We had in mind for today a 9+-mile loop in the central San Gabriels, scrambling up and over Winston Peak and out to Winston Ridge before dropping east down to Cooper Canyon Falls via the PCT – however, breezy conditions and highs in the 40s prompted us to avoid the two chilly summits and stick to the trail. Since we had intended originally to include the use-trail/cross-country routes for this trip, we left the big backpacks at home and brought only our Camelbacks, which felt entirely weightless compared to the full loads we’ve recently been carrying. We left the Cloudburst Summit trailhead on Hwy 2 about 12:30pm, dropping east and north into the upper reaches of Cooper Canyon, the PCT following an old roadbed through alternating open and forested sections along a dry creek bed. After a mile, the trail began climbing again, crossing a dirt USFS road that connects Cloudburst Summit with Cooper Canyon trail camp, a walk-in campground on the PCT. After a short, moderate climb past the road, we reached the saddle below the north slopes of Winston Peak, then traversing north and east along the ridgeline that forms the western boundary of Cooper Canyon – the views were exquisite here, with clouds spilling over the Angeles Crest from the south. What stole the show today were the ever-abundant lupines – ranging from lavender to deep purple, nearly every sunny patch of soil was covered in color, and the photos do little to fully capture the scene. We passed through groves of healthy manzanita and mountain oaks as we dropped south off the ridge, eventually reaching the trail camp that was choked with more than a dozen tents (a Boy Scout troop was evidently in residence here for the weekend, as we later discovered). East of the camp, the trail descends through the canyon, gently at first and then more steeply – whereas the unnamed creek through the canyon was mostly dry through this section, we eventually passed the confluence of this creek and Buckhorn Creek and could then hear babbling water below us to the south. As the trail leveled out a little, we passed a large, open campsite beneath a quartet of ponderosas and crossed the flowing creek a short distance later, reaching the PCT-Burkhart Trail junction a few yards after that. We had so far met a handful of thru-hikers with heavy loads, all westbound, but now it was like entering a crowded mall – there were day hikers at the creek, more at the junction, and still more at the falls, found maybe 200 yards east of the trail intersection. We scrambled down the use trail to the falls, using the rope at the bottom of the steep slope as on our prior visit last year, and quickly realized just how many people were here ahead of us. The throng looked to be teenage Scouts and their fathers – they were mostly clustered around the pool at the base of the falls, though some were scrambling about the rocks above the falls while others were exploring downstream. As one might expect, there was a great deal of shouting between the boys as cautions were correspondingly issued from the parents – quite a contrast with the solitude we had experienced last year when we spent more than an hour here by ourselves. We would have left immediately were not it not for another group of five thru-hikers who arrived on-scene a moment later, and we had to wait for the lot of them to make their way down the rope before ascending ourselves – nothing at all against folks enjoying the place, as the falls were just as pretty as we remembered, but the teenage reverie wasn’t our bag today so we quickly headed back up the trail and recrossed the creek. The only question we discussed now was how best to return to the car – we thought about climbing out south through Buckhorn Campground, which then meant walking the highway for about a mile west to the car. In the end, we decided to retrace our steps west up the PCT, choosing to then follow the USFS road up to Cloudburst Summit (which ended up shaving about a mile off the total distance, and was actually a pleasant walk with nice views of its own). At the steep part west of the creek crossing, we caught up with a solo thru-hiker trail-named Dr. Rachel, a recent Ph.D. recipient who was “running away for the summer” before beginning her career – it’s always interesting to chat with thru-hikers like Rachel, as every one of them has a story and most seem eager to share it. We soon left her behind as we made good time up the trail, resting briefly at the trail camp before picking up the road for our ascent out of Cooper Canyon – we covered the last 1-1/2 miles back up to the trailhead in about 40 minutes. We really enjoy this part of the San Gabriels – Cooper Canyon, Buckhorn Creek, and other tributaries here all eventually combine as Littlerock Creek, which flows northwest from this basin to the desert floor, and the collective drainage ringed with 8,000′ peaks is naturally picturesque – the addition of the colorful lupines and the dramatic clouds overhead were unexpected bonuses. We next want to backpack up the Burkhart Trail that links Buckhorn Campground with the Devil’s Punchbowl area on the desert side – stay tuned.