Mt. Baldy - First time up Bear Canyon Trail
Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2008 9:14 am
After 20 + summits of Baldy over the years via the Ski Hut or Devil's Backbone trails, I finally gave the Bear Canyon Trail a try on Sunday. I drove up Bear Canyon Road and couldn't figure out where it was legal to park so I ended up driving back and parking in front of the Visitors Center.
I left my car at 7:20 and knew I needed to make good time as I needed to get home before 3:00 PM. I saw 3-4 people in the first hour or so as I followed the trial along the stream and then to to Bear Flats. Past Bear Flats I could see last year's fire damage as I went up a series of steep switchbacks, according to my altimeter the switchbacks took me from 5600 to 6700 feet. Luckily it was a perfect weather day, nice and cool and hardly any wind along the way. I took 2 1/2 quarts of fluids but only needed about 1 1/2 since it such a cool day.
Above 8000 feet, I saw somebody on the trail ahead of me. It took me a bit of time to catch up with Tom who I learned later was training for a January Aconcagua climb. At about 9000 feet there is a "backbone" feature to the trail and I could see the summit ahead. About 15 minutes from the summit I met Kate and after the brief chat I made it to the summit at 10:30.
I hung out on the summit until 11:00 chatting with a few people who can up the Ski Hut trail. I also saw E-man who I had met on Baldy a few months ago. I thought about going down the Ski Hut trial and trying to hitch a ride back to the village, but Tom was going back down the same way we came up so we shared the trip back down. We went pretty fast, jogging when possible and made it down in a about 2 hours 15 minutes. Enjoyed chatting with Tom who it turns out is 68 so I was quite impressed with his hiking abilities.
Just as I was getting to my car, I saw Kate again as she was getting dropped off after going down the Ski Hut trail and hitching back to the Village.
I really enjoyed taking this trail and will work it into hiking routine going forward. Forgot my camera so sorry no pics.
-- Patrick
I left my car at 7:20 and knew I needed to make good time as I needed to get home before 3:00 PM. I saw 3-4 people in the first hour or so as I followed the trial along the stream and then to to Bear Flats. Past Bear Flats I could see last year's fire damage as I went up a series of steep switchbacks, according to my altimeter the switchbacks took me from 5600 to 6700 feet. Luckily it was a perfect weather day, nice and cool and hardly any wind along the way. I took 2 1/2 quarts of fluids but only needed about 1 1/2 since it such a cool day.
Above 8000 feet, I saw somebody on the trail ahead of me. It took me a bit of time to catch up with Tom who I learned later was training for a January Aconcagua climb. At about 9000 feet there is a "backbone" feature to the trail and I could see the summit ahead. About 15 minutes from the summit I met Kate and after the brief chat I made it to the summit at 10:30.
I hung out on the summit until 11:00 chatting with a few people who can up the Ski Hut trail. I also saw E-man who I had met on Baldy a few months ago. I thought about going down the Ski Hut trial and trying to hitch a ride back to the village, but Tom was going back down the same way we came up so we shared the trip back down. We went pretty fast, jogging when possible and made it down in a about 2 hours 15 minutes. Enjoyed chatting with Tom who it turns out is 68 so I was quite impressed with his hiking abilities.
Just as I was getting to my car, I saw Kate again as she was getting dropped off after going down the Ski Hut trail and hitching back to the Village.
I really enjoyed taking this trail and will work it into hiking routine going forward. Forgot my camera so sorry no pics.
-- Patrick
