Mount San Antonio is the highest point in the Sierra Madre, the big flank of peaks that hem in the suburbs of Los Angeles on the north. I grew up in Azusa and later, La Verne, all the while within sight of mighty Mount Baldy, as Mount San Antonio is almost always called. In Azusa we lived within a mile of the foothills, while in La Verne we were a bit further out. I never ventured into them as a kid other than the occasional trip with my folks, cub scouts, soccer team or similar. I certainly never got close to the summit. The lower slopes are a thick carpt of manzanita, nearly impenetrable and not attractive. Why bother hiking when there's so much great on TV? Anyway, much later, as a more mature adult, I got interested in the peak as part of the county highpoints project, Mount San Antonio being the highest point in Los Angeles County. The peak actually straddles San Bernardino County as well, but it is not the highest point in San Berdoo County (Mount San Gorgonio is, which I hiked in 2001). My brother and his wife and their new baby Emma live in Cucamonga, so I planned a trip west to hike the peak and elicit smiles from little Emma, as best I could.

I left Phoenix at 4 p.m. on Friday, July 21st. It was searingly hot - no surprise. The drive was uneventful until I passed Palm Springs on Interstate-10, coming up the grade into Cabazon (where the dinosaurs from Pee-Wee Herman's Big Adventure movie live). It was dark at this time, and ahead of me on the highway I could see brake lights and swerving of cars in my lane. Finally, I saw the reason why: some moron was standing in traffic! He stood in my lane, not moving; I was about 300 feet away and closing in fast. I leaned on my horn, and he started to run AWAY from me instead of running to the shoulder. Worse yet, he began to run in a zig-zag pattern. I braked but didn't lock up as there was moderate traffic all around me, including a big rig in my immediate right (slightly behind me). Finally, and it happened so fast, he made it to the shoulder just as both I and the trucker began evasive maneuvers, the trucker very nearly hitting my right-rear bumper. I came very close to running into and likely killing that person; it's by dumb luck I didn't. After screaming the F-word to myself at the top of my lungs to come down from my adrenaline high, I called 911 and got the CHP to check out the situation. I arrived at my brothers around 10 pm. Emma put a smile on my face!

Oh yeah, the hike. The next morning I drove to the Mt. Baldy Ski Area (actually stopping about 0.3 miles short of the parking area). It was about 9 am when I started in on the hike, a little later than I usually like to start. The trailhead is at 6,100 feet and for the first 3 miles or so is a Forest Service Road. As such, it was wide, well-graded, not to steep but very long and tedious. Finally, it arrives at the top of the Ski Area (the "Notch"). Normally, even in summer, the ski lifts are working for day trippers but this time all was shut down for some reason. I resumed hiking along more access roads until I passed the last of the ski lifts and came to the Devil's Backbone, a ridge with some pretty impressive drop-offs to both sides. The elevation was about 8,000 feet. Directly ahead of me was Mt. Harwood, a sub-peak of Baldy. Baldy was not visible at this time.

The trail goes up and down across the Backbone, then gains steadily up the south face of Harwood across thin forest and scree slopes before finally coming around a bend where Baldy is visible. Finally the trail levels a bit, comes to a saddle, then begins the final 800-foot gain up sketchy trail to the summit. The summit is pretty big, and there is a big metal sign at the actual highpoint. It was about 12:20 when I arrived. About 20 people were relaxing at the top, with about another 30 still making their way up, so it's a pretty popular hike. There are no trees at all (hence "Baldy"). It was warmer than I'd planned and I was going through my water a little quicker than planned, so I didn't stay at the top too long, maybe 15 minutes, before starting down.

The trek down went slow because of the loose footing in places and my general tiredness. After an hour or so I was back to the ski-lift area where I relaxed under the awnings of the ski-school with a few other hikers. I got some water at a spigot and talked with the others, spending about a half-hour here. Finally, I descended back to my car, taking a steeper, rockier trail directly below the ski-lift. It was poor footing but it cut 2 miles and about an hour of hiking for me, so it was worth it. I recovered at a small bar/restaurant, then drove back to RC. That night I went on a ride-along with my brother, a police officer with the City of La Verne. Lots of fun. Total gain: 3,900 feet in about 11 miles and 6.5 hours.