Sally, her sister Mari and I were initially going to hike Bear Canyon and down Devil's backbone, but the forecast predicted a high wind. I've had to turn around on Bear due to wind twice, so we changed our plans.
It was nice and chilly when we started at 6:45 AM -- I even wore pants and a long sleeve shirt over a t-shirt. The fall colors were beautiful -- lots of yellow oaks. After passing Anderson flat, we made our way up to the summit of Anderson for lunch. Left about 11, dropped back down to the ridge trail and bagged east and west San Bernardino peaks before starting our descent to Manzanita flat.
I did this hike with Lance back in 2002, but we went the opposite direction. We were pleasently surprised that the trace trail was fairly easy to follow. It took us into a completely different world -- the views on the way down were gorgeous. Initially, we followed a narrow canyon down. Then, the views opened up and we started switchbacking down a ridge. This part made me nervous, as the trail was narrow, steep, and the drop offs were significant. In addition, the trail was covered with slippery pine needles -- gulp.
We finally leveled out and reached John's meadow. Didn't stop to explore, as it was mid-afternoon. From John's meadow, the maintained trail traverses along the side of the mountain with a few ups and downs and several stream crossings. It was very pretty but we were getting tired and hungry and were very happy to rejoin the Forsee trail. According to Sally's GPS, we covered ~ 20 miles in 9.5 hours.
We had a fabulous dinner at the Oaks. I inhaled my cheesburger and even finished the fries -- a first. It would be interesting to know the total elevation gain. From Forsee to Anderson is 4 K and there are the ups and downs along the ridge before the descent.
This is a great loop, but in retrospect, I think I'd rather do it in reverse so that I'm climbing up the steep drop offs rather than descending.
Miles of smiles,
Ellen
