Category Archives: running|adventures

Mt. Baldy Run Over the Top

Mt. Baldy from the North Backbone Trail

Mt. Baldy from the North Backbone Trail

If you have a passion for the outdoors, you can get pretty creative when devising a reason for doing a particular run, hike, climb, ride, paddle or other adventure. My rationale for today’s outing was that I “wanted to measure a tree.”

The tree is an isolated and aged Sierra juniper poised on a rocky ridge on the North Backbone Trail on the back side of Mt. Baldy. I’d noticed it while doing the North Backbone Trail in 2006. At that time I had estimated the girth of the tree from a photograph, using my cap for scale. I’ve been intending to get back to the tree for years, and hopefully that was going to happen today.

With one little twist. This time, instead of approaching the tree from the Blue Ridge trailhead on the back side of Baldy, I was going to start at Manker Flat, climb up Baldy, and then descend the North Backbone Trail to the tree. This meant I would get to climb Mt. Baldy twice.



It made sense to me. Labor Day weekend I had opted to do a run in the Sierra instead of the Mt. Baldy Run to the Top race. This way I could get in a good shot of elevation gain on Mt. Baldy, enjoy the wildness of the North Backbone Trail, and also measure the circumference of the Pine Mountain juniper.

Step one was to get to the top of Baldy. Instead of following the more circuitous seven mile route of the “Run to the Top” course, I took the most direct route to Baldy’s summit — the Ski Hut trail. This trail reaches the summit in a little over four miles, gaining about 3800′ of elevation along the way. It’s a rough, no nonsense trail that in its upper reaches has a wonderful high mountain character.

I was a little late getting to the trailhead, and started running up San Antonio Falls Road about 8:30. A little less than a mile from Manker I turned off onto the Ski Hut trail and started chugging upward.



What is it about a trail to the top of a peak that makes you want to push the pace? Even before I noticed the hiker below me, I was pushing it. I ran in the few places I could, but the trail was unrelenting. Was he going to catch me?

In retrospect, I might as well have stopped to pick gooseberries. I was trying to stay ahead of a runner who had averaged 5:40 minute miles on a championship cross-country course.

Hayk caught me just below the ski hut. From there to the summit we talked about running, racing, mountains and more. He had recently run a couple of marathons, and was interested in getting into ultrarunning. Even after slowing to my pace for the last two miles, his time to the summit from Manker Flat was a speedy 1:26.



It was clear above the haze in the valleys and low clouds along the coast. From Mt. Baldy’s summit, all of Southern California’s high points could be seen. To the east were the mountains of the San Gorgonio group and San Jacinto Peak; to the south Santiago Peak; and to the northwest an array of peaks in the San Gabriel mountains, including Mt. Wilson, Strawberry Peak, Twin Peaks, Mt. Waterman and Mt. Baden-Powell.

After spending a few minutes proselytizing about the great running in the surrounding mountains, I shook hands with Hayk and started jogging down the North Backbone Trail. Step two in this adventure was to get down to the tree.

After all the uphill on the Ski Hut trail, the first few yards of downhill felt pretty good. But as the trail started to plunge down Baldy’s north face, it became all too clear that THIS downhill came at a high price. Every stride down was going cost at least a couple of steep steps up on the way back.

Then there was the uphill on the downhill. The North Backbone isn’t a uniform, well behaved ridge. It has ups and downs. Big ups and downs named Dawson Peak and Pine Mountain. Just descending to the tree would require 1200′ of elevation gain, and there would be much more than that returning to Baldy.

I tried not to think about it. There was just too much to see and enjoy. The area’s complex geology had produced dramatic ridges, mile deep canyons, and 9000′-10,000′ peaks. There were windswept Jeffrey pines and gnarled and twisted lodgepoles. Rabbitbrush bloomed in profusion, its bright yellow flowers contrasting sharply with the greens of the manzanita. Here and there red daubs of paintbrush accented the sparkling tiles of gray-green Pelona schist.



It was a spectacular place to be. After doing the North Backbone Trail for the first time in 2006, I came back the following weekend and did it again. It’s that kind of place — wild, scenic and adventurous.

How far down was that (dang) tree? I’d left the summit of Pine Mountain some time ago, and was still going down, down, down. The lodgepole pine forest on my right had the right look, but the slope to my left wasn’t steep enough. Maybe just down this hill… Is it at this little saddle? Just down the ridge a little more…

Epilogue: The circumference of the juniper measured 14′ 6.5″ or about 174.5 inches. See the post Pine Mountain Juniper for more info about the tree.

Some related posts: Mt. Baldy North Backbone Trail, North Backbone Trail Revisited

Cottonwood – New Army Pass Trail Run

Natural trail marker on the western approach to New Army Pass

Of the trail runs I do regularly, the Cottonwood – New Army Pass loop is the closest one to Los Angeles that goes over 12,000′. It starts at an elevation of about 10,000′, and reaches an elevation of 12,300′ at New Army Pass.

The run loops through glacier-sculpted Eastern Sierra terrain, crosses the crest twice, and along the way passes some spectacular high mountain meadows, lakes, and stands of weather-hardened foxtail pines.

Because of the altitude and the technical nature of some sections of trail, this run feels longer than the 21.25 miles indicated by my GPS. Another reason it seems longer is that I usually do the run as a day trip, driving from a few hundred feet above sea level in the San Fernando Valley, up to the Horseshoe Meadow trailhead at 10,000′. Depending on the number of photo stops, and if I have to stop for water, the loop can take 30% to 40% longer than a loop of the same length and elevation gain near sea level.

Today’s run of the loop was outstanding. Short-sleeve and running shorts weather, and people on the trail as happy to be there as I was.

Some related posts: Cottonwood – New Army Pass Loop, Mt. Langley in a Day from L.A., Climate Change and the Southern Foxtail Pine

Bulldog 50K 2010 Notes

Goat Buttes and the Bulldog Climb from Near the Start of the Bulldog 50K

Goat Buttes and the Bulldog Climb from Near the Start

The week following the Mt. Disappointment 50K, with the Edison and Kenyon Devore climbs still etched in my mind, I noticed that the Bulldog 50K hadn’t filled yet. Hmmm… Could I do it? The little hill on my Wednesday afternoon run hadn’t felt bad. Thursday I had done a little longer run, with a little longer hill. It was no Bulldog climb, but it felt OK. I decided that if the 50K didn’t fill by Friday, and the weather forecast for the race wasn’t crazy hot, I’d give the Bulldog 50K a go.

Malibu Creek State Park is only about 20 minutes from my home, and I run the Bulldog loop frequently, but because of scheduling conflicts I’m usually unable to run the Bulldog 50K. It often falls on the same weekend as the Miracle Hot Springs Whitewater Slalom race, and just two weeks after the Mt. Disappointment 50K. This year, because of a good “El Nino” snowpack, the paddling season on the Lower Kern was going to be longer than usual, and the Miracle Race was moved to late September. But had my legs recovered enough from Mt. Dis?

Friday the 50K hadn’t filled, the weather forecast looked OK, my legs seemed to be OK, so click-click enter, click-click enter, and I was doing Bulldog.

As the week before the race progressed it became evident a) my legs were not as recovered as I had hoped, and b) race day temps were going to be a little warmer than originally forecast. The RD’s day-before-the-race email confirmed the warmer weather:

“IT WAS 82 DEGREES AND NO CLOUD COVER AT 8:30AM THIS MORNING AT THE PARK. BE PREPARED FOR HIGH TEMPERATURES AND FULL SUN ON RACE DAY TOMORROW… NSD”

Race day dawned coolish, but there was not a cloud in the sky. (Last year there had been cloud cover until around 11:00 a.m.) At the Malibu Hills weather station, the temperature at 6:00 a.m was 71°. By 8:00 it would be 80°, and by 9:00 84°. It would be even warmer in the direct sun.

Whatever the thermometer said, the temperature on the first loop wasn’t an issue. There were a couple of warm spots on the Bulldog climb, but there was also a lot of shade. Bulldog was actually pretty painless, and I commented to another runner that I wished it would be like that the second time around!

The last time I’d done the Bulldog 50K was in 2003. Back then the course wasn’t a double loop. There are pros and cons to the double loop format. Sometimes it helps to know what’s coming, and sometimes it doesn’t. It depends on what kind of day you’re having. This morning the first 25K had gone well, and as I jogged under the oaks along Malibu Creek at the beginning of the second loop, I thought maybe, just maybe, my legs would last.

It was about half-way up the Bulldog climb the second time that reality set in. The sun was 3 hours warmer, the climb longer, and gravity (for sure) stronger. I overheard another runner remark, “from here there’s no more shade.” And there wasn’t.

From the top of Bulldog it’s less than a mile of downhill to the Corral aid station. My mind liked the idea of running downhill, but after all the miles of uphill my legs were having trouble with the transition, and were getting a little crampy. It probably wasn’t a coincidence that this was also the point where I started to run out of gas. Not a full-on bonk, but there wasn’t much left in the tank.

The parts of the course I enjoy the most — running through the rock formations east of the Corral aid station, and the panoramic views of the ocean and mountains from Mesa Peak fire road — were a bit of a struggle. It helped to talk with some of the runners along the way. There were new runners, old runners, fast runners, and slow. Every runner has a different story, perspective and challenge.

Eventually I reached the start of the long, sometimes steep, downhill to Tapia Park. On the way down, one runner that passed me commented, “I was looking forward to this section, I didn’t expect it to be so hard!” No argument there. After cooling off at the Tapia aid station, it was on to another tough part of the course. I was prepared for the Tapia Spur Trail to be an oven, but a nice breeze kept the temperature reasonable.



I had been warned that the final little climb up the paved road and around to the finish would be a killer. It was a long, long half mile, and at one point I wondered if the course might continue past the entrance station and out of the park! A couple minutes later I was across the finish line. And about a minute after that I was eating a big chunk of ice cold watermelon!

Many thanks to R.D. Nancy Shura-Dervin and Larry Dervin, all the volunteers, sponsors, support personnel, and runners for a great race. The aid station volunteers were fantastic. All I had to do was soak my head in ice water while my bottles were being filled!  For Nancy’s race report, all the results, and 2000+ photos, see the Trail Run Events web site.

Mt. Disappointment 50K 2010 Notes

Mt. Disappointment 50K 2010

Note: The Mt. Disappointment Endurance Run is now the Angeles National Forest Trail Race.

The most remarkable thing about this year’s Mt. Disappointment Endurance run is that there was a 2010 race. The Station Fire and heavy Winter rains decimated the San Gabriel Mountains. Without the hard work and dedication of Gary & Pam Hilliard and a host of volunteers the 6th edition of the race never would have happened.



There were some changes in the course. After descending from Mt. Wilson to Red Box, the 50K course normally goes down to Clear Creek Station, circuits Strawberry Peak, and then returns to Red Box. Not this year. The Colby Canyon and Strawberry Trails were particularly hard hit by rock slides and washouts, and could not be used.  Instead, after running down to Red Box, we hung a right and continued down Red Box Road to the West Fork aid station. Usually done after mile 20, it was great to run this segment while it was still cool, and I had some life left in my legs.

At West Fork, after ten miles of downhill and losing 2600′ in elevation, the infamous 16 mile Shortcut loop begins. Usually part of the Mt. Dis 50 mile course, the Shortcut loop is best known for it’s scorching 5.6 mile, 2000′ climb up Edison Road to Shortcut Saddle. It’s one of those climbs that doesn’t look that bad on paper, but a topo map doesn’t show the sun beating down on your head mile, after mile, after mile. Fortunately, the weather was kind. The high on Mt. Wilson only reached 73 degrees — several degrees cooler than the usual temperature for this race.



Wow, the Edison climb and the Kenyon Devore climb all in one 50K! But what are two classic climbs without a tough descent in between? The Silver Moccasin Trail between Shortcut and West Fork was obliterated by slides, debris flows and flash flooding. Hours and hours of work were done on the trail to make it passable. In the lower half of the canyon, flooding and debris flows widened the streambed, making it difficult to connect the remnants of old trail into a recognizable path. The challenge wasn’t staying on the course, it was very well marked, but trying to pick the best route through a maze of sand, stream, cobble, and bits and pieces of the old trail.

Then came the Kenyon Devore climb.  After doing 10 miles of fast-paced downhill, the Edison climb, and the Silver Moccasin rock dance, the ascent of Kenyon Devore was not easy! But it never is! There were a couple of newly fallen trees to clamber over, and some other challenges, but all-in-all it was the same classic climb.



To borrow an old rock climbing quip, an endurance run “ain’t no weenie roast,” and this year the Mt. Disappointment 50K was just a bit  more of a challenge. Here’s an elevation profile, and a Cesium browser View of a GPS trace of the course. In SportTracks my trace of the course worked out to about 31.6 miles. This is a mile or so shorter than the web site mileage because Mueller Tunnel was closed and we skipped the Mt. Disappointment section. The mileages in the Google Earth view are from my trace of the course, and may not be accurate.

Congrats to the overall Men’s and Women’s winners Patrick Sweeny (4:40:46) and Sada Crawford (5:28:17). Patrick ran the race in Vibram Five Finger KSO Trek’s. Check out all the results on the Mt. Disappointment web site!

Here are a few photos. Click for a larger image and description:






























La Nina Looming

Pacific Crest Trail Near Mt. Burnham

Pacific Crest Trail Near Mt. Burnham, in the San Gabriel Mountains

At an elevation of 9000′ the weather was sensational. Skies were partly cloudy, accentuating the terrain, and hinting of a thunderstorm later in the day. I was on the Pacific Crest Trail between Mt. Burnham and Mt. Baden-Powell, about 8 miles into a 18 mile run in the San Gabriel Mountains.



Remarkably, there was still a small patch of snow along the trail. According to seasonal summaries in Your Guide to Snowfall, the 2009-2010 season in Southern California was the best since the big Winter of 2004-2005. But it wasn’t necessary to check the snow history to know the snowfall had been above average. All that was needed was to look around, and the mountains told the story.

The remnants of snow were only part of the tale. Broken and downed trees told of strong Winter winds, and the stalks of red snow plant of a cool Spring. Now springs flowed freely and once dry seeps were damp and green. Wildflowers bloomed in profusion. Squat bumblebees waddled from flower to flower, and hummingbirds darted from patch to patch of scarlet bugler.



It had been a good Winter. Sugar pines were heavy with pine cones, and new growth decorated the limbs of the white firs. The growth of tree seedlings in the Curve Fire burn area seemed to have accelerated, and the protracted process of forest replacement was underway.

Southern California’s erratic weather demands that plants and trees be opportunistic. In time they have learned that an El Nino Winter is often followed by one that is dry, and La Nina looms.

July Fourth Trail Run to Trippet Ranch, Hondo Canyon and Saddle Peak

Bay trees on the Hondo Canyon Trail

It was about 9:45 a.m., and I was switchbacking up through a surprisingly dense forest of California bay on the Hondo Canyon segment of the Backbone Trail. The trail was carpeted in bay leaves, and a hint of the sharp, sweet smell of bay lingered in the still morning air. It had been four years since I had run this trail, and I had forgotten just how lush and green it was. The geology, oaks, bay trees, ferns, and poison oak were spectacular.

The run from the end of Reseda to Saddle Peak (and back) was going well. The route was a tricky one, and it really helped that I had done it before. Lower in the canyon there had been a misleading Backbone Trail marker, and that was just one of several potential gotcha’s.

Even if you know the way, the run is no gimme. Depending on the route used, its length works out to around 26 – 28 miles, and it has a legit elevation gain/loss approaching 5000′. Throw in the route-finding challenges, and it’s possible to have a long day.

The run starts at Marvin Braude Mulholland Gateway Park, on the San Fernando Valley side of the Santa Monica Mountains. The first leg of the run goes to Trippet Ranch. I usually run the fire roads out to Trippet Ranch, and then take the Musch, Garapito, and Bent Arrow trails on the way back to Reseda.

The route-finding fun begins on the Dead Horse Trail at Trippet Ranch. From Trippet Ranch to Saddle Peak the route is all on the Backbone Trail, and is (almost) all single track. Some of it is marked, and some of it isn’t. Some of it is obvious, and some of it is not.



The most obscure section is between Topanga Canyon and Old Topanga Canyon. From the Dead Horse Trail parking lot, the Backbone Trail starts behind the bathrooms and follows a brushy canyon down to Topanga Canyon Blvd. The trail picks up again across Topanga, about 50 yards west on Greenleaf Canyon Road. The trail is on the left, just before a creekbed, and leads uphill. There are some nature trail markers along the steep trail, and the top of the hill is about a quarter-mile from Greenleaf. From the top of the hill, the trail zigs south and zags west, working down to a dirt road. The route continues across the road and down an overgrown slope to the north side of the water tanks. A trail leads northwest from the water tanks and down to Old Topanga. The total distance from Topanga to Old Topanga is about 0.6 mile.

I was glad to have that convoluted stretch behind me. A few minutes ago I’d reached the top of Hondo Canyon, and turned onto the Fossil Ridge Trail. When the visibility is good, the views along Fossil Ridge and the crest leading to Saddle Peak are excellent. Today the marine layer had been slow to clear, and the tops of the peaks were cloaked in fog. The chaparral plants were so wet that I was able to squeeze a gulp of water from the brush-like flowers of a laurel sumac.



After about a half-mile on the Fossil Ridge Trail, I emerged from the chaparral, turned left on Topanga Tower Mtwy, and ran down to the popular overlook at the junction of Schuerren, Stunt, and Saddle Peak roads. Here I continued west across the highway and scrambled up to a ridgetop trail that leads to a big water tank. From the water tank it’s about  0.3 mile up the trail to the turn-off to Saddle Peak, and then another 0.4 mile to the summit. The western peak (2805′), the one with all the communications equipment, is the high point.

Keeping in mind that GPS traces are not exact, and the route I used isn’t necessarily the “official” or “best” route, here’s a Google Earth interactive view of a GPS trace of my 27.5 mile route.

Some related posts: Garapito Trail Runs, Born to Run, Musch Trail Mule Deer, Red Rock Canyon – Hondo Canyon – Saddle Peak Loop