1/01/12 Another trip up to San Gabriel Canyon, this time to Crystal Lake with my Dad. He hiked to Mt. Islip while I ran to Mt. Islip then to Windy Gap and Mt. Hawkins. About 18 miles and 5000' gain on a beautiful, clear New Year's Day.
1 Crystal Lake. More of a pond really, particularly in this dry year, but still a scenic site.
2 Heading up the Wawona Trail to Mt. Islip.
3 Unfortunately, a major fire came through here a few years ago and there is still evidence of it everywhere.
4 Great views of the San Gabriels and all the way out to the ocean. The Rose Parade and football games were on January 2nd this year, so we got to spend New Year's Day in the mountains. No better way to bring in the new year!
5 The first sign of snow. This would have been a deep snow trek last year.
6 Looking towards Windy Gap and Mt. Hawkins.
7 Almost to Mt. Islip. It doesn't look this trail gets much use and it's normally not maintened this time of year because it's usually under snow. My dad and I both lost the trail pretty bad for a while below this point. But the SGMTB group fixed-up this area of trail the following weekend in direct response to an email I sent to them. Awesome.
8 Made it to the top of Mt. Islip. A look at what remains of the fire watchtower, which has since been moved elsewhere.
9 An old cabin of some sort on top of Mt. Islip, likely destroyed in the fire.
10 Perfect January 1st weather. Crystal clear skies with a view from Mt. Islip, down San Gabriel Canyon, all the way out to the Pacific Ocean.
11 Looking towards Mt. Baden-Powell from Mt. Islip.
12 Summit video on Mt. Islip.
13 After leaving Mt. Islip, the trail drops to the shady side of the ridge and the snow starts getting heavier.
14 And then starts getting really heavy! I'm just in my lightweight, non-waterproof trail running shoes since snow trekking wasn't on the agenda. Good thing it's a warm day.
15 The trail here follows a very distinct ridgeline.
16 Made it to the PCT. The PCT is one of the very few places in Southern CA where you can hop on a single trail and go for 30, 40, or 50 miles (or a few thousand miles if you wanted!). I hope to use it in the Spring and Summer to try some long runs.
17 The trail is really icy in places with some pretty steep dropoffs. I was still trying to run the trail as much as possible and was on my ass a bunch of times.
18 A steep climb through the snow. Fortunately the super M&S grip on my SpeedCross 3s did amazingly well in the snow.
19 Another ocean view. This time you can see the San Gabriel resovoir as well.
20 Standing on a snow bank looking out at Catalina and the Pacific Ocean. Pretty cool.
21 A whole forest destroyed by fire :(
22 Made it to the top of Mt. Hawkins. Great views from the top!
23 A nice view of Mt. Baldy from on top of Mt. Hawkins.
24 Mt. Baden-Powell. I'll make it all the way out there on another trip.
25 Looking back at the ridge I came up. You can see how there's still quite a bit of snow on the shady side of the ridge and none on the other side.
26 The ocean view from Mt. Hawkins.
27 360 summit video from Mt. Hawkins.
28 Headed back down at the end of the day. I'm coming down really fast trying to make it back by the planned meet-up time with Dad.
29 Dad's picture of me back at the car. I bashed my knee pretty bad climbing over a log, but othewise made it back unscathed. Amazingly enough my Dad and I were both on the trail for something like six hours, completely apart, and managed to meet back up within seconds of each other at the trailhead.