Thanks Shin you and Rick did a great job ,often hikers in that condition are very combative , they get tricked by how fast they are on flat ground and low elevation and 80 degree weather. The clue for me is when you open the car door early morning at the trail head it is cold and hey something is different here smell and dryness of the air. Off set by starting out fast will offset the cold but then the trap is set, sweating and lack of oxygen /hydration shortage starts.
Hearing about situations like this make me feel very grateful for hiking solo, especially after my very peaceful and enjoyable ascent of Baldy last month.
The sections of Register Ridge trail from the junction of Ski hut trail to the very first big tree on the ridge were eroded badly by the rainstorm. Watch your head for a big fallen dead tree on the trail. You have to hike up on steep slope with scree with loose sands on the broken trail to the ridge near the bid dead tree on the ground around 7400ft where I saw a Snow Plant today. I don't want to hike down this section at all. It was just bad condition. The trail is good beyond to the summit. It was very nice weather conditions with gentle cool breeze at the summit today.
As always - thank you for your very detailed reports on Baldy trails and sharing your experiences. Do you happen to know anything about the condition of a trail from the Notch, especially the Backbone part ?
Hi Alex and Natalie, The section of Devils Backbone trail on all south or east facing slopes of Mt. Harwood and Mt. Baldy has been snow free for many weeks. There are several snow fields left on north facing slopes on both mountains. The section from Notch to Mt. Harwood should be dry completely. Please prepare for the heat when you come down on the fire road in the afternoon. It's getting warmer lately. Please send my regards to Gene. Looking forward to seeing you next.
It maybe too early to think about climbing snow covered Baldy Bowl in winter. The rainstorms from last year eroded the main bowl significantly and changed the contour of the bowl completely. Climbing up three very popular chutes in the main bowl will be very challenging. It is safely assumed that the depth of channel/groove in the bowl is similar to the deep channel (5-7 ft) toward the Rock Garden from the Ski hut. Hope that Mt. Baldy remains open all the year-round.
No news is good news. There are many young hikers and trail runners on the mountains lately. Some people start 2:30 or 3:00 in the morning. Both Icehouse and Manker flat parking lots get filled up very quickly on weekends. Last Saturday, my longtime hiking friend, 87 years old (?), summited Mt. Baldy. It was her 350th summit. It was inspiring to all of us.
It has been getting warmer. It is a good idea to start earlier to avoid the heat. I encountered a large black rattle snake along the Ski hut trail around 7000 ft. She was unwilling to move for several munities. Glad that she gave me a very loud rattling warning. It is a good idea not using headsets while hiking. It is a good idea to tap around the area with trekking poles before sit down on the rocks or trees. I ran into Tim Medvetz, The Heroes Project, and David, a veteran, training for the "Climb for Heroes 2026 Thunder Mountains". Let's organize "Team WPSMB" for Climb for Heroes 2026.
Same thing happened to me. Fortunately I heard the rattles. There should be sign "Beware of rattlesnake". As long as that brook is there, there will be rattlesnakes.
Hiker kindly reminded me for a rattle snake activity today on Ski hut/ Baldy bowl trail today. The trail is dry and the weather is getting very hot.
Ski hut trail offers very good shades to the west ridge, 8600 ft. (almost 70% of the trail) if you start early around 6:00 am. DBT is exposed to the sunlight entire way up and down, coming down will be a big challenge/torture in the afternoon. Many hikers bring dogs on the mountains on weekend. Dogs have very limited way (mouth, nose, paw) to controls body temperature. If the temperature is 80F. the ground temperature maybe 40-60 F higher because of reflective heat from grounds surface. Most of hikes refuse to take advice from other hikers to take care of their pets. Having water won't help to reduce the temperature that much. But dogs are telling you let's go home with AC by siting down on the ground or shaded area. It may be a good idea not to bring dogs, children, or infants under extreme heat condition.
Santa Clarita: A 3-year-old girl is recovering after a rattlesnake hiding under an Amazon package bit her as she picked it up outside her home. She spent two days in intensive care receiving antivenom, and her family is sharing her story to raise awareness.
It's interesting that there are a lot of snake reports...I had been thiniking that maybe rattlesnakes needed Protected Status because I was seeing so few...seen a few snakes on the road here in Thailand...I'm a month out from another trip to Ladakh...It sure is nice having friends over there now...this trip may end up being cheaper than last year's...at 2 weeks longer...wondering how uncomfortable a JMT hike would be with the heat I keep hearing about...? Enjoying riding in the rain and mud...only 3 more falls in the past month...up to 28 on the Kawi...I like our new home over here...Wife is actually going to retire early next year...added another motorcycle and a truck to the garage (that I don't have yet) over here...loads of stuff to unload over there...Shin, want a bike to make your trips to Baldy a little less expensive? Gas was up over (the equivalent) $5/gal...that's got to be punishing the farmers up here...
Mt. Baldy Devil's Backbone dangerous part of trail repaired, December 2025 deaths, Mount San Antonio
This video documents the August 4th and 6th, 2026 repair of the upper Devils's Backbone Trail. (Repair site just below Mt. Harwood, 0.8 miles below the Mt. Baldy summit, at 9,350 foot elevation.) The trail was badly eroded at an ice chute. In December, 2025, three hikers lost their footing on this trail, slid down the ice chute, and perished.
I recall that area being narrow and expanding the thread trail should help in the summer, winter it seems where the ridge runs into the slope and the step down area is the risky move. I don't know if that has been addressed?
The section of DBT repaired by Mark was damaged severely by recent rain. Is there anything hiker can do to help such as carrying a rock, small or large, from Harwood saddle every time hike down to fill the voids?
One section of Ski hut trail around 8000 ft crossing the deep small canyon causes many hikes get lost and ended up in wrong places. Or intentionally taking wrong trail for thinking taking a shortcut. Going up section before the canyon: I added two more rock barricades behind the first one to divert the view of going straight. Make right turn near the first rock blockage along the trail. There are 4 barricades in total this section. Coming down section before the canyon: Brent placed many dead trees at the wooden sign to block off or stopping going down deep canyon below. Please advise your friends to stay on the trail to protect the nature and make hiking safer and enjoyable.
There was a huge rock defaced with blue paint with unknown language on left side of hill as you hike up before Fire Road and Ski hut/Baldy bowl trail junction. Do we really need to deface it?
There were hundreds of orange trail marking flags from the Fire Road/Ski hut junction to the summit for a running event. The signs indicated to downhill direction only. Who has a right of way on the trail? Do hikers have to give a right of way to the runners coming down with full speed? Running down super busy Ski hut trail is not safe at all especially the entire trail was damaged badly after the rainstorm. Running down will cause more damages to the trail. The organization should pick Bear canyon for real running up and down for safer running event with less hiking traffic.
So hikers are the only ones to access to Baldy? Rather elite isn't it? Running events have been held there since the 1980s on Baldy - Baldy 50K , etc. I disagree that a hundred runners or so going down a trail create any more erosion than the thousands of hikers also using that trail over the summer. To think runners should not be allowed to hold an event, under conditions monitored by forest management, is exclusionary at best. I have run those trails several times in events and just for a fun running day. Runners generate no more erosion than hikers, especially those hikers who who cut switchbacks on trails. Additionally, event participants in events like the Angeles Crest 100 spend time rehabbing and building trails in the Angeles National Forest where most general day-to-day hikers do little. Your comments are off based.
