BAJA FORTALEZA

So, I've been wanting to do this peak for awhile now. This is part of a 3 peak trek. 

After Baja, is Fortaleza, then Alta Fortaleza. 

Just a little background. My friend Justin named them and has done some some trailwork. He made a nice path and cleared brush towards the first peak.

Alta Fortaleza aka Rafael benchmark was located by Sean in 2018. So, in the attempt to find it, Justin just named it Alta Fortaleza since it was the peak after Fortaleza. 

To add, getting to Fortaleza requires bushwacking through buckthorn and Alta Fortaleza is a steep climb a mile further. Justin is still working on clearing more thick brush.

Anyways, just getting to Baja Fortaleza was the first challenge. We started at North Etiwanda preserve. After a mile or so we took a left turn. (There is a pole with stickers and grafiti).

We followed the road for a bit just before the road splits and ascended the firebreak and followed the ridge route.

A very steep, rocky, slippery but cool route. The views are fantastic. You can see the back of Mt Baldy, Pine and Dawson peaks. 

There were some cool rock outcroppings.

This area is totally exposed with minimal shade under the bushes.

Once we reached the summit it was such a relief. We had 360 degree views. It's a pretty big summit. From here you cannot really see Fortaleza because its buried in the brush and Alta Fortaleza cannot be seen either because its past the steep ridge that you can see from BF.

On the summit. Swallow tail butterflies were all around and of course the nasty deer flies. No shade at the top. There is a register box. 

Only a few have hiked to all 3 peaks in a day. You really need to be fully prepared with lots of H2O, and energy.

I was pleasantly surprised to see my favorite wildflowers, Mariposa LIllies.

We hiked on a hot day and only made it to BF. We will return in the fall and do all 3.

A beautiful hike, and a good workout. I can't wait to go back.

Stats for all three peaks is about 9 miles with 4000+ gain.

JOSEPHINE PEAK IN THE SNOW

 On February 2oth right after the last storm, Biill and I decided to hike in the snow. We had a few choices but decided on Josephine Peak. Just an fyi: Mt Baldy has been closed several times this year due to many deaths. The Forest Service is getting a bit stricter on closures surrounding Mt. Baldy including Ice House Canyon as well, which I feel is a good thing. They are doing their part to save live but you still have the few dumb asses who get around it and end up plunging to their death. 

Anyhoooo, we started hiking at a chilly 35 degrees. We took the road up. Some of the guys from the Clear Creek Forest station where trimming trees along the road. We were the only ones on the trail going up. The views surrounding us were fantastic! especially the view of Strawberry peak. 

As we approached the saddle that's where the snow started to present itself. We took a short break at the saddle and soaked in views of the surrounding snow capped mountains. The most prominent and most snow to me was Mt Gleason. I could clearly see the snow on the trees. It was spectacular!

As we were walking along the road, it was very icy and slippery. Of course I donned my micro spikes but Bill didn't have any. He braved the slippery ice walking very slowly. I gave him one of my poles which helped. 

There was snow all the way to the summit. the last push to the top was very slippery and icy. We saw some dumb kids trying to descend without spikes or poles. Mostly on their butts crawling down. Dumb teenagers. How they got to the top, who knows! 

However, I did offer my advice and told them what to bring and to be prepared. I hope they learned their lesson.

Anyways, we made it to the top. The old wooden box that was there was destroyed. The top was covered with snow and even the benchmark. I could not find it and did not want to really look for it. It was very cold and windy. We took shelter behind the building behind the solar panels. 

I surprised Bill with some hot apple cider. I didn't tell him I was carrying my stove, We sat for a bit and admired the views before heading down. 

As we descended the road, several people started coming up with a late start. We found a few animal tracks and the clouds decided to put on a show during our descent. 

Overall, a great day for my first snow hike of the year. 

TONGVA PEAK & MT THOM

 I wanted to re-visit Tongva peak & Mt. Thom. It has been years since I did so. I invited Bill.

We began our hike on the Three Tees trail.  Then we hiked up a few steep firebreaks until we reached Mt. Thom. The photo-op rock is still there but with new graffiti on it. I have an old picture of one. Hopefully I can find it. 

Anyways, we continued on to Tongva peak. We had a break on the bench, and took the obligatory summit photos. Then Bill suggested to do a loop hike and descend the opposite way we ascended. It was nice. A longer way down, but scenic. The weather was good and we were the only ones on the trail until we got to the fork in the road where we met a few bikers. 

The clouds were amazing, and I found a few cool mushrooms and flowers

stats: 7 miles, ~2300 ft of gain