SocalHikes.com - Southern California Hike Reports and Trail Information » Upcoming Event

East Fork to the Narrows, Stanley-Miller Mine

Zé — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 02:11:16 +0000

Summary:
Only to Narrows
Miles: 10
Elevation Gain: 1000 ft
Terrain: Many river crossings. Expect to get wet. Crossing a lot of rocks, so you should be comfortable on unstable terrain

To Stanley-Miller Mine
Miles: ~15
Elevation Gain: 2000-3000 ft
Terrain: Same as above, PLUS: total cross-country exploration. No trail. Bushwacking. Yuccas, steep loose terrain. Bring protective clothing.

We will be adventuring up the East Fork of the San Gabriel River. But we won’t simply be stopping at the Bridge to Nowhere, about 5 miles up.

Instead, we’ll continue on up to an area less explored. We’ll pass through the Narrows, an area with deep canyons and many nice swimming holes to relax in. Some people may choose to stop and relax here.

For the few that are very adventurous, I will be continuing on to attempt to visit the abandoned Stanley-Miller mine. This is one of the mines around Iron Mt that very few ever get to.

For those who are interested in going that far, you must read our previous trip reports to 2 other mine exploration adventures to get a feel of what it will be like.

Allison Mine

Baldora and Widco Mines

I have no idea how hard exactly it will be to climb up from the riverbed to access the mine. It should only be about 1000-1500 ft above the river, but who knows the navigation difficulties we’ll encounter.

Ideally, I would like someone to lead a hike up to the Bridge / Narrows, and then I would take the few people who are moving quickly up and beyond to the mine.

I do not know how long this will take. Therefore, expect me to move at a brisk pace during the beginning of the day. I will not wait very long for the whole group to catch up. Please agree to stay with at least one other person.

San Jacinto 7 Peak Grand Tour

Zé — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 15:55:00 +0000

In this trek, we will tour all the peaks around San Jacinto Peak, via the Palm Springs Aerial Tram. This includes 7 peaks, highlighted by class 3 climbs of Cornell Peak and Marion Mt, as well as reaching San Jacinto’s summit.

Here are the main details:

Distance: ~12 miles
Elevation Gain: 4500 – 5000 ft
Terrain: Some CROSS-COUNTRY WITH BRUSH & CLASS 3 ROCK CLIMBING

To do this hike, you must read this report and description

Plan on taking a full day for this. We will have to meet there before 8, and take the first tram up at 8 am. The hike will take at least 8 hrs…but I don’t want it to be much more. To keep us on track, some people may have to pass up summiting a few of the last peaks (Marion, for example).

Stats and GPS files:

jacinto route (gpsmountaineering way) at EveryTrail

Middle High Country Traverse

Zé — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:32:25 +0000

Oh that Nellie Hawkins. As John Robinson describes, “A very popular waitress at the rustic “Squirrel Inn” at nearby Crystal Lake (1901-06), she charmed and attracted miners, hunters, campers-just about every mountain man for miles around.”

And now she will lure us into a hike in the middle high country of the San Gabriels. Multiple peaks have been named after her, principally Mt Hawkins, and South Mt. Hawkins. We will do a part loop hike with two down-and-up ridge portions, including the following peaks:

Mt Islip
Middle Hawkins
Sadie Hawkins
South Mt Hawkins
Mt Hawkins
Copter Ridge

Estimated Distance: 13 – 15 miles
Elevation Gain: 4500 – 5000 ft.

UPDATES will be made here

potential route at EveryTrail

Iron Mtn.

SocalHikes Hiker — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 03:20:07 +0000

Alright, I have no idea what’s going on here, but Iron Mtn. has been on my mind lately. I think it has turned out to be one of my favorite hikes. Even though it’s responsible for my toe being the state it’s in now, I just can’t get over it. I’m considering doing it again before the weather turns hot. Except this time if the group wants, I’m thinking of taking the longer Allison Mine trail down to the cars. I absolutely hate the trail after Allison Saddle back to the cars.

Damnit, I think I’m going to plan it.

Upcoming Hike: Hillyer, Pacifico, Bare Mtn.

SocalHikes Hiker — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 08:47:26 +0000

This should be an interesting one. Going to start off at Chilao and work our way to the three peaks mentioned in the title. There were some routes that Zé and I mapped out. Zé’s route includes more of the fire roads to get from peak to peak with some jaunts along a couple of ridges. My route involves road in the beginning to get to Hillyer, and then after this is all fire break and cross country exploration until the ridge at Bare Mtn.

Here are the routes, Zé’s and mine.

To choose a route, I left it up to the group to vote. I have a feeling Zé’s route is going to win out. It is about 3 miles less and will probably allow us to get back to the carpool spot before sunset. Also, if the group size gets a little bigger, then I’m going to go with Zé’s regardless due to safety and separation possibilities.

Want to join? Check out the Meetup page and be sure to read the whole thing.

Layman’s Guide to Hiking – Part I: Breakfast

SocalHikes Hiker — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 18:47:12 +0000

“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day” is what they always say. Yes, I do tend to agree with this. However, it’s what you eat that is important. Especially if you’re about to undertake a full days worth of hiking. This post is devoted to what I eat before a hike. What I’m not going to mention is what you should eat the night before and all of that other nutritional things you should do. That’s for another post.

With that said, let’s get to it.

It’s morning, you wake up and go through your mornings routine before you head out the door. The question is now, what do I eat? For me, it used to be McDonalds. An Egg McMuffin with hash browns and an orange juice. This was an especially good meal which brought back childhood memories. But as happened then, happens still, it leaves me feeling a bit sluggish. It was probably just too heavy and probably doesn’t have the essential nutritional requirements that I would need.

So eventually I moved on to what I eat now, a Clif Bar, or if that’s unavailable, a Powerbar. This seems to hold me over pretty well until lunch which is normally 3-4 hours into our hike and normally either at the summit or near our goal. So for the most part, all the leg work is already done.

But as of the last two weeks, I’ve come to start drinking Sugar Free Red Bulls along with my Clif Bar. Why? For the caffeine. A couple of hikes, I drank a cup of coffee, but that left me parched for a good hour or so on those hikes. So trying to rehydrate while on the trail at the beginning of a hike wasn’t my idea of fun.

Alright, below are the nutritional values of a Blueberry Crisp Clif Bar and a Sugar Free Red Bull.

The only real numbers that stand out to me are the calories and sugar. Fiber as well, but I’m thinking that isn’t as important starting out as it is during the hike. So Clif Bar has the calories to provide the fuel, and a good amount of sugar to provide the kick.

As far as the Red Bull is concerned, it’s most likely the caffeine that gives me a jolt. Here’s some facts about it:

it contains, per 250 mL (8.4 U.S. fl. oz.) serving, about 21.5 g sucrose, 5.25 g of glucose, 50 mg of inositol, 1000 mg of taurine, 600 mg of glucuronolactone, vitamin B — 20 mg of niacin, 5 mg of vitamin B6, 5 mg of pantothenic acid and 5 μg of vitamin B12 , 80 mg of caffeine.

So why the switch from a tasty Egg McMuffin meal to something that only astronauts stranded on Mars would eat? Here’s why:

Cals Fat Carbs Protein Egg McMuffin

300

12g

30g

18g

Hash Browns

150

15g

OJ (small)

140

33g

Total

590

21g

78g

21g

I suppose these nutritional values would make some sense if you’re going on something extreme like Cactus to Clouds, but even for our day excursions, I think this is too much. Especially considering that I’m looking to lose body fat on these hikes. The fat count here along with the carbs is pretty extreme. Perhaps the carbs would help the night before. But even I know that there are better/healthier ways to carb up. Again though, for another post.

So that’s breakfast. Is it the breakfast of champions? Most likely not. But so far, it works pretty well for me. So until I find another alternative cocktail mix, this will be my morning nutrition for the foreseeable future.

Next up in the Layman’s Series, lunch.

Upcoming Event: Vetter to Chilao

SocalHikes Hiker — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 21:16:36 +0000

This is going to be total exploration hike. The only part I’ve done is from Vetter to Alder Creek.

Brief Description:
Elevation gain is near 5000′.
Distance: A hair under 17 miles.

Here’s the upcoming route:

Vetter to Chilao
Find more Hikes in Anf, California

Link with distance indicators: http://www.mapmyhike.com/hike/united-states/ca/-anf/794634244728

Long description:

We’ll be parking at the Vetter Parking lot and then hike our way up to the Lookout Station. From there we’ll take the ridge down until we get to Alder Creek.

After this point, we’ll be taking the south ridge up to Roundtop. We can have lunch here and hang out a bit. After this, we’ll head back down halfway the south ridge before cutting east.

This will take us across Alder Creek and we’ll take a ridge up to the Mt. Hillyer Fireroad. This is some more off trail up a ridge until we get to Hillyer. Once at Hillyer, there’s a trail that takes us to Chilao.

That’s about it.

Desert Hike – Rabbit & Villager Peaks

Zé — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 00:02:51 +0000

Hike Description

This hike will take us into the Anza-Borrego wilderness area and the Santa Rosa mountain range. As John Robinson says, “It is one of the testpieces for the serious Southern Calilfornia day hikers. This extremely strenuous hike features a remarkable variety of cactus and yucca.” Apparently there will be lots of desert flora to see.

I’ll keep the description brief, and leave you to read the links provided to read more about what this hike entails. We’ll be doing this as a dayhike although we may car-camp the night before.

This hike will begin just off the Borrego Salton Seaway and head north. We will first ascend Villager Peak, which by itself is 6 miles one way with 5,000 ft elevation gain.

After bagging Villager, we will traverse the ridge between it and Rabbit Peak. This ridge will only be 4 miles in length but has several bumps that will give an additional 1800 ft elevation gain. On the way back, there will be another 1200 or so feet of elevation gain.

The terrain will be rocky, and there will be portions of bouldering and possible scrambling, so you should be comfortable with this as well.

For people who are interested but aren’t sure about doing the whole extreme hike, I would like for a secondary group to form who would only ascend Villager Peak. Hiker Tim, who has done this hike before, has stated that much of the nice views were seen just from the ascent to Villager, so I think it is worthwhile alone. That part of the hike alone would be about 12-14 miles and 5000 ft gain, no slouch. But I’ll need someone to volunter to ‘lead’ this group who will be prepared with knowledge of the path.

For either group, the plan would be to start early. For the primary route, I’m thinking we are going to start at like 5 am, so car camping the night before might be ideal, although not mandatory. Whatever way you choose to arrive at 5 am is fine, but keep in mind this is a pretty long drive from Los Angeles, about 3 hrs. Ideally we will be able to complete the hike around sunset, though we may go a bit past. Headlamps will be necessary.

Links

John Robinson write-up

Sierra Club Description

Hike Details

Primary Option:

Distance: ~ 21 miles rt

Elevation Gain: ~ 8000 ft

Gain / Mile: 800 ft / mile

Estimated Time: ~ 14 hrs

Terrain: Cross country, ridge, rock bouldering

Difficulty: 11/10

Secondary Option:

Distance: ~ 13 miles rt

Elevation Gain: ~ 5000 ft

Gain / Mile: 1000 ft / mile

Estimated Time: ~ 9 hrs

Terrain: Cross country, ridge, rock bouldering

Difficulty: 9/10

Difficulty MUST READ

For those in great condition. Should be exercising regularly.

You must have hiked with me before – you then know the difficulty that I’m describing. If you haven’t, you’d better message me.

via SummitPost

Getting There
View Larger Map

State on the Meetup site where you are coming from to contact people to carpool with.

For all trips, wear boots or sturdy shoes, and bring lunch, lots of drinks, warm clothing (depending on altitude)

Trips are canceled in the event of rain (unless trip leader states differently). So assume it is canceled if it’s raining the morning of.

The trip “leader” is a volunteer and not a real leader (i.e. not liable for the group). Think of it as hiking with a group of friends.

Joining LA Hiking hikes is entirely voluntary and participants assume the full risks associated with the activities. It is each hiker’s responsibility to ensure that s/he is in sufficient fitness and health to participate in a strenuous hike, with the appropriate water, food, clothing, first aid, and navigation equipment for the conditions. The LA Hiking Group and the individual organizers make no warranties about the safety or supervision of these activities.

Murietta Falls via Ohlone Wilderness

Zé — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 03:43:48 +0000

My photos here

I was up in the Bay area for the holidays and wanted to get a good hike in. Now I haven’t done tons of exploring up there (up ~ every 6 wks), but it’s certainly hard to find hikes with good elevation gain. Most hikes have < 2000 ft gain, even with lots of miles.

I did some googling and came up with a few options. One was Mt Diablo, which can be made into a pretty good hike, but I wanted to take more time to plan it out than I had. The other was this hike to Murietta Falls in Del Valle Regional Park and Ohlene Wilderness by Livermore, CA. The stats on this baby seemed good, ~ 12 miles and 3500 – 4500 ft gain. Wow, in the Bay area?!

Murietta Falls via Ohlone Wilderness at EveryTrail

If you are ever up around the bay and want to check it out, here are some links:

TR #1

TR #2

What you will note in those pics is water flowing, but I did not expect this to be the case in our journey. It had rained recently, but I read that to actually have the falls part of Murietta working, you would want to check it out right after a rain, preferably in the spring. I was just happy with getting a nice hike.

Apparently some turkeys made an escape from two days prior and headed inland:

Our trail takes us into the Ohlene Wilderness after about 1 mile. The first 3 miles is on a fire road, but it is certainly remote, and certainly steeper then other fire roads I have been on.

The lady was sore from previous workouts, and not happy with the steepness on this day! But I enjoyed it.

Nice countryside. I like the area. All those bumps, makes you just wanna hike up and down all of them.

Some sort of gigantic nut?

After hitting the first bump, we headed down about 500 ft, and then back up to the 2nd bump. More steep fire road, but nice area

There are plenty of signs to keep you on the right path:

Mt. Diablo in the background:

Funky trees:

We descended back down several hundred feet to the small canyon where Murietta Falls would exist. On this day, there was no water

After lunch, we head back up and down the bumps back the way we came.

Filtering matters, but I would estimate ~ 4200 ft elevation gain in 12 miles. A pretty tough hike, one of, if not the toughest in the Bay area.