The Idyllic Spirit: Mt. Baden-Powell

I had another meet-up group over the weekend that involved climbing Mt. Baden-Powell, camping, and hiking the PCT the next day. It was fabulous!

Here's a little blurb on Mt. Baden Powell:

"Mount Baden-Powell is a peak in the San Gabriel Mountains of California named for the founder of the World Scouting Movement, Lord Baden-Powell. It was officially recognized by the USGS at a dedication ceremony in 1931. At 9,407 feet in elevation, Mount Baden-Powell is the 4th highest peak of the San Gabriel Range. The summit has long been a favorite hiking excursion either from the Mount Islip Saddle near Little Jimmy Trail Camp, or the Vincent Gap Trail which leads up a moderate to strenuous set of switchbacks from Wrightwood. Mount Baden-Powell is also the high point along the The Silver Moccasin Trail, a historic 53-mile Boy Scout hiking trail. The Vincent Gap hike leads through a variety of forested areas consisting of Jeffrey Pines, Ponderosa Pine, Lodgepole Pine, Incense-cedar, and an ancient forest of Limber Pine, some of which are more than 2,000 years old.
In 1957 several Southern California councils of the Boy Scounts of America placed a formal marker at the summit with a plaque dedicated to Lord Baden-Powell."

I have had some work stress this past week so I felt a little out of sorts on the drive up to the trailhead. As soon as I got up to San Bernadino and I saw the mountains and the clouds surrounding them, work became a distant hazy memory on the outskirts of my conscious.

Only 6 of us showed up for this outing- myself, Ed, 3 other gals that I have met before (Carolen, Ingrid, Nancy), and a dude named Tom. We started walking up Mt. Baden-Powell at about 2pm from the Vincent Gap trailhead. The weather was close to 70 but there was lots of shade going up with all the pine trees. I got a good rythmn going, Tom chattering all the while. The further we ascended, the more frequent the rest breaks. Altitude steals the breath. Up and up, one swithback after another. I felt like I was back on San Jacinto but without the heavy backpack. Nancy wasn't feeling well so she and Ingrid dropped back a bit and took longer breaks. Tom sped ahead and we thought he would be hanging out at the top waiting forever for us (turns out he only got there 5 minutes ahead of Carolen and myself). Ed decided to turn back because the altitude was giving him problems. Carolen and I kept a pretty steady pace, although very slow, and stopping frequently to catch our breath. We made it to the top and the 360 degree made every step worth it. It was a hazy day but you could see the valley and the desert floor. It was breathtaking. Carolen and I signed the trail register at the top and looked around a bit for Tom. He was nowhere to be seen. Some thru-hikers said he had continued along the ridge. We figured he was smart enough to come back down when he was done so we headed back down. We saw many thru-hikers climbing Baden-Powell and it was fun talking to them. We talked to a guy who's trail name was Half-Cocked and he was spent. He had hiked 14 miles already and was trying to get to the top of the peak.

On the way down, we saw Ingrid and Nancy- thought for sure they had turned back around but they kept pluggin' along and eventually made it to the top as well. Tom caught back up with Carolen and I on the way down and chattered our ears off the whole way. He was an interesting character and had some idiosyncracies I won't get into here. I try to keep my blog as non-gossip as possible- except when it comes to Dennis. I'm allowed to talk about Dennis though because I'm married to him!

Anyway, we made it back to the trailhead. It was 8 miles round-trip and took us 4 hours and 45 minutes.

We drove on over to the Blue Ridge Campground and I'm so glad I had the truck because the road to get there was GNARLY. We saw Ed at a campsite and he pointed us to the one remaining site so we snagged it. It was just Tom and myself and I thought the other gals would be joining us after they got off the mountain (Carolen had stayed behind at the trailhead to wait for Ingrid and Nancy) but they ended up staying at Ed's campsite when they rolled in. So I was by myself in a campsite with Tom. His antics were very entertaining and sometimes a little scary. He brought a 20 year old lantern and took him 45 minutes to light it and when it finally lit, the fuel was on full blast and the thing was engulfed in flames. Then he couldn't figure out how to reduce the fuel. I'm standing there with my toothbrush hanging out of my mouth and a nalgene bottle water, ready to douse the lantern if needed, and alternating between laughing hysterically and being scared out of my wits he was going to start a forest fire. Anyway, that was a little tidbit on Tom.

I had a new hammock I wanted to try sleeping in so I found a couple of trees to string it up. Tom was surprised when I said I was going to bed and it was only 9pm. That's known as hiker midnight and pretty close to my normal bedtime anyway so I trundled off to test out my hammock. I couldn't quite get into my mummy bag and still be balanced enough in the hammock so I used my bag like a blanket. It worked quite well and was super comfy. I laid there and looked at the stars and the crescent moon for awhile before I drifted off. I slept till about 1am when I woke up because my backside was cold. No insulation on the bottom of the hammock so I'll have to keep practicing and see what I can do about that. I took the hammock down and used it as a ground cloth, threw down my sleeping pad and bag, crawled in and had no thought about bugs or snakes or anything other than sleeping.

The next day we were to hike the PCT east from Blue Ridge to Acorn Trail. Tom decided he was done and wanted to go to a festival on the beach instead so he left. So Ed, myself, and the other gals started walking and words just can't describe the beautiful scenery, the fresh pine scented air, and the mountain vistas. It's a shame I can't adequately describe how I feel out there. A few miles in, Ed decided he was done and left us 4 gals to our own devices. We walked to where Acorn Trail splits off and it's 2.7 miles down into Wrightwood. But we turned around at this point and headed back. We took a break at Guffy campground to eat our lunches. These ladies had very healthy lunches and it made it me feel like I should be eating better (which I should!). I've kind of gotten into one of those phases where I don't care what I eat. Not good for the blood sugar. Then we continued on, stopping periodically to gaze out over the mountains or take pictures. These gals have a good pace, they stop to rest, and like to take pictures too so I felt very good hiking with them. Carolen happens to be planning to thru-hike in 2014.

We made it back to Blue Ridge in about 4 hours for a total of 7.5 miles.

I did get a cheeseburger at Carl's Jr. on the drive back but I think I need to quit doing that. I need to figure out something else to eat after hikes that is good for me but still satisfies my hiker hunger.

Enjoy some pictures!

Left to Right: Nancy, Tom, Ingrid, Carolen, Ed

These are snow flowers but I also learned they are called Dick Flowers because they look like penises! Carolen proceeded to call them Dick Weeds everytime she saw one. LOL