10/25/11 Another trip to Baldy, this time bringing my Dad to experience the little used trail from Wrightwood to the summit. Unquestionably one of the toughest trails in Southern CA with rugged terrain and over 7000' of total elevation gain.
1 Heading up the Acorn Trail from Wrightwood. We were on the trail just after 7:00am. We lucked out with perfect weather even though there had been a light rain and heavy fog on the drive up.
2 Baldy Bowl (as I call it). I'm still waiting to see a Big Horn Sheep here...
3 Our first look at the Backbone Trail headed up to Pine Mtn.
4 A sea of clouds in the valley below.
5 Looks like they added a new trail sign at the start of the Backbone Trail entering the Big Sheep Wilderness. Not good! This trail was hard to find before, which is the way I like it.
6 A great picture of Dad at a lookout spot nearing the top of Pine Mtn.
7 I love the trees near the top of Pine Mtn.
8 The trail heading up through more great trees.
9 We made it to the top of Pine Mtn, one of the steepest sections of trail in all of Southern CA (including Cactus to Clouds).
10 Dad making his way through dense brush near Dawson Peak. Walking through this stuff is like rubbing your legs with a cheese grater.
11 Almost to Dawson Peak and Dad still has a smile on his face.
12 A look at the trail, which drops 800' from Dawson Peak down to the saddle and then makes the brutal final 1200' climb to the summit. We ate lunch at the saddle right before the climb. Dad decided to call it a day at that point. Considering how tough this trail is, he did awesome! It was already after 1:00pm, and we were pushing our turnaround time in order to make it back before dark. Unlike most trails, this one has almost 30% of its total elevation gain on the way back, so you have to save some serious energy for the return trip. Dad said he would wait if I wanted to go up a ways towards the summit. The time was 1:37pm, and the deal was I had one hour. He would start heading back at 2:37pm sharp. I left my pack (and water) and decided to make a mad dash for the summitt. I figured 45 minutes up, 15 minutes down, and I just might be able to pull it off...
13 First picture from the top. I made it well under my 45 minute goal. Looks like somone has added a September 11th memorial since last time I was up here.
14 There was one person on top when I got there. The -only- human we saw the entire day, and he had come up the front side. So, we were the only humans between Wrightwood and the summit the entire day. Awesome!
15 The good thing about having another human on the summit, is they can take a picture for you. He was probably wondering where the heck I had come from with no pack and no water.
16 The obligatory 360 summitt video for comparison to my other trips up here. It's a little more jittery than usual because I've been using my iPhone for pictures all day (forgot the battery for my normal camera).
17 Looking down from the summit at the sea of clouds. After spending over 10 minutes on top, it was time to tear back downhill to meet my one hour deadline.
18 I made it down with three minutes to spare! Dad was just getting ready to start heading back and made a sign for me.
19 Back down to Pine Mtn where Dad strikes a pose.
20 Dad's picture of me coming down the Backbone Trail.
21 Dad heading down the Backbone Trail from Pine Mtn. You don't want to slip here.
22 The sun is setting now, giving everything a beautiful reddish glow as we get off the Backbone Trail.
23 The advantage of coming down just before dark is the chance to see a gorgeous sunset. We timed it perfectly.
24 Last of the sun as it dips below the ocean of clouds. We would be putting the headlamps on soon.
25 After about an hour coming down the Acorn Trail in the darkness, we finally made it back to the trailhead, illuminated here by Dad's headlamp. About 12 1/2 hours total round-trip. A challenging day with no major mishaps, couldn't ask for more.