10,064 feet

For the first time in over a year I made it back above 10,000 feet!

We headed up Mt. Baldy, which I found out is actually named Mount San Antonio, yesterday. We were supposed to wake up at 3:45 and meet Kurtiss at 4:30 to get on to road. So when Mandi woke me up at 4:30 saying Kurtiss was calling my phone I freaked out. Stupid alarm clock! I was tired too because my Ass of a neighbor decided to have one of his little concerts Saturday night starting around midnight!

So we scrambled to get ready and I think we were on the road by 5:30.

We got to the Mt. Baldy Ranger Station right at 7AM which happens to be when they open. Picked up our adventure pass and headed to the trail head. Beware, this road is TWISTY! But it's a short drive to Manker Flats where we were to start.

The plan was to take the Manker Flats/Ski Hut trail up and down for total of 8.4 miles and almost 8000 feet elevation gain and loss. The trail starts out pretty mild on a closed road. About 1/2 a mile up there is a barely noticeable trail that takes off on the left. We saw it because a trail runner took off up that trail. From this point the trail is pretty steep and relentless all the way to the top.

We tried to stop about every hour and ate something at every stop. I carried about 40 pounds. 20 pounds of dumbbells, 1.5 gallons of water and some food and sundries. I felt good all way to the top but I definitely felt the altitude near the top! We made it up in 3:45 and I think I could have pushed a little harder.

Near the top where it was steep enough I was able to get into a rhythm with my rest-stepping. I also practiced my pressure breathing quite a bit. I was surprised when I got to the summit because I was expecting a false summit first. When I got there I looked around and there was nowhere to go but down. Plus as I neared the top I could hear crowd noises. Not just a few voices but full on crowd noises! Such is the nature of a wilderness experience in the LA/OC/Riverside area. There were about 40 people on top and one of them was smoking a cigar! It stunk!

The view from the top was great though. We could see in almost every direction and the whole inland empire was covered in a layer of clouds thousands of feet below us. We were bathed in warm sun while on top. Of course I didn't put sunscreen on so I have a burned neck and raccoon eyes from my glacier glasses...

We came down the same way we went up and it was slower than I thought it would be. Descending loose scree on a steep trail is never any fun. It took almost three hours to come down and we were all pretty tired when we got to the truck.

A day later and I feel pretty good. I feel like I could go back up today if I had to. Little sore in the calves and quads and my neck is sore too.

The next time I head up for that hike, or maybe San Jacinto, I'll use the big backpack. I loaded my day pack with 40 pounds and that's just a bit too much to be carrying just on my shoulders. 40 pounds is a lot more comfortable when you can carry a lot of that weight on your hips. I'll also use my sunscreen!

R