Baldy peaks comparison...

[AlanK]

I agree that C2C is considerably harder than the standard hikes up Baldy. However, we have done some multi-peak look hikes involving Baldy that get one into the C2C ballpark.

Starting from Icehouse Canyon, walking to the Village on the road, heading up the Bear Flat Trail, descending to the Notch, then taking the 3Ts trail and coming down Icehouse Canton, one can do 6 peaks in about 22 miles (West Baldy, Baldy, Harwood, Thunder, Telegraph, and Timber).

If you throw in Ontario, Bighorn, and Cucamonga before descending from Icehouse Saddle to the parking lot, you get 9 peaks in about 31 miles.

We rate the 6 peaks hike as easier than C2C and the 9 peaks one as harder. The 9 peaks version has more elevation gain (12,000', if I recall correctly).

Back to C2C: I posted the following GPS miileages on another thread. I got them last Saturday (May 19). They are from a Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS watch. I am playing around with that new toy, so I compared the mileages to my eTrex Vista Cx. The two units were in reasonable agreement.

00.00 Ramon Dr.
10.02 Long Valley
10.42 Ranger Stattion
13.23 Wellman Divide
15.36 San Jacinto Peak
17.48 Wellman Divide
20.57 Tram Station

Note that my earlier statement of 11+ miles to Long Valley was in error.

[Ellen]

Howdy HomeSlice

BTW -- great screen name!

Bear Cyn to Baldy is excellent training for Skyline. As a comparison, it takes me about 3:25 to summit Baldy and 5:45 from the museum to the tram. So, at least two more hours of suffering

Perry (aka the Big Kahuna of this site) recommends climbing at least 5,000 ft two weeks before -- excellent advice.

I also like Alan's suggestion of a Baldy 6 peak loop for the mileage. There's something to be said for spending most of the day hiking at altitude, in addition to gaining elevation.

Alan -- you left out the body bag option after the Baldy 9 peak loop

I climbed San Gorgonio via Vivian yesterday and it seemed much easier after my first C2C two weeks ago

I recommend doing Skyline to the tram first (with an experienced and consistent hiker such as Cy) so you have an idea of what you're taking on with a full C2C.

As Kathy noted, the heat is also a bigger issue on Skyline than Baldy.

Miles of smiles,
Ellen

[marmot]

the faint route from rancho cucamonga peak to cucamonga peak is just as hard as the skyline.