A nearly pure stand of limber pines on the north slopes of Throop Peak in the San Gabriel Mountains near Los Angeles.
Limber pines can be very long-lived. The Rocky Mountain Tree Ring Research OLDLIST lists several crossdated limber pines older than 1600 years. The Wally Waldron Tree near the summit of Mt. Baden-Powell is estimated to be 1500 years old.
From an out and back run last week from Dawson Saddle to Mt. Baden-Powell.
Slopes of Mt. Baden-Powell from the PCT Above Vincent Gap
The run from Inspiration Point to Eagle’s Roost on the Pacific Crest Trail is one of the best 20 mile trail runs in Southern California. Along the way are great views, old growth forests, ancient trees, an ice-cold spring, and a 2800′ climb to the summit of Mt. Baden-Powell.
One of the most popular peaks in the San Gabriel Mountains, Mt. Baden-Powell (9399′) is well-known for its association with scouting. It is a favored peak of hikers, ultrarunners and backcountry skiers alike. The question isn’t if you’ve climbed Baden-Powell, but how often you’ve done the peak — and for many of us it’s too many times to count.
Ann, Craig and I were at about mile 4.5 of the run. We had just descended from Blue Ridge to Vincent Gap and were starting the climb up Baden-Powell. I swore. I could not believe what I was seeing. Someone had spray-painted a large white numeral 7 on a rock at a switchback. Are you kidding? One was too many — were we going to see spray-painted switchback numbers on rocks and trees all the way up the peak?
Nearly thirty switchbacks later the numbers — painted mostly on trees — continued and so did my swearing. Who would do such a thing? How could anyone think this was an acceptable or beneficial thing to do?
The explosion of outrage in the outdoor community was like a fiery supernova. I made some inquiries and was told that an older, neatly dressed man had been seen painting the numbers on Sunday, October 14. Reportedly the man was asked to stop, but refused. Maybe at some point saner minds prevailed because the numbers stopped (I think) somewhere around 27. In any case the damage had already been done.
We did this run last Saturday. The good news is most of the numbers have already been removed. (Thanks David!) Last I heard only two difficult to remove numbers remained, and I’m guessing those will disappear soon.
Things do seem to balance out, and as vile as the spray-painted trees were, there was an offsetting positive force in the forest that day, and we met her at Little Jimmy Spring. Leslie (Banff Trail Trash) looked like she was out for a mile or two stroll. But she had been on the trail since the beginning of August and was at about mile 2275 of the PCT! Effusive and exuberant, her enthusiasm was contagious.
For the remainder of the run we put aside thoughts about spraypaint, and just enjoyed being in the mountains.
Some related posts: Inspiration Point to Islip Saddle Trail Run, PCT from Inspiration Point to Islip Saddle
The prominent ridge extending southeast from Twin Peaks to “Triplet Rocks” can be seen from many points of the Angeles high country. So named because of the triplet of sculpted white granitic monoliths at its summit, the isolated formation is generally considered to be the hardest to reach summit in the San Gabriel Mountains.
Here’s a view of “Triplet” ridge from a run up to Pleasant View Ridge a couple of weeks ago. In the photo Triplet Rocks is the rocky peaklet on the left end of the ridge and Twin Peaks (East) is on the far right. Peak 6834 is the prominent square-topped formation a little left of the midpoint of the ridge.
Today’s loosely formulated plan was to run/hike to the summit of Twin Peaks (east) and then see how far I could get out on the ridge in a reasonable amount of time. At the start of the run I had no idea what a “reasonable amount of time” would be.
It took me about a hour and fifty minutes to reach the east summit of Twin Peaks. On the way there I realized that I should have taken a couple extra bottles of water to stash on the summit. The roughly 60 oz. of water left in my pack wasn’t going to get me very far. I figured I could go about an hour down the ridge and still have enough water to get back and have a little in reserve. The day was windy and dry, but relatively cool. If necessary I could get water at a small spring on the Twin Peaks Trail on the way back.
How far did I make it? In an hour of hiking, scrambling, bouldering, bushwhacking and challenging route-finding, I made it to a rocky ledge below peak 7120+ and a little before the notch at peak 6834. I guessed it would have taken another 45 minutes to get to the summit of peak 6834. Next time — this wasn’t a place to push it!
I now have a much better idea of what’s going to be required to get to peak 6834 and Triplet Rocks. The north side of the ridge tends to be steep, loose, and at times very eroded. The south side of the ridge tends to be choked with scrub oaks and brush. On the way out I dropped down on the steep north slopes a couple of times; on the way back I tried some improbable lines through brush that (surprisingly) worked out and allowed me to stay more on the crest of the ridge.
It was an unusually busy day on Twin Peaks. On my way down from the peak I encountered several large groups of hikers. When I got back down to the car two tour buses were parked at the trailhead, their drivers patiently waiting for their patrons. Round trip the adventure had taken almost exactly six hours.
Notes:
In the fall of 2010 an experienced hiker doing this ridge became disoriented in rain, snow and whiteout conditions and was reported overdue. Following an air and ground search he was located on the ridge and airlifted to safety. He had notified a relative of his planned route and must have had most of what he needed to get by for the two nights and three days he was out. According to news reports he was in good enough shape to drive home following the rescue.
In April 2021 a hiker who became lost in the Mt. Waterman – Twin Peaks area was found on “Triplet” ridge after spending the night out. The hiker was located with the help of mapping enthusiast who used a photo taken by the hiker to narrow down his location. The area where he was found was within the Bobcat Fire burn area, and was closed at the time .
This morning did a short out and back run from the Eagle’s Roost Picnic Area to peak 8248 on Pleasant View Ridge.
The title photograph is from near the summit of peak 8248. Twin Peaks East and Twin Peaks West (last Sunday’s run) are the prominent peaks on the right skyline. Kratka Ridge, Angeles Crest Highway and the Williamson Rock area is toward the camera from Twin Peaks. Eagle’s Roost is on Angeles Crest Highway near Williamson Rock.
Some related posts: Pleasant View Ridge Snow, Peaks Along Pleasant View Ridge
Twin Peaks in the San Gabriel Mountains, near Los Angeles, has always been a favorite. Rugged and isolated, its eastern summit is a popular ascent. Judging from the far less worn path leading to its summit, the western peak is not as frequently visited.
From the Buckhorn parking area it’s about 5 miles to the summit of the east peak and then another 0.9 mile to the west peak. The total elevation gain/loss (round trip) including the west peak is around 3800′. Although there’s some steep up and down, there’s also some long stretches of very good trail running.
With so many hot days and runs this Summer, this run/hike was the perfect welcome to Autumn. The morning was cool, but not so cool as to require sleeves. Over the course of the run some fair weather cumulus popped up here and there, and it was just one of those days that it was wonderful to be in the mountains.
The title photograph is East Twin Peaks (7761′) from near West Twin Peaks (7596′).
Some related posts: Mt. Wilson Area Peaks From Twin Peaks, Three Points to Waterman Mountain the Long Way
Originally posted July 31, 2009.
“What’s the elevation gain?” is a common question when talking about a trail run, because it makes such a huge difference in the difficulty of the run. A long-standing rule of thumb, Naismith’s Rule, says that the additional time required to gain 1000 ft. of elevation on a run/hike, will be the same as the time to run/hike 8000 ft. (1.5 miles) on the flat. An analysis of fell running records supports this 1 to 8 ratio.
This is not news to anyone who runs or hikes hilly trails. The first thing I check when evaluating a new race or run is the elevation gain. All the technology we have for recording and analyzing trail runs is remarkable, but it can sometimes result in wildly inaccurate claims about the elevation gain of a course.
The table to the left lists the elevation gain calculated by various software and services for the the same course using GPS tracks from a Garmin Forerunner 205 and Forerunner 405. The course is the Islip Saddle – SF Campground – Mt. Baden-Powell loop in the San Gabriel Mountains. SportTracks elevations were corrected using pkan’s Elevation Correction Plugin and SRTM elevations data in 2009 and NED 1/3 arc second DEMs in 2012. SportTracks elevation data smoothing was set to 55.
Calculations of elevation gain have improved since 2009. One reason is newer GPS chips generally produce higher quality tracks. Another is the methods used to calculate elevation gain/loss have improved and more accurate elevation datasets have become readily available and integrated into software such as SportTracks and services such as Garmin Connect.
So which of these elevation gains is the closest to reality? Fortunately, it’s fairly easy to do a low tech sanity check of these high tech results. All that is required is to get out an USGS topo map — either electronically or on paper — and do a little arithmetic.
Let’s see. From South Fork Campground (4560′) to the summit of Mt. Baden-Powell (9399′) is about 4839′. But there are a couple of small descents on the way up so we add another 240′ giving a total to the top of Mt. Baden-Powell of 5079′. It’s mostly downhill from Baden-Powell to Islip Saddle, but there are a couple of hills. The main one is a 370′ climb on the PCT up and over the shoulder of Throop Peak. There’s also another 100′ climb near Mt. Burnham, and if you stop at Little Jimmy Spring another 60′ climb. This gives a total of 5609′. Adding in a fudge factor of 100′ for very small climbs that were not included in the total and the result is a reality-checked elevation gain of about 5700′. Comparing this total to the computed elevation gains in the table, the actual gain might be as much as 6000′, but it’s not likely to be 7500′. And there’s just no way the gain is 9975′!
The title photograph is from the Momyer Trail on San Gorgonio Mountain.
Related post: Hitting the (Big) Hills of Southern California