Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Conditions On Baldy

Hi Burt,
Some hikers told me that the "BALDY BIG LOOP" is hiking from IHC parking-Village-Bear canyon trail-West Baldy-Baldy-Harwood-Devils backbone -Baldy Notch - 3Ts- Ice house canyon saddle- IHC parking. This route makes a complete loop of 6 peaks with about 20 miles. No hitch hiking from IHC parking to Village!!!
I agree with you that it is better to start from Village up.
I didn't like many long switchbacks from Timber to Telegraph.
It is better to do this big loop in April or May or October or November when the weather is nice and no snow on the trail if you want to enjoy the hike. If you want to punish your body, you can do it all the year round. There are three water spots, Bear canyon flat, Baldy Notch for water and foods, a natural spring along IHC (2.5 mile point).
If anyone can do this big loop for distance and Bear canyon trail a few times for elevation gain, you are ready for Mt. Whitney main trail hike any time. No other training is needed, I think.

Hi Shin,

I'll leave the Baldy Big Loop for the big boys. I'm happy to do the mini-loop and hitch a ride. I did consider throwing in W. Baldy and Harwood but decided that would be a bit much for my old bod. Harwood is actually a very easy add-on coming down the Devil's Backbone but W. Baldy is a significant addition.

See you on the trail one of these days. If you're not spending all your time rock-climbing. I was never any good at that.

Burt

For my Whitney trip I did Bear Canyon to the peak and then down to the ridge near the West Baldy Bowl (just above the trees and rocks). I figured it gave me about an extra 2-3 miles round trip back up to Baldy and then back to Bear Flats (15 miles total). I also wanted to do the Hut from Bear Flats, but wussed out. I think that this did help though since it gave some extra mileage and additional elevation. If nothing else I think it increased my confidence.

Randy, That sounds like a good add-on for conditioning, too. Did you see any sheep? I haven't seen even 1 this year and I've been in places where they should be.

For Whitney conditioning I like a combination of Baldy hikes for difficulty and the San Gorgonio lollypop (or balloon) from S. Fork for distance and altitude. The SG hike is 24+ miles and gets up to 11,500 but it's pretty easy. I did it in 10'20" this spring.

Shin, the Super, Super-Max Baldy loop would start from the Village, do the 6 peaks PLUS continuing south from IHS up Big Horn peak (off-trail), then across to Ontario, off-trail across to Sugar Loaf, and then down and back to the car. But I'm just blowing smoke - I've done all the rest of it in pieces but I've never done Sugar Loaf at all and probably never will.

Burt, I was hiking Register Ridge with Tracie and Robin in April and we saw some bighorn sheep at the junction of Register Ridge and Devils Backbone. There was maybe half a dozen or so. Pretty impressive to see.

I would like to do SanG, but its just so far away. I found that doing combinations of Baldy can be just as good for a training hike. That Super-Max Loop sounds pretty interesting and impressive!

Hi BurtW,
I have never tagged Sugar Loaf, either. Maybe this fall. I have never thought about doing any crazy hike like Super Max Baldy hike or Superman class hike tagging 13 peaks in Mt. Baldy area. I did Big Baldy Loop once before with Richard P.. That was good and hard enough for me.

I am a very lazy day hiker. I just hike as a maintenance of body only. As long as I can get to the summit any form or shape, I am happy. I don't have a guts to hike Register trail alone at night and hike down the main bowl down all season like Southbay Mark does. I don't have a mental fortitude of hiking up Bear canyon down to Noodle bowl then down the Bear canyon for many times like Randy S. did.

You set the bar too high for everyone. I just turned 64. I was thinking about giving up my hobby because of my age. You are 75 years old still doing fantastic. You have to disclose all your secrets and share with us how to keep your body and mind so young and strong.

Shin you're too young to quit! You and Burt are our inspiration to keep on going.

Hey everyone! I was just kidding about the Super Max Baldy Loop! Although knowing the crazies on this BB I bet someone either has already done it or will soon. But it won't be me.

Shin, what's the Noodle Bowl??

Randy, I'm glad you saw the sheep. It's good to know that they're still there. I was getting concerned because the Bear Flats trail and W. Baldy used to be pretty reliable places for seeing them but not this year for me. I also didn't see any on San Gorgonio the 2 times I was over there this year. I think my last sighting was a single male I saw late last year coming down the Ski Hut trail. He was right near the trail and didn't see me until I was almost on top him. Then he looked at me for a long minute and finally just backed off a little way, but still pretty close and in plain sight.

June 9th, below Ski Hut.

Noodle Bowl;

small depression and sheltered area immediately prior to false summit.

Many people stop and have lunch and noodles here.

Talking about age and hiking, along with the endurance crazies. I saw it all Sat. Anyone know this beautiful elderly lady, Kathy Unger, Moving at a good pace up and down! don't want to speculate on her age unless someone knows,I would like to know. On the endurance side, I was really entertained by all the Ultra Marathoners, I was impressed at such physical ability!!! Don't normally like Baldy Busy, but it was a good day.

Wife and I got up to Manker Flats about 7, and everyone but the kitchen sink were already there. Looked like a high school/college x-country team were training for the Race-to-the-top. 20-25 took off up the trail as we started our hike, but they were nowhere to be seen once we hit the ski hut detour. Warm to start (mid-70s) but still a good day to hike. Unfortunately, got a blister before the ski hut with an old pair of boots (that are now in the recycle bin), and since I am doing Langley-in-a-day in 3 weeks, decided not to push it and turned around. Still, 5 miles and 2,200 elevation gain is better than sitting at home!

I've had an incredible spring and summer hiking and I've posted about it several times. Mt. Whitney (OK, it almost killed me but I made it), Vivian Creek, the 24.4 mile San Gorgonio lollipop in 10'20", the Mt Baldy circuit from the Village to IHC (also in 10'20"), Baldy via Register Ridge plus Harwood, and the Ski Hut trail every week I wasn't doing something bigger. I sure didn't feel 76 years old. I told friends that I didn't know what was going on but I would enjoy it as long as it lasted.

Yesterday I did Baldy via Bear Flats and it's clear that the miracle is over. I made the summit OK but it was hard, the way it used to be before this spring. The Bear Flats trail has always been at the edge of what I can do and it's the way I measure how I'm doing.

I also figured out why I've been feeling so good. At the end of March I was having a lot of arthritis pain in my right knee. I went to the doctor and he injected the knee with steroids. Whenever a knee is injected some of the steroids leak out of the knee capsule and act like extra adrenaline bouncing around your system. That extra juice was the "miracle" I was feeling and it's gone now.

The knee has started to hurt again, too, but it has been injected 3 times over the past few years and the doctor was clear that's it's so deteriorated that the next time is titanium time.

I will delay having the replacement done as long as possible. Even without the performance enhancing drugs it's too nice in the mountains for me to want to spend a couple months doing rehab. I'll try to put it off until Winter.

A bit of a TR for yesterday: a tip of the hat to whoever built the stone monuments on the summit. They're nice.

See you on the Ski Hut trail.

The way I look at it...
I'm not an Olympic caliber athlete and use whatever I need to keep it fun...
Diamox when I haven't been up in a while...
Lots of different pain killers when I'm going Big (in my mind at least).

I've said it before and I'll say it again...
I hope I can still do this stuff like you and Shin and Rockwell and others when I reach your age... I'm thinking Not based on how I feel right now...


BTW: it's time for a trip down to LA next weekend... Baldy included.

It was not until about a year or so ago that I found out that people used meds (outside of the much discussed Diamox) to ease discomfort during recreation. I had always thought that the pain was a requirement for the activity in the "no pain no gain" tradition. I came from a bicycle racing (time trials) background that dictated if you were on the edge of screaming,than the proper effort was put forth!

The idea of ache-free start-ups on the second and third mornings of backpacking trips sounds quite appealing.

Shin and I are doing Baldy via Ski Hut on Sunday, 08.04.

I'll call it a 0630 start unless Shin wants to change it.

The thing that "pains" me the most these days is that I can't keep up with a lot of my friends due to knee pain!!!

I have always said that the Chief Engineer of the human body failed with the shoulders and knees!

It was another good day on Baldy! 62 degrees at the Manker Flats parking area at 8:30, 72 on top a little before noon, 76 back at the car at 2:15. A cool breeze blowing up the legs of my shorts kept everything comfortable. I picked up a little trash; the trail was pretty clean for a Monday. There's often a lot of wrappers, water bottles, and miscellaneous stuff on Monday left by the Sunday strivers.

Bee, I think "no pain, no gain" refers to sore muscles from exertion, not arthritis pain. Arthritis pain not only hurts, it is a signal that further damage is being done in the joint.

I like doing the ski hut trail up, hate it coming down. Been years since doing the B Bone, don't remember if its any better. Any ideas on routes down for old knees ?