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 

FALL CREEK TRAIL

Fall creek trail was recently restored by Kristin and the Tujunga posse crew which included: Kristin, Sean, Lauren (RLC0 and a few others. 

Bill and I planned a carpool shuttle and hiked Fall Creek trail. We planned it on Tuesday, November 11th

We met at Hidden Springs campground. After a short drive, we started at the white gate. It was a late start, around 8:30 am but the weather was good. It was overcast with some cool cloud formations above us. It turned out to be a nice day. 
 
In my opinion, this is the best way to hike this long 5 mile trail. I've only hiked a portion of this trail, (this was last year when it was first being worked on,), so it was nice to do the entire trek.. The route, has its ups and downs but the scenery is gorgeous. I loved the views. We found a waterfall with a small trickle of water. Most of the trail was well maintained. 
 
As we got closer to the creek the trail gets a little tricky but we found some faded pink ribbons. After we pushed through and bush-wacked a bit, we discovered what looked like a private beach. A beautiful oasis with pools, cascades and huge colorful boulders. We took a break here and of course, I did some rock scrambling and soaked in the views of fall colors surrounding me. 
 
While I climbed the rocks, Bill was so kind to do some trimming. 
 
We then continued on road 3N27. From this point on the trail was nice again and the views really opened up to some more fall colors and amazing scenery. Once we reached the fork in the road we took a detour and Bill led me to the abandoned campground where we found a picnic table. 
This area really needs trimming but you can follow a use path. 
 
After re-tracing our steps we continued on the road. We had nice views of nearby San Gabes like Mt. Wilson, Strawberry, etc. 
For most of the day, we were the only hikers on the trail until we were approached by two others that started from the opposite end. After exiting the trail we walked a short distance back to Hidden Springs. 
 
Overall, the trail is in great shape. Very secluded and beautiful. There are now signs for the Fall Creek Trail that were not there last time I hiked this trail which was really nice to see. 

                               Looking across the canyon 

                                    Bill on the trial

                                Lots of colorful rocks

                                        Cool Fall Colors 

                                Huge colorful boulders to climb
                    

                                                        pathway to a secluded old campground