January 24th, 2010 / 2 Comments » / by SocalHikes Hiker
What an amazing day! First time snowshoeing, and it definitely didn’t disappoint. Our plan was to take the tram up and then snowshoe the rest of the way to the summit.
We left at about 6:00am and got to the tram by 7:35am and barely made onto the first tram up. This was my first time on the tram, and I must say that it was pretty adventurous. Nice fast mover all the way to the top. I guess it was too early though to rotate it for the view. Unless they only do that on the way down. Read more…
I had checked out John Robinson’s The San Gabriels, and decided to snap some shots of the photos in the book to share. Probably copyright infringement, but I thought it would be cool to preserve some of these digitally (albeit roughly). You should definitely check out the book if you are interested in San Gabriel mountain history. Read more…
January 2nd, 2010 / No Comments » / by SocalHikes Hiker
You know, for it being Winter, it sure felt a lot like Spring. Warm sun, no clouds, mid-70s. The only saving grace would be the cool breeze.
But the route chosen for today was heavily shaded on the way up and slightly shaded towards the top. So the day began at 8:15am at the REI parking lot and from there we carpooled to Chantry. By the time we got there, the parking was extremely full. As we passed through the parking lot, we could see why. Large, and I mean large groups were heading down to Sturtevant Falls. This forced us to have to park past the stop sign where the road narrows due to the slides.
Anyways, here’s the route we took.
1. Start at Chantry and take the Mt. Wilson trail up through Spruce Camp.
2. Lunch at Echo Point with the nice overlook of the burned out areas and the not so burned out areas of Waterman and Twin Peaks.
3. Head back to Chantry via Santa Anita Ridge.
Not sure on the total gains and mileage, but my estimation comes out to 13 miles and about 4000′ gain. The way up was pretty tough, but not as bad as my first time. Guess I’m in better shape.
This was also my first view of the burned out areas. Damn, a lot of forest went up. But I was glad to see Waterman and Twin Peaks. Perhaps a hike there is in order. Maybe when there’s snow…
The way back wasn’t the normal downhill escapade. Santa Anita ridge is filled with a bunch of bumps which accounts for about another 200′ worth of gain. Wouldn’t be too bad, however, it’s just a roller coaster ride of a mix of steep ups and downs. This group I was with also decided it would be fun to run down most of it. I tried, but my joints just weren’t cooperating.
The SocalHikes Hikers are an eclectic mix individuals coming from differing locations across the country. I (John) am the only a Los Angeles native. As a group though, I suppose we can be considered "peak baggers" for the types of hikes we do. How we came to know each other was through an internet hiking group. Since meeting, we've gone on countless hikes, bagged many peaks, and have experienced nature to the fullest. And now we've teamed up to bring you our experiences and experience to you.
You can read our individual profiles in the About section.