High Sierra Topix

I hadn't been on a hike since January 1st so I was itching to get out despite the weather conditions. Actually it rained briefly in Torrance when we left at 7am but I thought we would give it a go once we got up into the San Gabriel Mountains. The locked gate at Islip Saddle had FINALLY been opened after 5 years and it was nice to drive up to Dawson Saddle where our hike would start today! I had never been on this trail before but had bagged Throop Peak on two other occasions. The weather was beautiful when we started out at 8:50am. Hardly a cloud in the sky. This would rapidly change however as we made our way up the trail. We took a planned "shortcut" up the North face of Throop Peak and signed the register (it was nice to see that someone had placed one there with pens no less!) at 10:25am.



We then scrambled down Throop's South face and connected with the PCT on our way up to Mt. Baden-Powell our end destination later in the day. At this point a weather cloud closed in on the mountain range and plunged us into a murky, foggy mess complete with light drizzle and increasing winds! (It reminded me on the Monterey coastline during the summer)


Andrew and I hustled our way up the switchbacks to top out on Mt. Burnham for lunch at 11:40am. We had the whole mountain to ourselves as there was no one else up there. The fog and drizzle increased as we scurried up to the top of Baden-Powell. There still are some snow drifts on the trail although easily avoided by hiking around.



We touched the top of BP at 12:52pm now completely enshrouded in a foggy, soupy mixture that made seeing others difficult! (Quite a few brave souls up there today!)



We left after 7 minutes (too cold and wet today to stay) and made it back to the car by 3:22pm. Because I haven't hiked for awhile this one REALLY got my legs burning! WOW! Here is our trip log:

8:50am Dawson Saddle Trailhead
9:57am "Shortcut" to Throop Peak
10:25am Throop Peak
10:43am PCT/Dawson Saddle Junction
11:40am Mt. Burnham
12:52pm Mt. Baden-Powell
2:33pm PCT/Dawson Saddle Junction
3:22pm back to Dawson Saddle at our car


Just another wonderful day hiking in SoCal! Many thanks to Andrew for hiking with this "old" man!

Thanks for posting the report. Its been a few years but that area was a favorite of mine when I lived within reach (your post brought back a lot of memories). I remember doing a similar route on an overnight and one night crunched up in a bivy against that summit cairn, being slammed by wind that sounded like a freight train.