Glad you finally made it up to San Gabriel “the right way.” Hope it was worth the wait!

That rock wall looks like it’s right under Balanced Rock - that giant Looney Tunes-looking boulder that I’m sure you noticed on the way in.

You can get there on an unofficial trail just after the Split Rock picnic area on Mishe Mokwa. I haven’t been down that way myself - not much of a climber just yet - but I’d imagine there are some use trails near the Balanced Rock that should get you to some good climbing areas.

If you need a visual, check out the write-up on this site for Sandstone / Mishe Mokwa / Tri-Peaks. I marked the trail junction with the Balanced Rock Trail.

Let me know how it goes, and thanks for the well-wishes. I think my knee will be ok, but staying in on the weekends is driving me a bit insane…

- Casey

I wanted to let you know that I located the trailhead for the San Gabriel Peak trail. It was hard to locate it at first but once I found the metal bar-thing, with red painted at its tip, I was game.

Thanks for the help.

By the way I hiked Sandstone Peak with one of my friends and we saw, from afar, this giant rock-cliff slab. We observed numerous individuals climbing the face of the cliff. Can you ID this rock climbing location? My friend and I want to check this place out sometime.

http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=433708207&size=o

Thanks again Casey. I hope your knee recovers well. I can totally empathize with your situation. Last october I fractured my ankle. Not a great three months for me. Take it easy.

Kristen

This is so funny and frustrating to me. I took a look at the map and remembered that paved road that goes up to the peak. I had no idea the trailhead was at that road. I passed that area up and drove further up the mountain range to the yellow gate to take the route from the south side. I have had a hard time finding clear instructions and details on finding the trail you took. I will look out for the trailhead, next time I go up, and report back to you.

Thanks for the tip!

Kristen

Mueller tunnel is a bit further down the road from the trailhead I used. I’m guessing you came at the peaks from the south, then? There is a trail that comes up at the peaks from that direction off of Eaton Saddle, which I’ve used to get to Mount Lowe before.

The trailhead on this hike is much closer to Red Box. It’s the very first right past the ranger station, on a semi-paved gated road. The trail is a bit hard to see, but it’s directly across the street from the small parking area. If you’ve got Google Earth (which you should, it’s free and great!), the file above should give you a better visual of where this is.

Let me know if that helps, and feel free to bug me again if it doesn’t!

- Casey

kristen

The hike looks like fun, too! That’s definitely a cat print.