Beautiful and bearable Baldy
Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2012 1:56 pmHowdy All 
Sally and I left a car at Manker then started up from Baldy village. It was just nippy enough to be pleasant. We saw evidence of fall colors as we headed up the canyon before crossing the creek. By then, it was warm enough to hike in t-shirts. The switchbacks up through the brush did a thorough job of draining the life from our legs
We didn't see much snow until we passed the Narrows and were on the shaded north slope. We'd carried microspikes but were able to avoid the icy sections. Sally had never been on West Baldy -- we decided to head up and departed from the trail before it traverses around the peak. The sky was very blue with good views of the San Gabriels and the southern Sierras.
Made our way over to Baldy for lunch. I'd read Alan K's post that the main rock shelter had been destroyed but it was still sad to see the damage. We arrived at the same time as a gentleman who'd come up the Ski Hut trail. He talked non-stop as Sally and I donned our down sweaters and ate lunch. Once he'd said his peace, he trotted off. I love running into mountain characters.
One advantage of mid-week hiking on Baldy is that we almost had the mountain to ourselves on the descent. We ran into ice again on the shaded, north facing slope above the rock garden, but were able to skirt it. As we dropped down to the road, we met a cherry 74 year old Asian man and his wife -- they said hiking keeps them young
A lovely, no drama day was completed with an excellent meal at the PF Changs in Rancho Cucamonga.
Miles of smiles,
Ellen
Sally and I left a car at Manker then started up from Baldy village. It was just nippy enough to be pleasant. We saw evidence of fall colors as we headed up the canyon before crossing the creek. By then, it was warm enough to hike in t-shirts. The switchbacks up through the brush did a thorough job of draining the life from our legs
We didn't see much snow until we passed the Narrows and were on the shaded north slope. We'd carried microspikes but were able to avoid the icy sections. Sally had never been on West Baldy -- we decided to head up and departed from the trail before it traverses around the peak. The sky was very blue with good views of the San Gabriels and the southern Sierras.
Made our way over to Baldy for lunch. I'd read Alan K's post that the main rock shelter had been destroyed but it was still sad to see the damage. We arrived at the same time as a gentleman who'd come up the Ski Hut trail. He talked non-stop as Sally and I donned our down sweaters and ate lunch. Once he'd said his peace, he trotted off. I love running into mountain characters.
One advantage of mid-week hiking on Baldy is that we almost had the mountain to ourselves on the descent. We ran into ice again on the shaded, north facing slope above the rock garden, but were able to skirt it. As we dropped down to the road, we met a cherry 74 year old Asian man and his wife -- they said hiking keeps them young
A lovely, no drama day was completed with an excellent meal at the PF Changs in Rancho Cucamonga.
Miles of smiles,
Ellen
