Ok, so this hike didn’t turn out to be quite as epic as we had planned, but it was still pretty epic. With a long holiday weekend in Wrightwood on tap, we had been looking at walking the PCT between Vincent Gap and Islip Saddle, roughly twelve trail miles total between the two points….
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…
After several months of closure, Caltrans had finally reopened Hwy 2 west of Vincent Gap, and we made plans to hike again to Cooper Canyon Falls in the central San Gabriels. However, the threat of rain, thunderstorms, and possible snow called those plans into question – hail in Wrightwood Saturday morning cemented our decision to…
Having visited Wind Wolves Preserve several times before, we’re very familiar with the various trails in San Emigdio Canyon, and we’ve often talked about how they should open up other areas of the expansive property to the public. The foothill areas of the preserve are crisscrossed by ranch roads, and a glance at the…
We’ve finally decided to do some backpacking together this summer, and we intend to get plenty of training hikes in with full packs over the coming weeks. Our first such endeavor was to walk the PCT east from Vincent Gap up to Inspiration Point, expecting about 9.6 miles round trip with something around 1,500′…
Having walked more than 10 miles with the kids at Disneyland the day before, we decided to take a short walk today west down the PCT from Grassy Hollow – we’ve both got new boots and want to break them in a bit. It’s been a few weeks since the west end of Blue…
Circle Mountain was our first hike after purchasing our Wrightwood cabin in 2014, and the steepness of the use trail had deterred us from making a return visit since – that is until Chris got a little stir crazy and decided to do a solo hike today. It’s 1-1/4 miles and 800 vertical feet…
It’s hard to believe this was our first chance to hike together since the Fourth of July, but projects at home and busy weekends have served to significantly limit our hiking opportunities. The stars finally aligned enough to allow us some time to explore the west end of Blue Ridge – we had hiked…
Jane stayed at the cabin while Chris took Pedro and Cody and Carter Ammeraal on the 4-mile roundtrip hike out to Bighorn Mine. Located high in Mine Gulch on the southeast flank of Mt. Baden-Powell, the gold mine was one of the most productive in the San Gabriels, producing into the 1940’s before watering…
The Grassy Hollow Visitor Center was having a presentation on snakes and other reptiles, so Chris and Pedro took Jude and Ollie on a short hike down the PCT west of the facility prior to attending the lecture. The trail follows the contours along the north side of Blue Ridge, gaining and losing the…