Crazy week of Hikes - 8 Days, 5 hikes, 44 miles, 13,000 feet elevation gain

Originally psoted on Aug 03, 2009

It was crazy the last 8 days for me. Spent a lot of hours in the high country hiking San Gabriel Mountains. In all did 6 peaks ranging from 1,625 ft to 8,985 ft. It all started with a strenuous hike last Sunday with Triple T hikes and ended with a somewhat easier hike to Sturtevant Falls. Here are some details about my last 8 days of hikes:

Bear Canyon Hike (California)

Originally Posted on Dec 07, 2008

This Saturday, I participated in a very scenic hike in a group of 16 hikers. This was about 9 miles and mostly downhill hike. Using carpooling and splitting cars at the start and endpoint, this hike was done as one-way. After parking our cars at Switzer’s Falls Starting Point (exit on 210 and drive approx 9 miles on Angeles Crest Hwy), we packed into few cars and moved up to the start point of the hike at Eton Saddle fire road gate (approx 6.5 Miles - keep going north on Angles Crest and take Mt. Wilson Red Box Road at approx 4.1 miles and drive 2.4 miles on Mt Wilson Red Box road) to hike back down to Switzer’s Falls Starting Point car parking.

Mt. Wlison Hike (California)

Originally posted on Dec 07, 2008

Though famous for its observatory, Mt. Wilson houses number of radio and television antennas and is famous landmark and conspicuously visible to anyone driving in San Gabriel valley and beyond. At around 5,700 ft, this is one of the highest peaks in San Gabriel Mountains. You can in-fact drive up to Mt. Wilson following Angeles Crest Highway (around one hour drive from LA downtown).

Day after thanksgiving, along with 4 other very experienced hikers; we started this hike from City of Sierra Madre at intersection of E. Mira Monte and Mt. Wilson Trail. It is long and strenuous hike through wilderness with steep elevations and passing through some shade and lot of sun. Make sure that you carry plenty of water (at lest 2 liters) and food as there is no source of drinking water on this long hike. We were maintaining quite brisk pace. Having never experienced a long hike this one, it was really tough for me and was getting slower and slower progressing through the hike and had virtually no energy left at around 3/4 of the onward hike. I had to stop and break away from the group. Fortunately, making slow and continued progress, I was able to join the group at Manzanita Ridge point. It took us approx 4 1/2 hours to reach the top. After resting for approx 30 - 40 mins at Mt. Wilson we made our way back and with few short stops made down in approx 3 hours. The total hike was around 15 miles (round trip) with approx 4500 ft. of total elevation gain.

Here is the hike log:

8:25 am      Start (89 E. Mira Monte Ave., Sierra Madre, CA)
9 am          First Water - 1.5 Mile (break 10 mins)
10 am        Orchard Camp (2,960') - 3.5 Mile (stopped for lunch approx 15 mins)
11:30 am    Manzanita Ridge - 5 miles (break 10 mins)
                  Mt. Wilson Toll Road (5.5 Miles)
1 pm          Mt. Wilson Summit (5,710') - 7.5 Miles
4:30 pm     Return -  15 Miles

Santa Anita Loop Hike

Originally posted on Aug 21, 2008

This Tuesday, I did another scenic hike through small portion of Santa Anita Canyon in San Gabriel Mountains. This is excellent hike for summer with plenty of forest cover all through the trail. We were group of 9 and started off around 6 pm and finished the loop in less than two hours with few minutes stop at Hodgees camp site. It was pretty dark when we reached the tail end of the hike.

With easy access from San Gabriel valley, this trail is a loop starting from Chantry Flats (exit Santa Anita on I-210 and drive around 6 miles towards mountain to parking structure), with plenty of shade, passing through several creek crossings and few campsites. The hike actually starts up the hill with steady gain and then goes down (around 400' feet lower then tail-head) before finally going up. About two miles into this trail you pass through Upper Winter Creek Junction Signpost for trails to Mt. Wilson (another 4 1/2 miles) and Mt Zion (1/8 Miles). Further down around 1/3 of a mile you reach Hodgees Campground. This limited facility small campground under dense forest cover has restroom and water. Interestingly, I was told that this campsite has highest recorded rainfall (26 inches in one day) in whole of California (could not confirm this fact though). Another two miles you reach Roberts Campground and the lowest point in the hike. Overall, the hike has moderate elevation gain rate throughout except at the end when you hit paved road of about half a mile with steep elevation of around 400 ft.

Here are quick facts about this trail.

Distance: 5 Miles
Altitude: Trailhead 2200', Minimum-1800 , Maximum 2900', Total Gain/Loss -1100'
Difficulty: Beginner
Trail Condition: Good
What should you carry (at minimum): One bottle of water

Echo Mountain Hike

Originally posted on

Sunday Jul 06, 2008

Living in the San Gabriel Valley (foothills of San Gabriel Mountain Ranges) for over three years now, I almost had feeling of guilt for not exploring the nearby mountains. San Gabriel mountains form barrier between Greater Los Angeles Area and Mohave Desert. At 3,067 m (10,064 ft), the highest peak in the range is Mount San Antonio, aka Mt. Baldy.