Start point

Wrightwood at PCT/Highway 2 junction, mile 369.3

End point

Mile 386.1

Miles hiked

About 16 on trail, 1.5 off

Wilderness area

San Gabriel Mountains National Monument

Angeles National Forest

Pleasant View Ridge Wilderness

People I met

Shiny

Fiver

The day on trail

Today I had to decide whether to try and conquer Mt. Baden-Powell or skip it.

We started with the road walk up. Just plodding along, climbing up 1.5 miles or so, just to get to the trail to start. And the trail started at the aptly named Inspiration Point.

We went a few miles up the trail to the point where we can choose to take the road further or attempt Baden-Powell. Baden-Powell is reported as being slushy with snow in the afternoon or with snow too firm to kick steps. It’s steep both up and down, and down is where it gets dicey.

There was a station of some sort.

This stretch of forest felt like an enchanted forest and I loved it.

A quick photo of Sinead and Piñacolada in front of the mountain in question.

While on the approach, I slipped on slushy snow. It took me about 10 feet down a forested mountainside and I had to direct my feet to a pine tree to catch myself. It was scary. And even if I had my ice axe, the slush would have offered no purchase to self arrest. It was a mess. And with that I determined attempting Baden-Powell was not a risk I was willing to take.

We sat down at a picnic table to talk plans and have a snack. Florida Man, El Dorado, Cake, Dart, and Janna were at the table next to us. My group split up for the afternoon. Piñacolada took the trail up Baden-Powell and Sinead and I headed down Highway 2 for a road walk. A most epic road walk.

Sinead and I haven’t really spent much time together, and this was a really nice time to get to do that. Piñacolada and I have spent some time just us, so it was welcome to get to know her better. She’s absolutely brilliant.

The road walk started easy. The stretches on the southern and eastern facing slopes were nice and clear of snow, though they did have some rock falls on them. The northern faces, though, were absolutely buried in snow.

We caught up to Devon after a bit and all hiked together. The snow was so bad in places we had to walk outside the guardrail.

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The rock fall was intense. And it hasn’t completed, by any means. We heard rocks continuing to tumble down.

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There was a point where there were so many boulders, we had to scramble over them.

One part of the road had the dirt underneath crumbling away.

And snow. So much snow. It didn’t feel like there was road under it all.

One area had a 25’ streak of guardrails missing. When we looked over the edge we couldn’t see what took it down. It was terrifying how much damage had been done to this road.

In one section of snow covered trail I found a beautiful, brand new Camp Corsa ice axe. It’s an expensive and well made axe, and this one had all the pricey addons: a great braised leash and a rubber pick and adze cover. It’s a critical tool to fall off a pack. I figured it came from the SOBOs we passed, and Sinead had their info, so I picked it up to try and reunite it with its owner, whomever it might be.

We finally got to the parking lot we were aiming for. There was a pit toilet and a picnic table. A few other hikers, people who’d flipped, were there. Wheelz, Nacho, and someone else. Parfait was also there, but she was too tired to talk.

We all caught up for a bit until Piñacolada got in from over the mountain. He told us how the conditions were (slushy, sketchy, fun). I had stashed a Modelo michelada in a shallow snowbank to crack open when he got there, to celebrate his victory over the mountain. We had it, and it was time for bed.

I want to add one other thing. I finally, finally, tried hikertrash pad thai and it was beyond amazing. Packet of ramen, just enough water to cover the noodles, seasoning packet, generous dollop of peanut butter, olive oil (optional), and hot sauce (optional but not really). Add a protein — I did summer sausage. It was filling, fulfilling, and delicious.