Modern Hiker

A mid-length, easy hike to tackle two mountains on the Hundred Peaks List. Not a lot of elevation gain, but fantastic views of the San Gabriels and some of the urban areas outside the Angeles National Forest, and an historic fire tower.

 

Like a heavy fog lifting or a curtain being pulled back from a bedroom window in the morning, today was the first day I could hike after two weeks of following doctor’s orders. I was looking forward to it all week, and when I looked out my bedroom window early this morning I saw — an actual layer of fog. The damn marine layer was back.

I don’t hate everything about the marine layer. It keeps L.A. cool and hydrated enough to prevent it from becoming an actual desert and everything, but it also keeps it cloudy almost all day, every day through the summer. That’s normally no problem, except that when you’re used to the amount of sun Southern California usually gets, it can be a bit of a culture shock. But if you can get yourself up above 3 or 4,000 feet, you can usually break through it, so I packed up the car and headed toward the San Gabriels.

It was gray the entire drive up to La Canada Flintridge, where I actually started driving through the clouds. It started raining, and visibility dropped to nearly nothing - so the trip to the trailhead took a bit longer than usual. I pulled over at one of the ranger stations to snap a few pictures … and to give my knuckles a rest from gripping the steering wheel so tightly.

After a few more miles, I finally broke through the clouds and into the pure blue California skies that were hidden from the entire population of Los Angeles.

Suckers.

I reached the Charlton Flats turnoff, parked on the road, and crossed the street to the rather inauspicious start of the fire / jeep road to Mount Mooney.

The pavement soon gave way to dirt road, and I would have wandered up it had a plaque sitting out in the middle of a grove not caught my eye.

As a history junkie, I’m not one to pass by a plaque of any kind without reading it, so I hopped off the trail and into the grove. Kneeling down on the carpet of pine needles, the text of plaque came into view:

Hmm. A grove donated by the DAR? Seemed a bit odd, being kind of out of the way, and - one would assume - on land that was already federally owned. Not a whole lot of information there.

As I stood up to get back on the proper trail, I heard some thumping from a ridge above me. Looking up, I saw a pair of deer walking through the brush. As I stopped, they turned around to look at me.

These were the first deer I’d seen in a long time, so I stopped in my tracks and remained silent while they checked me out to make sure I wasn’t a threat. After a moment, they went about their business and wandered back into the woods while I got back on the trail.

The actual fire road was - as most fire road trails are - not very exciting. But it was easy to follow and had plenty of shade from the pines, so it went easily. When I got to the saddle, I got a great view - clouds lapping at the walls of Devil’s Canyon, while Waterman Mountain and Twin Peaks emerged from the cover.

The trek from Waterman to Twin Peaks was one of the first leg-destroying hikes I’d ever done, and it sure felt like a marathon trek between the two peaks. Getting this particular viewing angle really put it into perspective, though. Damn, that’s a long hike.

I continued along the fire road after it forked left, taking pictures of old trees and checking my GPS unit to make sure I accurately marked off my 100th Mile Hiked in 2007, when I realized the road I was on was starting to descend - and it didn’t look like it was going up anytime soon. So I turned around, hiked back to the saddle, and found I was on a third, unmarked (at least on my Wilderness Press topo map) fire road.

If you’re hiking this, when you get to the saddle take a hard left - walk toward a few water tanks on the slope of the mountain. You’ll see a pretty clear fire road, but it’s not as well-traveled as the one that goes back down the north side of the mountain. FYI.

The road gets sandier and dustier as it makes its way toward the summit, but thankfully you won’t have to be on it very long. The summit itself is forested, but you can poke out onto the south slope for some good views of the front range. Or, in my case, more clouds.

After eating a quick snack at the summit, I made my way back down, stopping when I ran into four - count ‘em, four - deer munching on some grass on the side of the trail. Again, I remained very quiet, and this time just sat down on the trail to watch them. We stared at each other for a good minute or two, as they tentatively walked deeper into the brush. They’d take a few steps, then stop and turn to look back at me to make sure I was still sitting before they moved on. I was happy to take some time out to watch them go about their business, too.

After a few minutes, I crossed the Angeles Crest Highway and descended through some of the picnic areas to a small paved road. There were a few people firing up the barbeques there, but not nearly as many as I expected there to be. Although the path was a paved road, the giant trees provided a nice feeling of seclusion, even when I was walking by some of the families celebrating Easter.

There were a few wooden bridges over a wide streambed, but as we’re currently suffering through the driest winter in Los Angeles history, the bed was dry.

Finding the actual trail to Vetter Mountain from here can be a bit tricky. After a little bit of walking, the road you’re on comes to a cul-de-sac just before a small bridge. You’ll see this semi-confusing trail marker on the east side of the road:

If you keep walking, you’ll miss the turn-off. The sign for the Vetter Mountain trail is actually on the back of one of these markers. So when you get to them, just head due west across the stream, and you’ll spot the trail right away.

This is another trail I was expecting to be crowded. From what I’ve read about the Vetter Mountain lookout, it seems to be a pretty popular place. But I’m guessing most people headed to the lookout just follow the road up the tower instead of wandering north and taking the "long way." Which is fine by me.

The trail was forested, shaded, and very well maintained. A streambed follows it for most of the lower section of the trail which, again, would have been nice had there been any water.

Eventually the trail winds back into some low shrubs, and then hooks south for the major incline. Which, for this trail, really isn’t all that major - about 600 feet in a little over a mile. Soon, the Vetter Mountain Lookout Tower came into view - a nondescript, short, white building.

Unfortunately, the tower was closed - guess fire season hasn’t officially started up yet. But the views were still excellent - sweeping panoramas of the San Gabriels from the Tujunga Valley to the west side of the Baldy Bowl … in my case, partially obscured by clouds, but still quite nice to gaze at.

Or, if you’re more in-tuned with a shaky camera’s footage in video panorama:

The city of Los Angeles looks a hell of a lot nicer when it’s buried under a cloud layer, eh?

After taking in the views, it was a quick walk down another paved road back to the car. And no, paved roads aren’t usually nice to hike on, but when you can look to your right and watch clouds literally wrap themselves around a mountain range, it’s not all that bad.

The Basics:

- Distance: About 6.5 miles
- Elevation Gain: About 1100 for both peaks. Mount Mooney’s about 500, with Vetter running around 600 feet of gain.
- Time: 3.5 hours, with time for breaks and taking in the views.
- Trail Condition: Mixed. The trail to Mount Mooney is on fire road and dirt trail. The correct spur to the summit can be easy to miss if you’re expecting it to be another fire road. The trail to Vetter is on paved road and single-width trail. Everything is very well marked and easy to follow.
- How to Get There: From La Canada Flintridge, pass Mount Wilson Road and park outside the Charlton Flats Picnic Area (mile 47.5). The trail to Mount Mooney is a few hundred feet north on the road’s east side, and begins as a paved road to an out-of-use trailer dump.

- Map It

The Notables:

- Vetter Mountain is home to one of the oldest fire towers in the country, built in 1935 and closed in 1984. It was restored by volunteers from the Angeles National Forest Fire Association in 1998, who now operate the tower during fire season. Even if the tower is closed, the site still has fantastic, expansive views of the San Gabriels.

More Pictures:

- Are up on Flickr.