Having spent a rather lazy Saturday at the cabin, we decided to drive across the mountains on Hwy 2 and eat Father’s Day dinner with Dani at Carter’s restaurant in Pasadena, doing a hike somewhere along the way. Of the literally dozens of options open to us, one that had caught our eye on our previous drive a few weeks ago was Waterman Mountain, the westernmost San Gabriel peak above 8,000′ of elevation. A 6+-mile round trip, we figured the 1,200′ elevation gain would be significant enough to be a decent workout and yield good views while not being too strenuous – we were well-rewarded on all counts. The trailhead, though unmarked, was easy enough to find, given the descriptions we had found online, and we set out at about 11:45am. We were preceded by a young couple, the female half of which looking to be in an advanced stage of pregnancy, who charged up the trail maybe ten minutes ahead of us – within a half mile, we caught up with them, she looking like she was about to pass out. After checking to make sure they were ok, we continued on – we didn’t see them the rest of the day, which is probably a very good thing. The trail trended first south parallel with the highway, then southeast into a draw that led up to Waterman Mountain’s east ridge, essentially an extension of the same ridge system running all the way east to Wrightwood. We gained the ridge in less than half an hour, turning west as the trail ran alongside what appeared to be an old logging road now much overgrown. Gently gaining elevation, we soon hit the first of a half dozen switchbacks up Waterman’s eastern shoulder – at each southern turn, as well as at several points lower on the ridgeline, we were treated to expansive views across the southern San Gabriels and the higher peaks further east. The views to the south were blocked in part by the massive form of Twin Peaks, which we’ll hike some day itself – near the top of the switchbacks, a trail branches off that leads some 1,200 vertical feet down into the saddle between Twin Peaks and Waterman, from which may be gained the taller, eastern summit of Twin Peaks. We rested briefly at that junction before resuming our ascent up the final switchback to the rolling, rocky terrain of Waterman’s summit plateau, where we could see the summit crest itself before us to the west. We quickly reached a fork in the trail – the official route runs west of the summit and then loops back eastward, so it appeared that the left fork offered a steeper but shorter path to the summit. We turned left up the hill and powered up the steepening slope to the apex of the ridge, only to find multiple clumps of rocks, any one of which could be the actual summit block. We knew there was a benchmark somewhere, and a little more exploring to the west brought us to a spiny outcropping, at the top of which was the clear high point (8,038′) and the survey monument. After some photos, we meandered a little further west to another group of rocks with an open view westward across the Station Fire burn area to Mt. Wilson and the San Gabriel front range. Despite our best efforts, we could not locate a summit register, although we made the acquaintance of most of the other dozen or so people on the plateau asking if they had seen such a thing. After a little lunch, we decided to head back via the westward-looping official trail, yet as we walked off the summit, we found ourselves moving much further west than expected. We found a well-traveled fire road and followed a branch of it eastward, thinking we’d keep contouring along the east side of the ridge until we rejoined the GPS track from our ascent. At the end of the road spur, however, we found an old wooden signpost and a trail leading east – following this, we quickly came to where we had previously turned off and continued to retrace our steps from there. The trip down was lovely – while the ascent had been very moderate, the descent was very easy, none of the knee-pounding typical of steep trails. We completed the return trip in just over an hour, the only stops being to take a few photos now and then. As we neared the trailhead, we saw a stone watering trough below the trail, and uphill we spied a large concrete cistern – how we missed these on our way up we have no idea. The trough was marked with the letters “ETI”, which we understand stands for Equestrian Trails, Inc., a non-profit group whose Pasadena chapter apparently installed the facility in 1973. We saw no signs of equestrian activity on the trail, so perhaps it’s been some time since the watering hole saw regular use. Another few hundred yards further found us back at the van – just under seven miles, this was an awesome hike, not at all a difficult climb but a very enjoyable afternoon and Father’s Day.