Mt. Baden-Powell and Mt. Burnham

I finally got out again to pick off a few peaks, after far too long spent in from of the TV, being pissed off at the sad, sad response of FEMA to the New Orleans disaster.

I'd been meaning to go up Mt. Baden-Powell for some time now. It is the second-highest peak in the San Gabriels, right on the Pacific Coast Trail, and leads to a few other interesting peaks. I figured I'd get Baden-Powell, then Burnham, and maybe Throop.

As it turned out, I slept in (darn that drinking the night before) and didn't start up the trail 'til nearly 11AM. I made it to the top in a little over two hours, where I was greeted with a fabulous view. I guess with a long weekend of no commuting, the air has a chance to recover -- I could easily see San Jacinto, San Gorgonio, and even the Channel Islands. Woo hoo.

After spending a few minutes at the summit, admiring the Baden-Powell monument,(Why would folks cross out the G-d section of the monument? Ugh.) listening to the wind whistling over the gliders whizzing overhead, I headed down.

As I had some plans for the evening, I headed along the ridge to Mt. Burnham, but didn't manage to make it all the way to Mt. Throop. There was no register on top of Burnham -- it looked like a crew had been up there cutting down trees during the fires last year, and perhaps it was destroyed then.

In any case, I zipped down, shared some water with some guy who was climbing with a little one-liter bottle, and made it back in time for a Labor Day party in the evening. All in all, a fine day, although I still managed to blister my toes a bit -- maybe it is time to get some new socks?