Comments on: Hiking Mount San Antonio (Mount Baldy) and Mount Harwood

By: RKA Trails

RKA Trails — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:12:12 +0000

Thank you Zebra, the two-dimensional type map sounds exactly like what I’m looking for. I will try to get up to the village and hopefully they’ll still have such a map. Thanks again!

By: Zebra24601

Zebra24601 — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 07:50:59 +0000

The visitors’ center in Mt. Baldy village had a free two-sided handout with a large number of trails indicated on a map and the mileage for each segment along the way. It would give you a two-dimensional view of the layout of the various trails. It also gives the net altitude change for each segment, so you can get a feel for how tough each segment might be.

They also sell a trail map of the Mt. Baldy area for $9.95. That one also has the trails, but at a larger scale and with contour lines, etc.

By: RKA Trails

RKA Trails — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 02:44:05 +0000

I plan to start exploring the hiking trails at Mt. Baldy. I’m going to purchase some topo maps of the area, but for me they’re kind of hard to read/understand. Is there a simple map that shows the trail system there that kind of shows the layout of the whole area and how the trailheads flow etc.? I’ve read a lot of trip reports from hikers doing the various trails, but without actually having been there yet I’m kind of confused. I would like to find somebody who is familiar with all the routes there that I could go with on several different days to sample and compare the most popular routes. I don’t want to get lost.

By: RKA Trails

RKA Trails — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 02:43:08 +0000

I plan to start exploring the hiking trails at Mt. Baldy. I’m going to purchase some topo maps of the area, but for me they’re kind of hard to read/understand. Is there a simple map that shows the trail system there that kind of shows the layout of the whole area and how the trailheads etc. I’ve read a lot of trip reports from hikers doing the various trails, but without actually having been there yet I’m kind of confused. I would like to find somebody who is familiar with all the routes there that I could go with on several different days to sample and compare the most popular routes. I don’t want to get lost.

By: Modern Hiker

Modern Hiker — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 06:29:18 +0000

helix, if you have experience hiking and don’t have a fear of heights, the Devil’s Backbone would only be really dangerous if there were high winds or ice or snow on the trail already. It’s a tough hike, though, so be prepared.

Icehouse is one of my all-time favorite trails near L.A. I really can’t recommend it enough.

By: helix66

helix66 — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 06:07:29 +0000

I’d guess the Devil’s Backbone section might be closed or too dangerous if they don’t close it? Icehouse is another one I wanted to do, I had too late a start last week and completed that Mische Mokwa loop. I didn’t go out to balanced rock because I thought I’d be too late returning…so I want to check that again. This time it was clear and you could see PV, Catalina, and the islands to the North West. I took a lot of pix but haven’t posted them yet.

By: Modern Hiker

Modern Hiker — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:09:20 +0000

Gregg,

The Mount Baldy Ski Resort site says they are currently running snowtubing on holidays and weekends with made-snow – and their webcam doesn’t show much snow in the area, so it’s still probably fine to hike up here – but I’d give the Resort a call to find out exactly where their snow is being made (http://www.mtbaldy.com/).

If there’s too much snow around the actual resort, you can still make it up to the summit of Mount Baldy via the Ski Hut Trail (so just reverse this route) – just dress warm! I was up in nearby Icehouse Canyon last weekend, and it was CHILLY.

By: Gregg

Gregg — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:20:14 +0000

I’ve been wanting to do this hike since I came across this site a few months ago and with the closure of half of the Angeles NF.
Is it too late to do this hike, early December? When does the ski operation open (and close the trail)?

By: Pete

Pete — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:56:14 +0000

Hiked up to the Ski Hut yesterday (Nov 1) and it was an absolutely perfect hiking day, although almost got caught in the dark coming back due to that damn time change! Hey, quick question for the masses, does anyone know of a trail that can be taken from the Ski Hut to the Notch without going all the way up? Since they are roughly the same elevation, I was thinking it might be fun to traverse across but haven’t heard of any such route?

By: Armen Shirvanian

Armen Shirvanian — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 02:22:18 +0000

Hey there Casey.

I went up Mount Baldy with my friends a week or so ago and I didn’t know it was the tallest peak in LA county. I underestimated the whole trip in fact, which is what caused us to be in darkness half of the way down. One of my friends ended up getting hurt in the dark on the way down, but we helped him the rest of the way.

I have to say that that hike was great. We made it about 95% of the way to the top, and then turned around quickly because the darkness was looming.

Thanks for this material on this site. We will use it to assess where to go next, and the like.

On my site, the recent articles are a series I made talking about lessons from the hiking trip, if you want to check those out.