Last Thursday, two friends joined me on a hike to Smith Mountain. Standing tall at 5,111 this peak is a great workout. The last 800 feet of climbing packs a punch. This was my fourth time bagging this peak but and It has been at least 6 years or more since I hiked the upper Bear Canyon trail .
Anyhow, it has recently been maintained, and the views are gorgeous. Due to the recent rains, everything is green. I found a few mushrooms which made me happy.
At the saddle, you get pretty cool views of the surrounding San Gabriel mountains.
The final push to the summit is a class 2 scramble. This portion of the trail is a bit overgrown with catclaws, but we made our way through.
At the top you are rewarded with views of Monrovia peak, Triplet Rocks, Twin peaks, Mt. Waterman, Mt. Baldy & the Hawkins ridge to name a few.
As we descended the summit, my friend trimmed most of the overgrown parts of the trail, so it is nice and clear now.
We had a nice lunch, enjoyed the views and I placed a new register with some stickers. The benchmark is still intact.
Overall, a great say on Smith Mountain.