Diary of A Mad (Hiker) WoMan

My friend decided that he wanted to climb Mt. Whitney in honor of his half century of life on this beautiful earth and asked if I wanted to join. Without much thought I beamed "Yes!". Little did I know what painstaking effort it would take to prepare for such a feat. You see, Mount Whitney is the tallest mountain peak in the US outside of Alaska. Its jagged peaks rest at 14, 504 feet above sea level in the Sierra Nevada mountain range in central California. From the trail head at Whitney Portal, elevation 8300', it is 11 miles to the summit and a 6200' gain in elevation. The altitude makes this a very challenging adventure. And once you get to the top you have to get back down  - a task equally if not even more difficult than the ascent as your feet and knees take a pummeling.

Southern California is home to myriad hiking trails, many of them at substantial altitude. In addition to the daily training I do at the Baldwin Hills Overlook, we've gone out most weekends to various trails to strengthen our ankles and build endurance. Over the years we've done lots of hikes just for fun but we knew we needed to ramp up if we were going to be successful on Mt Whitney. In April we started choosing serious trails both for distance and elevation. Our 1st big hike in April was to the San Gabriel Mountains just east of LA. We opted for the Winter Creek trail in the Big Santa Anita Canyon. Although the trail peaks at Mt Wilson we looped up to Mt Zion instead. It is by far my favorite of all the hikes so far - woodsy and shaded most of the way. It was a beautiful and recreational day as we clocked about 12 miles and a couple thousand feet in elevation gain, including a detour to the Sturtevant Falls.

In order to gauge how we would fare on Whitney we needed to get some serious climbs underway. The 3 highest summits in Southern California are San Antonio a.k.a Mt Baldy (10,064'), San Jacinto (10, 874') and San Gorgonio (11,503'). On Cinco de Mayo (May 5th for all you gringos out there) we drove up to the eastern San Gabriels to tackle Baldy. It was a gorgeous, crisp morning but we got a bit of a late start. Most mountain trailheads are a couple of hours drive outside of Los Angeles so even if we leave at 6 am it's late by the time we get there, stretch out and commence. Leaving the trailhead at 9am we didn't have a clue what was in store for us other than it is a 4000' elevation gain and a 11 mile round trip. Mt Baldy is a ski resort in winter so as you can imagine a few of the climbs we made were on super steep ski runs. We were on the Devil's Backbone trail and a devil it was. The views were spectacular especially on the saddle which is only a few feet wide with sheer vertical drop offs on either side and views of So Cal all around. Definitely harrowing as we struggled with gravity and climbed ever higher to the summit, aptly named for the lack of trees. And then we basically skied down in our hiking boots until we found the trail again. It took 5 hours to summit and 3 hours to get back down.
Our little mountain walk Up Whitney this summer is 22 miles round trip so it's important to test our distance endurance. After battling hellacious Mt Baldy we decided that distance without elevation gains was in order so off we set for the Sespe Creek trail in beautiful Los Padres National Forest. Situated near Ojai, up and up we wound the mountain road (in the car) to an elevation of approximately 4000 ' to the Sespe Wilderness. Our goal point was the Sespe Hot Springs - 19 miles round trip. It was a glorious late spring morning and the wilderness was brimming with wild flowers and good water flow in the creek. This is a gorgeous area and the trail is fantastic. I better qualify... fantastic if it isn't 87 degrees. Wow can that heat zap your energy! I had very important plans back in LA that night so I needed to get an early start. As it were the drive up there was a little farther than anticipated so we didn't get on the trail until about 9 - much too late when such a hot day is looming. In the end we didn't make it to the hot springs due to time constraints but we did manage about 14 miles round trip. This is definitely a trail I would like to return to - much earlier in the spring - and actually make it to the natural hot tubs. We talked with a guy who had been up there just 4 weeks earlier and he said there was still snow on the trail.

Inching ever higher to our goal of 14,500 feet we practically sprinted up San Jacinto in mid-June. There are numerous ways to access the summit but Jack and I opted for the Palm Springs tram to jet us up to 8000' in 10 minutes via a gondola hugging the rocky mountainside. You would think that the mountains would be cooler, especially at elevation but they jut up above the brutal desert floor and can get quite warm. Climbing through Idylwild was risky on this front so we cheated a bit by taking the Palm Springs Tram but the hike was still about a 2500' elevation gain and 10 miles. This was a beautiful and not too difficult trail. Again, 360 degree views of all of So Cal that will take your breath away. Making your way to the summit in the last 1/4 mile is a scramble over boulders all the while fighting the crowds for the best place to wedge in to capture your summit photo. It was an insanely windy day so there was no lingering, not that there's room anyway as it's really just a rock. Luckily my pack was quite heavy that day which I'm certain prevented me from blowing off the mountain.

Hiking days are very long and tiresome under the beating sun and bashing wind. I expect that Whitney will take us about 10-12 hours to summit and 8-10 hours to descend. Although it is not a marathon our permit is only good for 24 hours so I needed a gauge on what our time and mileage abilities are. Next up San G, the highest mountain top in Southern California. Permits are required in the San Bernardino National Forest and since the Vivian Creek trail is a popular training hike for Mt Whitney they limit the number of hikers on any given day. The trail is 9.3 miles to the peak and over a vertical mile in elevation gain (5,423'). Covering 18.6 miles round trip it took us 7.5 hours to ascend and 4.5 hours to amble back down. This was an ass-kicker. Thank goodness it wasn't overly hot. Luckily we even experienced intermittent cloud cover and sprinkles of rain otherwise this would have been an unbearable day. Overall, I found it easier than Mt Baldy but the added hours really push your limits.



You can see more pics of some of my favorite hiking spots and inspirational Mt Whitney on my pinterest board.