Continued...
In Southern California for my daughter's VB tournament, they finished up a
bit earlier on this second day, giving me some extra time to get further afield
for some hiking.
I wanted to pay a visit to Hoyt Mountain in the San Gabriels, a short distance
off the Angeles Crest Hwy. It was the second most prominent peak in the range
I had yet to visit, not too far a drive from downtown where I was staying and
there were a few other unnamed bonus peaks I could do in conjunction. It took
about 45min to reach the parking area at
where I would start. The
trail here goes off in the wrong direction (downhill to the north), but I would
use this to make a loop of my initial outing to Hoyt and nearby Peak 4,253ft.
Hoyt Mtn / Peak 4,253ft
Hoyt Mtn rises above the highway, about 2/3mi west of Georges Gap. A use trail
runs up the East Ridge, climbing about 750ft at a fairly
. A couple of very large are found about
halfway up the ridgeline, purpose unknown. A false summit is encountered at
, the whole hike to the summit taking less than half an
hour. found here dated to only
but already had five pages of entries - pretty busy for a summit that appears
on nobody's peak list. Another 3/4mi to is the somewhat lower
with a saddle dropping 400ft between them. I followed a
diminished use
trail down the west side of Hoyt Mtn to the saddle in about 15min, finding a
line of
running over it along with the Hoyt Mtn Trail (an
old Edison service road) that traverses the north side of the mountain before
crossing over the saddle and descending to the Angeles Crest Hwy (this is an
alternate route to reach both of these summits). From a distance, it appears
that the climb to Peak 4,253ft is a tough bushwhack with brush over head
level. A closer look will find an overgrown by quite serviceable use trail
that starts off to the right of the transmission tower and climbs steeply to
the summit ridgeline. A rusting can be found shortly
after starting up. The last 500ft along the ridge is a pleasant stroll to
marked only by a couple of steel survey stakes at the
somewhat brushy summit. To can be seen Josephine Peak with
the Angeles Forest Hwy cutting across its southwest flank, along with some of
the higher summits around the Mt. Wilson area. Mt. Lukens rises high to the
west with a view into Big Tujunga Canyon to the northwest and north, Mt.
Gleason in the background. I returned back down to the saddle and then followed
the sometimes brushy around the north side Hoyt Mtn.
This is a nice stroll with fine views of Big Tujunga on a little-used trail.
After something more than a mile I found an unmarked junction with the Georges
Gap Trail (also called the World of Chaparral Trail, according to one sign) and
turned right. There is some to watch out for, but easily
avoided. This well-maintained track switchbacks a number of times up to
in another mile where I arrived exactly two hours after
starting out. As I was sitting in my car fiddling with my GPSr, I noticed a
trio of younger folks looking nervously around from inside a nearby car. Once
they realized I didn't appear to be driving off anytime soon, they decided to
get on with their business which turned out to be some sort of amateur goth
princess . Of course I took a photo of my own.
Isn't this why people come to LA?
Peak 4,202ft
This unnamed summit makes for an easy objective starting from the Clear Creek
Information Center (basically a parking lot, bathroom and a couple of kiosks
with reading material) at the junction of Angeles Crest and Angeles Forest Hwys.
Some fencing was erected behind the bathroom in an effort to keep folks
contained to the parking lot, but efforts have not been maintained and there is
an easy breach in the defenses found behind
on the right side. This leads to a use trail, dangerously steep for a short
section at the start that soon becomes a tamer, but still ,
rising about 550ft in half a mile. No brush to contend with on
, and it took just over 15min to reach the top. The summit is
open to views in all directions, with a fine view of Hoyt Mtn to
and Josephine Peak to . A register found
here also had a stapled set of three pages, of a TR I had
written for some Sierra peaks
back in 2010. This wasn't the first time I'd found one of my TRs being used for
scrap paper at the summit. Amused, I signed my name at the top of the TR,
allowing the next person to visit the opportunity to take home the only
autographed copy of a Bob Burd TR. Worth a small fortune, no doubt.
After descending back down to the Clear Creek Info Center, I drove some miles
south on Angeles Forest Hwy to the top of Mill Creek Summit. I was hoping to
drive out to Mt Gleason and pay a visit to Messenger Peak, but was denied when
I found the gate locked at Mill Creek Summit. Disappointed, I drove back to
the Angeles Crest Hwy and headed back towards downtown. I still had about an
hour of daylight so I decided to hit up some easier summits around the
Pasadena area.
Poppy Peak
This summit is located in the hills of Eagle Rock.
conveniently goes to the top of the hill, or almost. The highpoint is located
in just off the street. One might pretend to be a
gardener for this upscale home to reach the highest point.
Grace Hill
An old , turned apartment complex, sits atop Grace Hill
in the Raymond Hill neighborhood of Pasadena. An interesting
sits
on the property on the north side. There's no parking on the roadway without
blocking traffic on the narrow street, but if one were to do so, a short walk
from the north would take you by this tower and the highpoint in the back
grounds of the mansion. No views unless you can find your way to the second
story.
Debs Park HP
A few miles southwest along the 110 freeway gets you to the Ernest E. Debs
Regional Park, named for a former County Supervisor. Once called Montecito Park
before being rededicated, the park is a large open space natural reserve in the
Montecito Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. The easiest way to reach the
highpoint is from the south off Debs Park Rd, but having done no research ahead
of time (I simply picked it off my peakbagger app when I ran out of pre-screened
peaks after Grace Hill), I chose to approach from the northeast starting from
. An ,
little used except for a few staying in a homeless
camp I ran across, winds it way up from this side. A use trail forking off to
the left caught my attention and I used this slightly longer, but more
interesting route to find my way to the summit ridge just after sunset. There
is a shaded near the summit and an
at the highpoint. There is a fine view of
about five miles to the southwest.
Having run out of daylight, it was time to head back to the hotel, grabbing
dinner on the way. More volleyball would be on tap for the next day...
Continued...