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My long tough trek to K2 Base Camp
After over 40 adventure trips around the world I finally met my match on this trip to Pakistan. This was a difficult trek not due to altitude (although it was above 14000-15200 ft)but terrain. I hiked about 80 miles up and over hilly, rocky (very rocky) glacial moraine through intense heat at the base (85-90 degrees) to a…
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Mt. Whitney Summit 10/9/2021
First time summit of highest point in the lower 48 states. 14,508 ft 6,647 ft elevation gain 20.9 miles Went with a group I met on meetup and hiked with for a year. Had walkie talkies and person at the base monitoring us. Weather was brutal with snowstorm blowing in day before. Temps with wind -4 degrees but warmed up to…
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Mt Pinos/Sawmill/Grouse 3 peaks/1 day
This is a hike in the Los Padres National Forest over 50 miles north of Los Angeles. The hike starts at the Los Pinos Nordic Base at 8300 so it’s only a moderate hike. Miles 10.44 Elevation gain 2200 Mt Pinos is the highest mountain in Ventura County at 8847 ft Sawmill Mtn is the highest mountain in Kern County at 8822 ft…
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Condor Peak -San Gabriel Mountains
I’ve read about this hike and really only serious hikers do it. So I decided to try it and finish it before the really hot weather hits here. Condor Peak is located in Tujunga Canyon and is 15.75 miles with 4,258 elevation gain. The peak is at 5046 ft and was originally named fir Condors who used the area as a habitat long…
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Mt Hawkins + South Mt Hawkins hike
Total miles 13.53 Elevation gain 3487 ft Peak 8850 ft Wanna get away? That’s what I thought driving 1 1/2 hours to get to this trailhead deep into the San Gabriel Monument at Crystal Lake. Friday can almost be like weekends with crowds so I was hoping with the distance and difficulty I wouldn’t see many people. And I…
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Ontario Peak #18/18!
Before I go over the hike I originally thought it would take me 8-12 months to finish this. It doesn’t mean I’m stopping hiking and I’ll still post because I can think of at least 12 more hikes I want to do. My initial motivation was to go on hikes I had heard about but never hiked (17/18 hikes were either completely new…
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San Gorgonio Mountain aka Old Greyback #17/18
I have to admit I’ve wanted to hike Gorgonio for some time after hearing about it from so many locals. This is the tallest mountain in Southern California and the stats speak for themselves: R/T : 18.55 miles from Vivian Creek trailhead Elevation Gain: 5,492 Summit: 11,530 ft Time: 6 hours up/4hours down. The mountain is…
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Mt San Jacinto #16/18
This is a serious mountain at least on the Marion Trail to the peak. I had attempted this mountain in Feb but on the Deer Springs trail which is longer but not as steep but had to turn back due to snow depth. Trail was 12.73 miles out/back with 4,498 of elevation gain to the peak at 10,834 ft. The first 2.5 miles almost…
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Strawberry Peak #15/18
Located in the San Gabriel mountains waaaay down the Angeles Crest highway sits Redbox Canyon and the trail to Strawberry Peak. At 6,165 ft the elevation gain is 1,788 but most of that comes during the last 1.5 miles where you climb steeply up and over two false summits before the peak.7.49 miles out/back. Saw 8 people on…
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Rattlesnake Peak #14/18
Have you ever gone on a hike, finished it then wondered “why did I do that?”. Well that’s Rattlesnake Peak for me. I only picked it because it’s listed as the second most difficult hike in the San Gabriel’s next to Iron Mountain (which I completed no problem). My first mistake was going with a meetup group. It was small (5…
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Mount San Antonio (aka Mt Baldy) #13/18
Mount San Antonio at 10,066 ft is the high point of the San Gabriel mountain range, the county and metro Los Angeles area. A popular peak, most hikers refer to it solely by “mt Baldy” which was a name given to it by American settlers to describe the bare Baldy Bowl face that faces south towards LA. With snow coming Monday…
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Sunset Peak #11/18 forgot to post!
Ok so I didn’t think people would notice but I didn’t post about this peak - it wasn’t that special. Sunset Peak is a mountain just on the edge of Mt Baldy Village in Southern Cal. It’s not a big mountain at 5796 ft and only 7.3 miles and 1371 elevation. People hike up here for the views and it’s a nice moderate hike. I…
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Iron Mountain (aka Big Iron) hike #12/18
I have to admit I’ve thought about this hike for a while. Hikers in Southern California talk about Iron Mountain (8009 ft) in whispers using words like “brutal” “grueling” and “believe in the myth” and calling it the most difficult day hike in the entire San Gabriel range. The difficulty comes largely from the epic…
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Mt Wilson #10/18
I have been waiting to hike Mt Wilson for what seems like years. The standard route has a road that is constantly washed out then we had the fires which closed that route until 2022. I found this other route which is longer at 14.45 miles; 5600 elevation to the 5710 summit. Located in the San Gabriel Mountains in the Los…
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Cucamonga Peak #9/18
Have been hiking a lot but couldn’t find a good peak for my 18 peak challenge due to rain/snow. Cucamonga Peak is one of the highest in the San Gabriel mountains at 8,862 feet. It is named for the 19 th century Mexican land grant Rancho Cucamonga that was right below it. I decided to attempt this and waited until we had…
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San Mateo Peak #8/18
This was quite the hidden gem of a trail. Not the hardest or highest peak it was a beautiful trail that traverses the San Mateo Wilderness through a wooded area that is just spectacular. San Mateo Peak (elevation 3,591) is the unofficial name of the highest point in the Santa Ana Mountains south of the Ortega Highway.…
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Snow hike in California
I like to challenge myself on my hikes so I got this brilliant idea to attempt a summit of Mt San Jacinto (10,834 ft) using a 19 mile trail from Idylwild (total out/back)which is in the San Bernardino National Forest and partly on the Pacific Crest Trail. I had my micro spikes with me along with all my other gear. The…
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Hiking Mount Lukens #6/18
So I’m continuing my personal 18 peak challenge and today I hiked Mount Lukens in the Angeles National Forest. At 5075 ft, this is the highest point in the city limits of Los Angeles. The mountain is named after Theodore Lukens the former supervisor of the Angeles National Forest and former mayor of Pasadena. I chose the…
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Echo Mountain/Inspiration Point #3/18
I’m continuing my personal 2021 challenge of hiking 18 peaks. This hike sits in the Angeles National Forest in Altadena, CA (next to Pasadena). This is a 10.5 mile loop trail that after 2.5 miles takes you to Echo Mountain. At 3176 ft it’s not the tallest mountain but it has historical significance. A railway was actually…
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Los Pinos Peak #2/18
I challenged myself to climb 18 peaks this year so I would have a goal even if my hiking travel gets cancelled again. Los Pinos Peak is not that high at 4510 but the 7.25 Miles to get there is another story. The trail starts out steep with the first two miles climbing to a flag. Here is the trail after the flag. The trail…
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My first summit of Mt Baldy via Bear Canyon
Ok so it’s not a huge mountain but people in Southern California love to hike up Mt Baldy so I figured I would do it. I finally found a good meetup group with a great leader who focused on safety, proper gear etc. Bear Canyon route is known to be difficult as a 6.5 mile trail with 6000 ft elevation gain up and then you…
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Midweek Training hike - Mt Baden Powell
I have been curious about this hike after hearing about it for the past few weeks. Located in the Angeles National Forest, the mountain is named after the founder of Scouting - Lord Baden Powell. The mountain is part of (and highest point of)the 53 mile Silver Moccasin Trail that scouts could complete and earn a badge.…
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Summer Hiking Series - Modjeska Peak
So as many of you know all my international hiking trips cancelled sending me into Southern California hiking exile. This is a local peak that is right next to Saddleback Mountain which is the higher peak with all the antennas. Modjeska is named after a famous polish actress Helena Modjeska who lived in the area. The peak…
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Summer hiking series- Pine Mtn via Acorn/PCT trail
I’ve been to Wrightwood/Lake Arrowhead area but never hiked this trail. A meetup group posted so I joined in, 10.5 miles about 3750 elevation gain up to 9000 ft. The trail starts out climbing through pine forest but is relentless switchbacks ( not the most difficult I’ve ever done but I was trail running the day before and…
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My summer hiking
So I’m kind of depressed since my fourth hiking trip this year that was scheduled in October to Nepal was cancelled. I find most of the trails here are too crowded, mostly fire roads and the altitude is nothing much (10-12,000). But this summer I started back on the trails and on Saturday I did a nice 16.5 mile hike from…
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My Saturday hiking semi disaster
So I decided to hike Sitton Peak which is a local easy 10+ mile loop (3273 ft). I’ve hiked it many times but had not been up since Covid. Started 6:45 so about an hour later than I planned (first mistake).Trail was really overgrown but bugs were really bad. I didn’t have my bug net (second mistake). Then since I was the…
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Meet up hike Saturday......with 63 people??
So for the new year I said I would try some new things. Some of my friends do all sorts of things with different meet up groups. So I looked up my local one and they had one called Big Hikes where they do some of the better known longer and sometimes more challenging hikes. I have done a lot of these hikes many times over…
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Hiking in the Alps
Just got back from hiking in France,Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and Austria. It was not a difficult trip but really wanted to show my husband the area as an overview. Just glad I didn’t gain weight as the portions of food are now American size- it didn’t used to be that way. Anyway here are some pics. The snowy summit is…
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Trekking in Bhutan to gangkhar puensum
For all my hiking/trekking friends here, just came back from Bhutan. Fantastic weather so have some pics of my trek. Never saw anyone else there except nomadic communities (yak herders). Bhutan tightly controls who is there via permits/fees. On our trek there was 11 of us and only 19 total permits were issued this year for…
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Reaction to vaccine
I do a lot of adventure travel so I have to get a lot of vaccines. I am going on my third "yellow card" of vaccines and have never had a problem. The MMR one was a little tough but nothing that impeded my exercise routine. I just finished my second dose of the new shingles vaccine and OMG I was in bed most of the day…
