Mon, Aug 5, 2002
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Etymology Caliente Mountain Sawmill Mountain Mt. Pinos Mt. San Antonio |
Story | Photos / Slideshow | Maps: 1 2 3 4 5 | Profiles: 1 2 3 4 5 |
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Sawmill Mountain later climbed Fri, Nov 17, 2006 Mt. Pinos later climbed Fri, Nov 17, 2006 Mt. San Antonio later climbed Mon, Dec 21, 2009 |
Sunday evening I left San Jose so that I could drive down to the southeast tip of San Luis Obispo County. I took US101 to Santa Margarita, then drove 50 miles east on SR58. I rather wished I could have driven it in the day to take in the views it had to offer, but instead had to settle on the fun driving afforded the winding highway. At California Valley I headed southeast on Soda Lake Road, and drove another 13mi to the turnoff for Selby Camp and the Caliente Ridge. It was a bit of a chore driving up 6mi of dirt road, but passable by passenger cars (with a front spoiler my car acts as a great bellweather for deciding what roads are passable). There were no other cars to be found at the parking lot situated at nearly 4,000ft. A light wind was blowing, and the temperature was in the 60's, ideal for camping out under the stars. It was about 11p when I settled down in my sleeping bag set on my pad just outside my car.
I woke up at 3:30a and packed up my sleeping bag and pad. I would need an early start today if I was going to complete the day's agenda. Additionally, Caliente Mtn is located in a very hot and dry part of the county. If I could finish the hike not long after sunrise, I would avoid the heat that was likely to accompany the day. Without bothering with breakfast, I was off at 4a under a starry sky using my headlamp. From the trailhead, the route follows a dirt road (gate closed, barring vehicular access) that winds it's way along the ridgetop in a southeasterly direction. There was little trouble with routefinding, and there were few rocks and stones in the road that might trip me up. I jogged the flat and downhill sections, and even some of the milder uphill ones. As is my want, I wore long pants and a long sleeve cotton T-shirt, and combined with the cool early morning temperature, seemed perfect. Shortly after 5a it was sufficiently light out to put away the headlamp and navigate by the gradually brightening sky. The horizon took on wonderful shades of purple, red, and then orange as sunrise drew nearer. It was a good eight miles to the summit, but because of the gentle rise, I was able to reach it in 2hrs.
A bit to my surprise, I reached the summit
before sunrise, which was about 6:10a.
Caliente Mtn, the highest point in San Luis Obispo County, is abouts as remote as any peak
in Southern California. It sits near the southeast tip of a ridge dividing the Cuyama Valley
to the south and the Carrizo Plain to the north. The Carrizo Plain is now a National Monument
thanks to the closing days of the Clinton adminstration. The San Andreas Fault runs down
the middle of it, causing the Caliente Range to inch northwest along with much of the
California coast. The north and south sides of the range fall off swiftly on either side
of the ridge. Little water reaches here, and consequently few trees grow on the ridge.
Mostly chaparral, with a few hardy varieties
of pines that grow low and scraggly. An abandoned
look-out tower
of WWII vintage barely remains standing at the summit. It was manned during the war to
look out for enemy planes with plans on strategic oil fields nearby. I was a bit hesitant
to enter the structure which leans obviously to one side, wondering if my weight would
upset the delicate-looking balance. Of course
I went in anyway, and the structure held
its ground, looking no worse when I left than when I arrived. Inside I found
a register placed
by the HPS (Hundred Peaks Section) of the Sierra Club, the earliest entries dating to the
1980s. The last folks to climb it had been there a few weeks earlier.
The views were impressive, though marred by haze coming from the Central Valley. This
effectively blocked views towards the Sierra and northward. To the south was the Los Padres
National Forest, stretching east-west from Los Angeles County, across
Kern and Ventura
counties, and to the west portion of
Santa Barbara County. The three
highpoints for the latter three counties are all visible from Caliente Mountain, not more
than about 30mi distance. I watched the
sun rise spectacularly over the
haze-enshrouded Tehachapi Mountains to the east, and soon the day began to warm.
After about 30 minutes at the summit, I took leave.
I was able to jog most of the distance on the way back, and made it
back to my car in an
hour and a half. I switched out of my tennis shoes and wet socks in favor of sandals which
would be a recurring event the next three days - get the feet out of wet socks after each
hike. This helped them stay cool and blister-free throughout all the punishment they
received. 16mi, 1600ft done, and it was only 8a. I ate breakfast (cereal and milk from
the cooler) while I rested, and was ready to head down at 8:30a.
Back at Soda Lake Road, I headed southeast, 29mi to SR33. The book decribes this section as
"on again, off again pavement," but it's mostly off. The pavement ends after the first mile,
and there is 22mi of dirt road broken only by a mile of pavement that surrounds a historic
ranch maintained by the BLM. I assume the pavement was there to keep the dust down for the
folks that might work or visit there. The entire region is now the
Carrizo National Monument,
and though I am generally in favor of more public parks, this one seems a stretch to have
justified. There are several such ranches that look to have been purchased by the BLM and
are not much as visitor attractions. The skeptical
side of me thinks these were more like bailouts - the ranches sit in what is desert for
all practical purposes, and eking a living out of that
dry wasteland must have been brutal.
Road signs indicate there are elk to be found grazing nearby, but I didn't see so much as
a ground squirrel the whole time I was there. Maybe it's because I was there in the middle
of summer and the elk are all summering somewhere else. It's hard to imagine where that
might be though. The pavement finally returns for the final six mile drive to SR33.
A right turn onto the highway, followed by a left turn not half a mile down the road put me on Cerro Noroeste Rd. heading for Mt. Pinos. This is a very enjoyable drive up a ridge climbing nearly 5,000ft to the communities north of Mt. Pinos. It was 10:30a when I finally wound my way to the end of the paved road at the Mt. Pinos Alpine Center. A sign indicates the summit is two miles up a dirt road, but contrary to what you may have read, you can't drive there (I tried, but a locked gate bars entry a hundred yards up the road). They used to allow cars to drive up to the lot at the Condor Viewing Area, but since there's no condors left to view, the Forest Service must have decided there was no need to keep up maintenance of the road. There were a number of RVs in the mostly-empty lot, drawn in a circle, wagon train style. In the center region they had lots of expensive telescopes set up, but covered to protect them. Perhaps there as a celestial event happening that evening - certainly this had to be one of the more accessible high & remote viewing areas in the LA area.
After parking my car following the aborted attempt to drive up, I resupplied my water
bottles from the melted water in the cooler (not the cleanest supply of water I could have
found) and headed out. I met a few folks on the easy hike up to the top, but mostly it was
a quiet weekday morning. I bypassed the summit as I headed to the
Viewing Area, and
continued on the trail towards Sawmill Mtn. No condors anymore, but the
wildflowers and
views are still pretty nice.
Conveniently, the highpoints of Kern (Sawmill Mtn) and Ventura (Mt. Pinos) counties are
located only a mile and half apart. They
are separated by
a 400ft saddle and bridged by a nice trail. The trail enters the
Chumash Wilderness, and
is much less travelled than the area around Mt. Pinos.
Parts of the trail I jogged along, most of
it I just hiked. The views are nice looking off both sides of the ridge, to
the north down
to the Pine Mountain Club (a mountain resort for So. Cal. folks), and south into the
wilder parts of the Los Padres NF. After I started climbing
up from the saddle, it became apparent that the whereabouts of Sawmill Mtn. aren't so
obvious. Trees cover most of the summit areas, and it wasn't clear where the highpoint
was, but it soon became clear the trail didn't cross the summit, but instead began to descend
towards the west. I left the trail just as it began the descent and headed north through
the forest floor. I was lucky to find
the summit about a hundred yards from
the trail. On the west end of a small ridgetop was a
pile of rocks and a summit register
placed by the
HPS (as on Caliente Mtn). Caliente Mtn. to the northwest was barely visible through the
thickening haze rising up from below. Santa Barbara's Big Pine Mtn. was clearer to the west,
but there were no views to the east or south due to the towering pines in that direction.
After signing in the register I
headed back.
Retracing my steps, I then climbed the final hundred feet to Mt. Pinos. The summit is marred
by a radio installation, and is one of
the more unremarkable summits I've been on. The most exciting thing I found was the
USGS marker, though to be honest the
views to the north, from the
northwest to the
northeast were nice.
The peak is climbed so often that a register
would be impractical to maintain. After a few photos, I headed back, reaching the car
at 12:30p. Seven miles and about 1000ft of elevation gain.
It's a long drive from Mt. Pinos to the northeast section of Los Angeles County where Mt.
San Antonio resides. Through Frasier Park, south on I5, southeast on I205,
east on I10.
After a stop for gas, lunch, and some more ice for the cooler, I'd burned up nearly three
hours before motoring up the winding road to my next peak. Mt. San Antonio, more commonly
called Mt. Baldy, sits high above the Los Angeles Basin, towering over the
surrounding communities on the eastern end of the Angeles Crest.
On a clear day (admittedly quite rare) it can be seen by nearly
6 million residence, one of the most widely visible peaks above 10,000ft in the world. The
Mt. Baldy Road winds its way up about 15 miles from near sea level to over 6,000ft. A small
ski complex lies at the top of the road with a total of 3 ski lifts to service visitors
in the wintertime. In summer the main lift is open for rides to make the climb easier, but
only on weekends. Too bad today was Monday. Driving up I noticed that the Forest Service
was particularly zealous in promoting the Forest Adventure Pass, the questionable
fee-for-use started a few years back. Every picnic spot or turnout along the road had a
large sign reminding users that a fee is required to park there. I imagine the fees they
take in may just cover the cost of so many signs. I noticed all over Southern
California that this was more heavily promoted, and presumeably more rigorously enforced
than elsewhere in the state. As a result, I stopped at the ranger station just before the
trailhead and gave them my $30 for a pass. I drove up to the San Antonio Falls Trailhead
and headed out at 3:45p.
The trail follows a well-graded road that winds its way to the chalet at the top of the
chairlift in about 2.5 miles (
San Antonio falls was but a trickle
located 1/2 mile from
the trailhead). The hillsides are quite steep, but the road follows a more gradual
grade on its way up. So winding is it that I eventually got bored of trying to gain
altitude, so I left the road when it passed near
the chairlift. A
use trail went up under
the chairlift, climbing the steep ravine more directly, and more to my liking. I probably
cut off half a mile of the usual distance in the process. The ski area both at the base and
at the chalet were deserted, not a soul to be seen anywhere. I did see three others later
on who were making their way down as I was still going up.
As I started climbing above the chalet, I followed what was a ski run along a ridge
coming down from the
upper chairlift. The vegetation had been cleared to allow skiing on a minimal of coverage,
and the earth was loose and dusty. Orange fences marking the various ski runs lined the
"trail," and Out of Bounds reminders on every other tree completed the dreary scene one
gets in climbing a ski area. Once above the top of
the higher chairlift, the trail and
scenery markedly improved. Rather than a wide road to follow, a small trail winds its way
along the edge of the ridge known as the
Devils Backbone. The ridge narrows
in places to as
little as six or seven feet, and there is evidence of old handrails that were placed by the
CCC in the 1930s but have since been dismantled. But nowhere is the exposure really
deserving of handrails. While the slopes are steep down either side, they aren't cliffs but
rather enormous piles of scree. A fall wouldn't be pretty, but hardly serious. Even if
the exposure wasn't much, the views
to the
north and
south were pretty nice.
Very little vegetation grows in the upper 1500 feet of the mountain, and very little solid
rock as well. For all practical purposes it seems like
a giant pile of scree and sand. I
made good progress moving quickly, and reached the summit at 5:45p, 2hr after starting. A
giant
hunk of iron inscribed to
announce the summit and its height. So heavy that it wouldn't last long
on a pole, it simply lay flat on the summit rocks. No register was to be found anywhere.
The views were compromised by the haze and smog, but still splendid. Particularly to
the west where the lesser, but
still impressive dozens upon dozens of peaks in the range spread
out. The haze made them appear to be farther than they really were, and they seemed to
stretch far to the horizon (in fact the Transverse Range extends all the way through
Santa Barbara County, 100mi to the west). To
the east the haze was so thick I
couldn't see the higher San Gorgonio Mtn. even though it was only about 50mi away.
I planned to take the Ski Hut route down from the summit, but found the route not well
marked. I didn't carry a map with me (in fact I didn't for most of the peaks I climbed on
this tour), but had studied it some beforehand on several occasions. Maybe the Sierra Club
didn't want to make it well known, or maybe I just missed something more obvious, but I
ended up on the wrong trail. Aside from the route I'd taken up, there was a sign titled
"Village Trail" marking a well groomed trail heading off to the southwest. I took this
trail and climbed the nearby
West Baldy that lay a short
distance from
the main summit.
Coming down from this, I picked up the Village Trail again and headed down. It followed an
excellent ridgeline down that afforded great views down into the precipitous canyons on
either side. Not unlike the Devils Backbone, but this ridge had lots of trees to provide
shade and interest to the hike. I was about half a mile down from the summit when I began to
suspect my error, and another half mile before I was sure of it. I could see the ridge
I was supposed to be on, though I never could see a trail going down it anywhere. Maybe it
was a stealth trail constructed by the Sierra Club to keep the riffraff out of their hut.
If so, it worked on me.
I didn't mind being on the long trail as long as it ended up in the right canyon when it was all said and done. Much of the trail was runnable, and I jogged my way down most of it. The trail eventually peeled off the ridge and headed down the slopes towards Mt. Baldy Road, but by then it was obvious I would be taken well below my starting point. I came down through the drier chaparral section below, and then though an inviting fern garden with a sign titled "Bear Flat." The trail eventually brought me out at the top of a side road that is lined with residences of Mt. Baldy Village. A steep creek followed the road down to the main road, though it was currently dry. Homes could be found on either side, with private bridges (some questionable) providing access to residents on the other side of the creek. One home had no motor access, but rather a cage that could be hauled across a steel cable spanning the creek. I suppose that more or less limits the size of furniture you can bring home.
Down at the main road, I found myself three miles and 2000ft below my car. It was only 7:30p, so I'd made good time, but the thought of climbing another 2000ft was a bit depressing. I'd just finished about 14mi and 3600ft to bring the days total to 37mi and 6000ft. As I started up the road, I held my thumb out to every passing car with a forlorn look on my face that did nothing for me with the first dozen cars that zipped by. Finally a single mother and her son stopped and gave me a ride back up to the car. I chatted with her and her 5yr-old son on the ride up, and we had a pleasant time talking about kids, Mt. Baldy, and rock climbing (her hobby).
Back at my car, I began to plan for the next day's hiking. My next stop was San Gorgonio Mtn, about an hour's drive to the east. I had considered getting a motel room to clean up and sleep the night, but decided I'd sleep just as well at the higher elevation of the trailhead. To clean up, I hit upon the idea of a paper towel bath which I did in the privacy of the restroom at a Mobil station back in town. This was quite refreshing and I was soon changed into clean clothes and headed out for dinner at Rubio's. It was 11p when I drove through Mentone and up SR38 to the Valley of the Big Falls Rd and the Vivian Creek Trailhead (picking up my self-issue permit at the ranger station on the way). Here I found a few backpackers camped in the back of their pickup truck while I set up my bedroll nearby.
Continued...
For more information see these SummitPost pages: Caliente Mountain - Sawmill Mountain - Mt. Pinos - Mt. San Antonio - West Baldy
This page last updated: Mon Jan 16 10:29:02 2017
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