Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Iron Mtn., Baldy Village church, Whitney comparison

Here's a link describing the route frm West Baldy to Iron Mountain. I failed to post it earlier because I confused it with the same author's description of the standard Iron Mountain hike.

http://www.dankat.com/advents/sanant.htm

zinge,
The section between Baldy and Iron has some challenges. The route is pretty obvious but there are sections that will require a little class 3 move or two. In 1996 (I think) the "Charmin" fire burned up the north slopes of the ridge and the fire crews made a stand on the ridge itself. They won their battle there. While getting crews and equipment to the area they cut a break right on the ridgeline. This cut reduces some of the bushwacking that was originally needed to make the traverse but it is growing back. I did the traverse in running shoes but would think most people would like an "approach" shoe or more for this trip. Before someone asks it was called the Charmin fire since it was reportly started by some backpackers burning their TP.

I made an attempt this morning, but by the time I reached the top of Iron(about 9am) I was exhausted and my watch was reading 85 degrees. I was flipping through the register and found quite a few entries from those hiking from manker flats to east fork. This route seems more sensible due to elevation gain. I'll save that for cooler weather.

Here’s my two bits on difficult day hikes:

1. Shortie’s Well to Telescope, Death Valley, with over 11’000 of absolute gain and no trail from about 3k to 10k, its definitely the most abuse I’ve taken.
2. Baldy (San Antonio) via San Antonio Ridge (from Iron Mt.) Another painful day
3. C2C (Jacinto from Palm Springs) I’m leading an ODC (outdoorsclub.org) trip up this route tomorrow, my third ascent.
4. Iron Mt.

I’ve only ranked trips I’ve completed. I did Whitney 8 or 9 years ago and I’m sure it belongs in the list, but it’s hard to recollect exactly where to rank it, definitely no higher then 3. I’m sure many of the other route mentioned deserve to be on this list with the exception of the Bear Flat trail of San Antonio (from the village). It’s a great trainer route but not an epic hike unless you add a triple T exit.

I saw a posting on the ODC board for Baldy from the Puddingstone reservoir. I think it mentioned over 11K of total gain. That could make the list. And the Snowcreek route of Jacinto belongs on the list too. I tried it but had to bail due to dangerous snow conditions.

BJ

We hiked to Mt. Baldy last Sunday (May 16). It was a nice day althought the inversion layer kept us from getting that breathtaking view of the coast we get from Baldy sometimes. Our route was the Bear Canyon/Mt. Baldy Trail from the village.
It took us 5.5 hours up and a little under 3 hours coming down. It was all the workout we were hoping for and more! 6,000 feet in 6 miles. We did not see more than about a half dozen hikers on the trail. There were about 20 people on the summit when we arrived, many had come up the Ski Hut Trail and the Backbone. Thanks for the trailhead directions and trip tips!
-Rick

I made an attempt on Iron via Baldy in early April and was defeated by snow on West Baldy and lack of daylight. But the San Antonio Ridge traverse is really cool. Awesome views of the interior of the San Gabriel's. I highly recommend it.

The descent from West Baldy to the ridge was a bit of a whore, but probably because of snow in inconvenient (and exposed) places forced us to contour (read: scree ski) along the south side, rather than stick to the top of the ridge, and the use trail that we found a few times.

I look forward to making another attempt on ol' Iron later this summer, this time without snow and with more daylight. And hopefully, there will be an attempt on Whitney, too.

Is the Blue Ridge hike from Wightwood to Baldy just go along the ridge from Pine and Dawson peaks?

Andrew,
If you are going all the way from Wrightwood you will be starting on the Acorn Trail at the end of Acorn St. in Wrightwood. No parking at the actual trailhead so I park down in town and begin my trip up the pavement. Acorn St. is on the west end of town. From Hwy. 2 turn left on Spruce, take it to its end, turn right to a dead end and then immediately left on Acorn. Follow Acorn St. to its end on foot and then Acorn Trail to its intersection with the PCT. You will head east for about 1.5 miles to the trail junction. The PCT is just about 10' above the road in here but I recommend taking the road your first time because I think the junction with the trail up to Pine, Dawson, etc. is easier to see/find from the road. Once you have done it you will see the PCT as a good alternate. From this intersection it is about 4 miles to top out on Baldy. You can drive out to the road/trail junction if the road is open. I bet they opened it but it was closed on 5/8 when I was up there.

there's another way to get to baldy - it's very short (~3 miles one way) but very remote and steep at places.

it starts at stockton flats (by the gate on the fireroad going to Baldy Notch; 4WD required to get there). the route follows the canyon nearly to the Baldy-Dawson saddle and than climbs along the ridge all the way to the top. the bottom part follows a stream with a lot of stream crossings and a lot waterfalls of various sizes. the last mile is a steep ~2000ft scramble to the top.

lot's of fun but don't blame me if you get
lost ;o)

lukasz

Scott M,
That time for Baldy to Iron is incredible. I'm an X-C runner, so I don't mess around when it comes to moving along the trail, but jeebus. My hat is off to you.