Thunder Mountain
I slept in too late to catch an HPS snowshoe out in the desert (I went to hear Paul Westerberg, and didn't get in 'til 1AM), so I decided to just go up into San Antonio Canyon and bag a peak. I'd hoped to go up Ice House Canyon to pick up Ontario Peak or Cucamonga Peak, but when I got to the trailhead, I found warning signs about an avalanche just a couple miles up the trail. A couple of passing hikers confirmed that it was there, and mostly impassable, and that the Chapman trail was looking ugly, too.
At this point, I fell back to going up from Manker Flats via the fire road to Baldy Notch. It wasn't nearly as pretty or as fun, but at least I had a good hope of not being killed by an avalanche. :-) Unfortunately, I wasn't alone in this decision -- the trail was busier than I'd ever seen it. A bunch of folks were postholing their way up without snowshoes, but watching them was enough to convince me that snowshoes were a good investment.
Once I made it up to the Notch, I decided that I really needed to nail a peak, since I'd already come so far. I wound up crossing the bunny slope at the ski area, clambering up a fairly steep, snow-covered slope, and strolling up a fire road to Thunder Mountain. From the map, I'd figured that the fire road would be a pleasant way up.
It was -- unfortunately, it was nicely groomed and covered with skiers. Most of them were pretty cool, some of them were very friendly ("No kidding, you just climbed up all that way!?"), and a couple of 'em gave me a hard time ("Hike up the fire road!" Of course, I was on the fire road, so I don't know what that was about).
The toughest part was watching all those folks ski around -- skiing is much more fun than snowshoeing. I mean, snowshoeing would be okay if I was out in the boonies, breaking fresh snow and seeing nobody at all, but there in close proximity to more amusing snow sports, I felt keenly that I'd made the wrong choice in equipment. :-)
All in all, though, it was a fun day. My legs ached, my feet were wet (so much for the waterproof boots!), and I was pretty dang tired. I had half-heartedly wondered if I could scam a ride back down the hill, but the ski patrol verified that there were way too many rules against that. (The ski patrol guys were especially friendly, actually.)
Next time I head up there, I'm definitely strapping on skis! I coulda just ridden the lift up to peak number 17.
Woo hoo. Just eight more to go to get to 25!
At this point, I fell back to going up from Manker Flats via the fire road to Baldy Notch. It wasn't nearly as pretty or as fun, but at least I had a good hope of not being killed by an avalanche. :-) Unfortunately, I wasn't alone in this decision -- the trail was busier than I'd ever seen it. A bunch of folks were postholing their way up without snowshoes, but watching them was enough to convince me that snowshoes were a good investment.
Once I made it up to the Notch, I decided that I really needed to nail a peak, since I'd already come so far. I wound up crossing the bunny slope at the ski area, clambering up a fairly steep, snow-covered slope, and strolling up a fire road to Thunder Mountain. From the map, I'd figured that the fire road would be a pleasant way up.
It was -- unfortunately, it was nicely groomed and covered with skiers. Most of them were pretty cool, some of them were very friendly ("No kidding, you just climbed up all that way!?"), and a couple of 'em gave me a hard time ("Hike up the fire road!" Of course, I was on the fire road, so I don't know what that was about).
The toughest part was watching all those folks ski around -- skiing is much more fun than snowshoeing. I mean, snowshoeing would be okay if I was out in the boonies, breaking fresh snow and seeing nobody at all, but there in close proximity to more amusing snow sports, I felt keenly that I'd made the wrong choice in equipment. :-)
All in all, though, it was a fun day. My legs ached, my feet were wet (so much for the waterproof boots!), and I was pretty dang tired. I had half-heartedly wondered if I could scam a ride back down the hill, but the ski patrol verified that there were way too many rules against that. (The ski patrol guys were especially friendly, actually.)
Next time I head up there, I'm definitely strapping on skis! I coulda just ridden the lift up to peak number 17.
Woo hoo. Just eight more to go to get to 25!
posted by K at
12:18 PM
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