Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Finally climbed Mt. Baldy

Mt. San Antonio, more commonly known as Mt. Baldy, tallest of the San Gabriel Peaks at 10,064 feet, looms over the LA Basin, the view which, disappointingly but not unexpectedly, was obscured by smog on the day I chose to climb it. Due to time constraints, I opted for the 11'ish mile loop from Manker Flats: up the Baldy Bowl Trail, across Devil's Backbone (above photo), and after a stop at the ski lodge (I highly recommend the chorizo & egg burrito, mmm...), down the ski area service road. One of these days I want to go back and run the old Mt. Baldy 50k course, hopefully on one of those rare, low-smog days.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

hey sue! yeah i hiked around baldy a coupla times back in the 80'a when i was in school out there. i love me some so cal hikin'. way different from back here in new england. ya get out in the desert yet? JT and anza barrego are great. take a lot o' water (or beer) though! good times!!

Olga said...

Sue, glad to find your blog! Your GC R2R2R sounds awesome, everybody is raving about it, I need to get my feet there:) Congrats again on ZG50, and I hope to run "into" you again and finally introduce myself.

RunSueRun said...

Hey Olga! I'd do the R2R2R again in a heartbeat if you want some company. :) It really WAS cool!

Anonymous said...

Snowflea,
Yup. Looks just like I remember. A desert wasteland.
There is one trail I liked, though-- Cozy Dell out of Ojai. Take care. Big hugs.
Andrew (from the base of Smarts Mountain, Lyme, NH)

Anonymous said...

Hey Sue!

You're in my old haunts now . . . Baldy is nice in the winter time and you can x-cntry ski on top! Try day-hiking Whitney from Portal for early training . . . early in the season you can 'slide' down on your rain jacket!

Boy, sometimes I miss that coast!

Have a blast out there . . . Missy (mntnmiss)