Final Stats:

Gain: 5200 ft
Distance: 14 miles

The housing market crash has forced me to be a bit more economical.

Others’ photos and Meetup link here

GPS track here

KML Google Earth file

Baldora and Widco Mine Hike at EveryTrail

This was a good adventure. The goal was to check out the area around the old Baldora/Widco mine in Dry Gulch, which lies southeast of Iron Mountain and next to Coldwater Canyon. The most feasible way to get there is by taking the Heaton Flat trail to the prominent saddle in which 3 trails diverge. The old trail to the left takes you to Allison Mine, the use trail straight ahead and up takes you to Iron Mountain, and the brushy trail to the right takes you down to Coldwater Canyon. This is the trail we took.

After hiking up to the saddle (~ 3000 ft gain in 4.5 miles), we started along this unmaintained trail. It immediately became pretty brushy, which was expected. And very soon we came upon parts of the trail that had been washed out, and the negotiation added some adventure.

The trail continued to be washed out in several areas; however, it was passable without much danger. The brush was annoying at times, but certainly less of a deterrent than the washed out trail. Getting down to the canyon bottom took a decent amount of time. Along the way, I was peering at Bighorn Ridge, Widman Ranch, and other landmarks. I thought I noticed some use trails heading up toward Bighorn Ridge, but I could have just been hallucinating.

Once we got to Coldwater Canyon, we turned north and veered to the left to make sure we went up Dry Gulch. This combined some rock hopping / bouldering and following an intermittent use trail along the left bank.

Now, on USGS maps and my garmin map, it is indicated that the Baldora and Widco are two separate mines, although people mention them as one. I wasn’t sure, so we made sure to check out both areas as indicated on the maps. The first is the Widco mine which is a bit lower and on the left side of Dry Gulch. There, we found an old shack and some equipment.

The actual location of the shack was a bit lower than the mine location as marked on my GPS, so I scrambled up a hundred feet or so until I was at the marked location. I ended up just around some large rocks which could have been the mine, but I did not see an entrance but admittedly did not thoroughly explore. I did notice that I scrambled up to more level ground, and as I walked down it, I realized it was an old road bed that went back down to the shack, so likely the mine was located where marked.

After that, we headed a bit further up the gulch and over to the right side to check out Baldora Mine. Here we found even more remnants including a shack and some big machinery. I’d assume this machinery would be placed close to the mine entrance, although we couldn’t find any.

Again, the actual location of the mine as located on my gps was a bit higher up, so we climbed up east toward the ridge splitting Dry Gulch and Coldwater canyon until we hit the spot. Again the location marked put us by some boulders, but no mine. After that, we descended and headed back the same way.

It would seem that there were indeed two mines since there was equipment and shacks in two locations though we did not actually find any mine entrances. I would guess there was at least one entrance but we just simply did not find it. I was tempted to continue hiking up toward Gold Dollar mine as brush was not a problem; at that point it was more trees and low-lying brush. But, that’s for another day.

This route though was very scenic all the way. After the recent rains, the water level was a little higher and the current flowing somewhat swift. This made crossing the river at certain points a little bit more exciting.

After several crossings, we finally made it to the gulch. The incline at this point became more substantial. There were at times some visible portions of a trail, but mostly it was covered in fallen leaves. Also, the way up involved some rock hopping which slowed the pace a bit.

The trail up to the mine starts at the northern slope. There was a tree with some plastic ribbon tied to it. This marks the start of a trail, but we couldn’t find it at this point. So we continued up the gulch for about 50 yards until a trail became more visible. This was the start of the serious climb. From here it’s just switchbacks that follow the steep mountain up. This part is pretty serious. It’s about a 1500′ gain in about a mile and a half.

Just follow this trail until you get to the mine. From here, the exploring begins. Be sure to have a flashlight or candle handy as it is dark. When the lights go out, you can’t see your hand in front of your face.

The pics above are from the first cave. We went about 40 feet west along the trail until we got to this old wooden structure and had lunch beside it. This was the only really flat portion that gave us enough room to sit and eat.

After lunch, we continued along the trail to finish the loop. About 20 feet though from the lunch spot, there’s a fork in the trail. Going right will take you home along Allison trail. Go left to head into another cave. This cave was built heading in all directions. Going right into the cave, there’s a hole which looks as they tried to mine downwards. Peering down into the hole, there’s a multilevel chamber. The first level is about 10′ down, and then lower level from what I can tell is about 20′. Who knows how far it goes beyond that. Climbing equipment would be required for further exploration.

Heading left and up in the cave takes you further. I didn’t go all the way up, but it eventually loops back outside to the trail again. This was loose with rocks. I didn’t head up, rather I stayed below and took pictures of people going up and down.

With the cave exploration ended, we made our way along Allison trail towards Heaton Saddle. This part of the trail was pretty even with nary any gain. Just stick to the path, and chances are you’ll be okay. Unless you stop to take pictures and end up going the wrong way like Ofir.

This trail seemed to continue on for an eternity. I would have much preferred to head back the way we had come since the fog obscured any views anyhow. But we continued along the trail getting rained on at times, and at others, being mindful of where we stepped. There are some good drops at portions of this trail.

Finally we made it back to Heaton Saddle. From here we would take the Heaton Flats trail back to the cars. All of this was well so there wasn’t anything really difficult here. The only bad experiences that were conjured up were the memories of Iron Mountain. That was the only real negative.

But all together, this was a great hike. The river crossings and mine exploration made this hike. If you want to give this a shot, then remember to bring a flashlight, or else you’re not going very far.

You can view all of my pictures from this hike here.

	#	Latitude	Longitude	Elevation	Distance	Time	Avg Speed
	1	N 34° 14' 13.61"	W 117° 45' 54.82"	620 m	0.000 mi	0s	-
	2	N 34° 14' 50.23"	W 117° 45' 37.73"	626 m	1.006 mi	28m 50s	2.09 mph
	3	N 34° 15' 26.94"	W 117° 45' 22.16"	676 m	0.997 mi	44m 00s	1.36 mph
	4	N 34° 15' 44.19"	W 117° 44' 48.64"	724 m	0.997 mi	25m 00s	2.39 mph
	5	N 34° 16' 00.31"	W 117° 44' 13.88"	902 m	1.001 mi	49m 21s	1.22 mph
	6	N 34° 16' 16.19"	W 117° 43' 46.22"	1263 m	1.000 mi	48m 50s	1.23 mph
	7	N 34° 16' 12.07"	W 117° 43' 43.69"	1260 m	0.999 mi	1h 40m 00s	0.60 mph
	8	N 34° 15' 47.17"	W 117° 43' 55.01"	1283 m	1.003 mi	48m 30s	1.24 mph
	9	N 34° 15' 34.67"	W 117° 43' 31.24"	1377 m	0.999 mi	35m 51s	1.67 mph
	10	N 34° 15' 11.12"	W 117° 43' 54.36"	1288 m	1.004 mi	35m 11s	1.71 mph
	11	N 34° 15' 04.35"	W 117° 44' 33.70"	1219 m	0.996 mi	22m 50s	2.62 mph
	12	N 34° 14' 36.59"	W 117° 44' 53.54"	945 m	1.003 mi	23m 00s	2.62 mph
	13	N 34° 14' 34.11"	W 117° 45' 34.32"	677 m	0.994 mi	22m 21s	2.67 mph
	14	N 34° 14' 12.48"	W 117° 45' 55.13"	617 m	0.843 mi	20m 20s	2.49 mph
			Summary	5482 ft	12.843 mi	8h 24m 04s	1.53 mph

]]> http://socalhikes.com/2009/01/exploring-the-allison-mine/feed/ 0 http://socalhikes.com/2009/01/east-fork-to-allison-gulch-allison-mine-heaton-flat-trail/ http://socalhikes.com/2009/01/east-fork-to-allison-gulch-allison-mine-heaton-flat-trail/#comments Mon, 26 Jan 2009 23:08:38 +0000 Zé http://socalhikes.com/?p=953 Final Stats:

Gain: 3500 ft
Distance: 13 miles

Allison Mine, one of the more difficult mines to reach in San Gabriels, provided a superb dayhike adventure.

Please also look at John’s report

Others’ photos and Meetup link here

GPS track here

KML Google Earth file

11 people showed up for this trip, all expecting and not phased by any poor weather. We started from the East Fork parking lot at about 8:45 am, which was about 45 later than I had planned due to some logistical issues. However I expected it to take us about 8 hrs for the hike, so I thought we still should be able to complete the hike before dark.

East Fork to Allison Gulch, Allison Mine, & Heaton Flat Trail at EveryTrail

I planned this hike out to be a loop hike, taking 2 trip reports from Travis Linds (gpsmountaineering) and combined portions of the them. His trip reports indicated that the trails, though previously not maintained, were actually not in bad shape as previously thought by many people.

In fact, as we reached the Heaton Flat trailhead, we ran into a group of San Gabriel Trailbuilders. I told them where we were headed, and they raised a few eyebrows saying “that trail up Allison Gulch has been washed out”. I asked when they last heard this, and it was several years ago, so I mentioned updated info indicates the trail is actually being partially maintained. They were definitely NOT happy to hear about this, indicating the illegality it. I accepted this though thinking, ‘well these guys weren’t gonna maintain it’.

So we headed off up the East Fork, and encountered our first river crossing. John has a video of me crossing.

We continued up the river, encountering a few more crossings that ate up a bit of time. I was somewhat concerned of us being behind schedule, but we picked up the pace and arrived at Allison Gulch in decent time.

The beginning of the gulch:

We headed up the gulch following a faint use trail and crossing the stream multiple times, which was relatively easy and quick. The gulch is a very nice shaded area, probably lovely all times of the year.

I had marked a waypoint for where the beginning of the trail up to Allison Mine should be, and it was evident when we got to that point.

The trail up to the mine, as mentioned by Travis, has definitely been maintained. Portion of the trail has rocks embedded in a line for support, and yuccas have been trimmed:

I actually really liked this trail. It was very steep, but did not need to use hands, and the views were great. One could say that some portions of the trail had been somewhat washed out, but nothing unreasonable.

One could see Swan Rock clearly from this trail

We continued up as the fog came in, and the trail eventually heads east toward Allison Mine.

At this point, I was looking for any indication of the old trail heading toward Stanley Miller mine. While ascending up, I was convinced I could see some indication of a trail higher up and along the contours of Iron Mt’s west side that would be that trail. However, when I reached the area where this trail would have started, nothing was clear.

I checked out one use trail, but that quickly headed into some thick brush. I then found some other use trails around a talus slope, and headed up a portion of the way. There were some more faint use trails around it, but again nothing was clear.

Anyways, we headed to the mine from this point. Someone has been camping out around here!

The first hole we found had two separate tunnels that went in probably 30 yards or so with a few branches.

Stupid commentary

Look out for John’s TR, which should photos of the bigger, and more interesting mine shafts. In the mean time, Ofir and I headed up away from the trail, trying to see if anything was left around the actually GPS coordinates of the Allison Mine location. We found plenty of rusted pipes, and some bones:

We headed down and met up with the rest of the group, and went on to check out the old Allison Mine trail that connects with the Heaton Flat trail.

At this point, not many pictures were taken as it started raining, and we were running into more wet brush that made us nice and soaked. Regardless, this trail was not in terrible shape either. It has more brush and more parts partially washed out than the trail up from Allison gulch, but it is certainly passable. Yuccas have been trimmed, so what else do you need? I suppose we are getting relatively desensitized to a little brush. I’d say this trail was less annoying than the ridge up to Monrovia Peak.

This trail did seem to take a while, but finally we connected up at Coldwater Saddle, and took the Heaton Flat trail back down. We got back at 4:45, practically 8 hrs from our start!

This is a great hike, and one that I suggest anyone to try if they are not afraid of a little brush.

KML Google Earth file

Iron Mountain #1 aka Big Bad Iron at EveryTrail