He headed out late Friday night, seemingly camping on the summit of East Twin before attempting the route Saturday. He did not return Saturday night, so he must have hunkered down two nights before getting rescued. It seems he was well prepared and made the right decision to stay put when the weather turned worse. And based on the video he agrees that Triplet Ridge is BRUTAL. And you shouldn’t hike / climb this alone.

Scott, if you happen to read this blog, please leave a comment or contact me. (ze dot apelido at gmail). I’d love to get some more info, if you would be willing to share it.

Under the “Bag a Peak Map”, I’ve embedded a map from Everytrail that populates trailhead points for all the hikes I’ve uploaded. I don’t know how to zoom into California yet (I have had some hikes outside the country), but this may also be useful.

Z

PDF Map

Document with description of closure boundaries

However, there are some previously closed areas that are now open…including the north side of Mt Waterman and the moving the closure line north of the ACH a bit west past the Winston Peak / Winston Ridge area. Additionally, it appears the south border has moved further north in the Monrovia Peak area. I can’t offer specifics as I’ve just glanced at the pdf map at moderate resolution. The text document offers more specifics. Any comments on specific changes are appreciated.

Do you recognize this face? Let us know.

http://gis.dpw.lacounty.gov/roadclosures/main.cfm

The forecast for the next 7 days shows that temperatures are finally coming down to the mid-70s and will be falling to the lower 70s by Sunday. Let’s hope this trend stays because I am really looking forward to some snow, or at least some form of weather to hike in.

This can only mean that it’s time to kick up the training for the winter months. That’s where the real fun will be. Up in the mountains in the snow. Carving out a path and falling knee deep. Exciting times!

A beautiful day, not so beautiful burned areas…

Final Stats:

16 miles, 5200 ft

View more stats and maps

Set up another last minute hike with the meetup group, and just before 8 am off we were up the Old Mt Wilson trail, or ‘Old Faithful’ based on my hiking past.

The day was very clear, though a bit warm. Starting early lessened the extent of heat and sun exposure, but still the first 1.5 miles of the trail is uncovered. Luckily, we made this in good time and then got to some more shade.

Although I don’t have a picture of it, from the drive up it appears someone made an big effort to create a firebreak on Jones Peak’s SE ridge. And from what Ray said, apparently this continued all the way to Hastings Peak and the toll road.

We continued up, breaking at Orchard’s Camp and then on to Manzanita ridge. Here we saw some lady smoking. Seriously? Are people just that moronic / careless? No wonder these fires start. For some reason I didn’t say anything, but man that’s disappointing.

Up and away to Mt Wilson it was. On the toll road, we got our first glimpse of burned area – the east side of Lowe, Markham, and San Gabriel Peaks.

(I suggest taking a look at my photo album below as I took in more zoomed shots of here and the rest of the burned areas I could see.)

Getting up to Mt Wilson, we traversed across to the eastern end. Here we got some expansive views on a really beautiful day. Unfortunately much of that clarity gave sobering views of the burned areas:

And many more. The whole area is just toast. Waterman and Twin Peaks look alright, Devil’s canyon and the San Gabriel Wilderness are at least partially burned. AW’s west ridge idea now looks feasible . Triplet Rocks area still has brush .

Barley Flats and Lawlor were just annihilated. Strawberry too, although I didn’t get great views of it. The album describes better than words.

The top of Wilson’s Peak was relatively untouched. When I got to the north side, I could smell the charred wood / brush pretty strongly. You could see evidence that at least some fire got right up to the paved road, as some trees’ bases were burnt. But the area was not affected collectively. It looks like a nice job fighting off the fire very close to buildings.

And then we headed back down the same way.

WRIGHTWOOD, CA – Firefighters are dwarfed by towering flames as they set a backfire to try to stop the 3,500-acre Sheep fire from reaching the town of Wrightwood, a half-mile away on October 4, 2009 near Wrightwood, California. The wildfire began near Lytle Creek and is threatening the mountain ski community of Wrightwood and other communities. Strong erratic winds and a steep terrain is driving the wildfire through the San Gabriel Mountains, charring more than 3,500 acres and destroying at least four homes so far. Approximately 1,000 firefighters are battling the blaze. (David McNew / ***** Images)