bikers, so they're slowly bringing it up to standards.

I chilled out at the junction and waited for the guys. I was feeling pretty good actually, but taped a few hot spots on my toes. Eventually Jeff and Nate came down the trail and told me about their adventure on the ridge route. We then made good time back to the cars at Colby Bridge.

The great thing about the West ridge of Strawberry is that it's easy enough for anyone to do it. Different people will have a different sense of how death-defying the thing is, but it's all doable. Glad yall finally got out there!

West ridge is a great route! Fun and memorable. Congrats!

While I agree that most people can figure it out with chunky holds, mostly solid rock. Even through it is well marked with arrows, if someone got off track, it could quickly go to class 4. I can't think of another easily accessible class 3 route like Strawberry in the Angeles. It's unique. Falling Rock Canyon is the probably the closest I can think of, but it's not as fun.

I've read that this route is well-marked but neither of us saw anything painted or drawn or flagged along the way.

My memory of the route is that there were a shit ton of arrows, dots and other marks of various colors that went in all sorts of different directions. We just followed boot prints and logic. I got nervous at only one location where we could see straight down the north face (1000+ feet). A mistake or slip would be fatal. I'm sure we were off route.

JeffH wrote: ↑Tue Nov 05, 2024 6:49 pm I've read that this route is well-marked but neither of us saw anything painted or drawn or flagged along the way.

Maybe someone cleaned the graffiti up? No Kamper Ken?

dima wrote: ↑Tue Nov 05, 2024 11:56 am The great thing about the West ridge of Strawberry is that it's easy enough for anyone to do it. Different people will have a different sense of how death-defying the thing is, but it's all doable. Glad yall finally got out there!

Totally - its accessible, offers enough exposure to be a thrill while presenting good holds on solid rock, and leads you right up to a prominent summit for a satisfying conclusion. Its a satisfying progression of events and balance of thrill and attainability and I can totally understand why its become so popular. Physically speaking, anyone with decent fitness can do it. You just have to be thoughtful in picking your route, because you can encounter class 4 pretty quickly if you stray. And thats the trickiest part - with so much traffic, there are footprints going in pretty much every direction of people trying to find lines, so its often not clear to know the easiest path.

tekewin wrote: ↑Wed Nov 06, 2024 4:48 am Maybe someone cleaned the graffiti up? No Kamper Ken?

I remember seeing Kamper Ken!! That one lives on! But no route markings.

Nate U wrote: ↑Wed Nov 06, 2024 8:34 am

tekewin wrote: ↑Wed Nov 06, 2024 4:48 am Maybe someone cleaned the graffiti up? No Kamper Ken?

I remember seeing Kamper Ken!! That one lives on! But no route markings.

I don't remember it - maybe I was off-route then.