Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Prep Hike Mt. Baldy?

My husband and I were able to secure overnight permits for early September to hike Whitney. He has hiked Mt Whitney twice as a day hike and once overnight. However, this will be my first time.

I would like to do a warm up hike (I know nothing compares to Whitney) this weekend (day hike). I was thinking Mt San Antonio AKA Mt Baldy but from what I have read online there are a bunch of different routes and I am not sure which one I should do.

Any advice????

Thanks in advance,

April

I suggest starting with hiking Icehouse Canyon up to the Icehouse Saddle. It's short at 3.6 miles one way, but the average grade is 15% compared to Whitney's 10%. It's also a rocky trail that will test your footwear for Whitney. The next week take the same trail, but continue on to Ontario Peak for more distance and vertical gain. Then go for Mt. Baldy itself via the Baldy Bowl trail. This trail gains 4000 feet in 5 miles. That's 2/3's of Whitney's gain. This is a super workout trail with some steep sections. Tom Harrison Maps has an excellent Mt. Baldy map with all these trails and more. Good luck!

The decision as to which route to take should probably be based on your current level of conditioning and how many other hikes you plan to do. Since your Whitney trip is more than a month away I assume you will be able to do more than one training hike. I strongly encourage you to do as many hikes as possible as they will help to make your Whitney experience that much more enjoyable.

If you've not hiked very much I would not try any of the more strenuous routes and might opt for Baldy Notch to the summit via the Backbone trail after taking the ski lift to the notch. This will give you about 6 miles at higher elevation. If you are feeling a little more adventurous you may try Manker Flats to the Notch and then the follow the backbone trail. This is about 12 or 13 miles roundtrip. If you get tired on the return you may be able to take the ski lift down ($5). There is no water on this route so you will have to carry alot. I usually go through 4-5 liters on the longer Manker Flat roundtrip trail.

If you've already down those routes and want something a little more challenging try the ski hut trail from Manker Flats. Although the route is shorter by about two miles, it is incredibly steep in places and very tough. The ski hut trail branches off the fire road from Manker Flat about 200 yards after San Antonio Falls. The early section is very steep, but the trail gets even steeper after crossing the bowl behind the ski hut. I had friends there last night and they said there is water in the stream near the hut.

There are several steeper and more strenuous trails including the hike from the village up the ridge line, but I do not reccommend them and encourage you to consider some other peaks instead. Try San Gorgonio via Vivian Creek and San Jacinto. There are several routes up San Jacinto of varying degrees of difficulty. Most people find that doing the SoCal trifecta (Baldy, San G, and Jacinto) to be a good start at conditioning. The more often you do these peaks, the better you're Whitney trip will be.

SpankyBob gave some good advice. For a lot of Baldy talk, see the thread "Hiking Mt Baldy" on this board. It was last added to on August 5. I was tempted to add a message to elevate it to the top of the list, but it is easy enough to find right where it is.

The toughest way to do Mt. Baldy is the little known North Backbone Trail, accessed on Blue Ridge above Wrightwood. Over one hill and two mountains then you get to do the thing all over again on the return. This is the toughest 8 miles in SoCal.

Manker Flats and Village routes will both give you a good workout. My preference is either San Bernardino Peak or San Gorgonio. Both have a couple of different routes and SB has less people than Baldy if you want a bit of solitude.

Bill

Bill,
"The toughest 8 miles in SoCal" ought to generate plenty of comment. I'm not so sure I agree. How about one of the toughest 8 miles in SocCal?????

The "Northern Backbone" trail over Pine Mountain and Dawson Saddle is not that tough and can easily be done in one day, even if you start from the little "acorn" trail which drops straight down into Wrightwood. The toughest hike in the San Gabriels is Bear Flats (village) trail to Baldy and then traverse West Baldy to Iron Mtn and down to North Fork San Gabriel. You need a car shuttle, but if Glendora Mtn. road is open, it's no problem. Second hardest hike is up Iron Mtn the other way (Heaton Flats). If you can do Iron Mtn and get back before the sun sets, you will barely break a sweat on the Whitney mule trail.

Agreed. But, I believe you mean down to the East fork as opposed to the North fork. Heaton is on the East fork which would help you connect back via Glendora Mtn. road. As mentioned before, this was all discussed back on 8/5 on "Hiking Mt. Baldy"

I have to second Spike's statements about Iron Mountain. My son and I have done Iron Mt. from Heaton Flat 3 times in 3 years. It's one of our favorite hikes. You know you'll have the summit to yourself.

We have not tried the traverse to or from Baldy, but it obviously makes for a considerably harder hike (in either direction). Perhaps when he's old enough to drive, I'll try a car shuttle with my son. If I'm not too old by then. :-)

Iron Mt. is the hardest hike we've had in the San Gabriels. We put the Bear Flats trail up/down Baldy as #2 (in our limited experience). We will try Baldy from the north one of these days, though.

Having not summited Whitney in late May due to the soft snow, we continued to hike during the summer for a return trip this last weekend. After 5 hikes of varying difficulties in the local So. Cal mountains totalling about 45 miles, we found the one thing that is hard to prepare for is the elevation above 11000 feet. Hike as much as you can and get up to the portal a few nights before you hike. That really makes a difference.

We did Manker flats to the peak then along Devil's backbone, a good hike but not nearly as hard as San Gorgonio via Vivian Creek or San Jacinto Peak via Marion Mountain,(really steep). Both are more difficult and you get elevation with them too!

Spike, Alan, Scott,

This is 8 miles RT. Iron Mountain and Baldy via the Village are both ~16 miles RT. Iron Mtn. has the reputation as the hardest hike in SoCal having never done it I don't know if that is the case, personally. What I said for its relatively short RT length I don't think there is harder 8 miles start to finish in SoCal.

If this trail is easily done you are a way better man than I am.

Bill

Bill,

I have no opinion at present on the North Backbone trail -- except that I would like to try it sometime. The posts here got my interest up.

There are quite a few good, hard hikes in Southern California. I think it became clear in the previous Baldy thread that one probably shouldn't recommend them to someone training for a first-time Whitney trip. They can be overkill.

On the other hand, there is something to be said for overkill if you know what you're getting into. Our last big hike before Whitney this year was Cactus to Clouds. The Whitney day hike was a breeze after that!

Thank you all for your help...I will definately check out the other Mt. Baldy thread as well. SpankyBob: We really do only have time for ONE hike before our trip to Whitney because we are heading up there early (3days before) to acclimate and do some small day hikes. This Sunday is our only available day that we have more than 2 hours to hike which is why I was looking for a hike that could possibly compare in some ways to Whitney ( I understand nothing will compare to the elevation at Whitney). I have done some hikes prior to us getting permits....We went to Yosemite in July and did Half Dome, Clouds Rest (from Tuolumne), and Glen Aulin, we hiked 60+ miles in 5 days (not bad for a ro****), I have also done Baden-Powell and a few other mountains in the San Gabriel region this season. However, I have not hiked (due to surgery) in a month and I am feeling unprepared now which is why I was thinking Baldy would give me a good idea whether or not I was ready for Whitney.

Thank you again for all of your advice,

April

FYI the word that got *** out was R-O-O-K-I-E....didn't realize that was a bad word!

I will have to agree that the info given by SpankyBob is correct. One thing you should note is that the trail to the skihut is easily missed if you are not paying attn. I prefer to go up via the skihut trail and then come down the backbone. As for the hardest 8 mi. in So. Cal. well that can depend who you are hiking with.

Going up the skihut trail is better then going down the skihut trail, since it is so steep in places. You walk down the road, past the gate, 0.9 miles and walk for the thin trail leaving to the left. It can be hard to see. It is right after where the road turns to the left. Come down the devils backbone past the ski lodge and save your knees.

Kabilderbach- I wish you luck on your Whitney trip and think you have a very good attitude that should help you reach the summit. Let us know how it goes.

Kashcraft,

I agree about descending the Ski Hut Trail. I have never come down the Ski Hut Trail for that reason but those ski runs at the end of the Backbone Trail are no bargin for your knees either.

I'm very willing to pay the $5 and take the ski lift down.

Bill

Did the backbone route this weekend with a couple buddies... pleased to report that we didn't resort to the ski lift on either end, even after stupidly descending the very steep ski run straight to the day lodge instead of the longer but more gentle alternative. We got another chance to practice our crab-walking on the very steep and rocky, but thankfully short, stretch of road leading to the ski area parking lot.

I'm surprised this hasn't already been mentioned, but the opportunity exists to get some extra high-altitude work by hitting West Baldy or the top of Mount Harwood while you're up there. We were feeling pretty good and did both, adding a mile and some great views to our hike.