Madan and I drove to the nearby Monrovia Canyon Park and hiked on a real trail for a little more than half an hour up the mountain and up a fire road for a little more than half an hour. We plan to come back again sometime this winter.
Madan and I drove on I-10 West for half an hour then up north on Mountain Ave and Mt Baldy Road for half an hour to Mt. Baldy ski lift. Took the lift ($10 roundtrip), hiked up the devil's backbone and the exposed face of Mt Baldy to the top. It took us only one hour to run down to the ski lift. Well it took one hour and a bad fall for Madan. The ski lift stopped twice on our way back and it was scary.
Dharma and I rode to the northern access to Mount Baldy but we really didn't. Bad idea to try to drive a non-SUVian car on the dirt road that starts at Angeles Crest highway way up north about 3 miles past Vincent Notch and 50 miles from La Canada. We didn't reach Mount Baldy. The road was blocked by a gate after about 3 or 4 miles. Then we walked around a bit and ate lunch.
Went to Joshua Tree National Park with Madan. Drove east on I-10 for about 100 miles. Then on highway 62 (29 Palms highway) for 30 or 40 miles to the West entrance of the park. Entrance fee is $10 per car. There is a road running from West entrance to the South entrace. We drove on that road for a few miles and took a detour to Key's View. This provided with the first glimpse of amazing scenery in the park. Then we drove 5 or 10 miles to the trailhead for Ryan mountain. We hiked up Ryan mountain (1.5 miles each way) and ate our lunch at the peak. I almost forgot my backpack but thankfully Madan reminded me. If you hike up Ryan and are carrying a backpack, make sure you have Madan with you. The hike up was easy and pleasant with bunch of small desert trees. The view from the top is interesting because on the west side you see all the cool rock formations but the east side looks very boring -- almost flat. Came down and started driving to the east and it turns out the eastern part of the park is not as boring as it seemed. When you are down on the ground you actually see a lot of rock formations and Joshua trees. After 5/10 miles of driving, we stopped at Jumbo rocks. The place had a lot of big rocks. We spent about half an hour on the northern side of the road just climbing around those big rocks. There was skull rock that looked like a skull on the southern side of the road right by the road. When we were on the southern side we did a bit of exploring. Our goal was to go south a bit then turn west and back north to the road. We went south for a bit, then there was a canyon running north south so we could not directly go west because the cliffs were too steep. Then we kept on going to the south and we reached a point where the cliff was not too crazy and we went past the canyon, then walked to the west to the campground. We read the notice boards in the camping area and walked about 20 minutes on the paved road of the camping area to the main road. After our exploring Jumbo rocks, we drove 40 or so miles on the park road to the southern entrance of the park. We got to see all we want Joshua trees and the roack formations and the mountains with lots of rocks - small and large. From the south entrance of the park, we had to drive about 130 miles back home on I-10 west.
Hiked with Madan. Left around 7.30. Took 10 West from Alhambra, then north on Pacific Coast Highway for a long time. Then took a right on Yurva Buena and drove on a hilly and windy road for good 5 files or so at 15 miles per hour. Started hiking around 9. Reached Sandstone Peak a.k.a. Mt. Allen a little after 10. We thought we were lost but there can't be that many mountains with 3111 ft of height in the same area. No where on the top it says it is Sandstone Peak. After spending 15 minutes, we wanted to hike more to the north/west. Turns out it is called Exchange Peak. After about half an hour of walking we reached the foot of the final climb. The scrambling that leads to Exchange Peak was the best part of the hike. After spending about half an hour on the peak, we headed back. Driving back was uneventful except for the surprising stop and go traffic (on Saturday) on 101 South. I guess Hollywood is busy all the time. All in all, about 140 miles of driving, and probably 3.5 miles of walking.
First hike in California. With Madan and John. Left John's place around 9am. Madan drove. We kept on going on Angeles Crest Highway for a long time while going from Pasadena. The parking lot for the trail is on the left while going up the mountain and it is easy to miss it. We missed it and had to drive back. The trailhead is close to the Switzer picnic area. The trailhead was unmarked -- there is a small sign at the begining of the trail. Madan's first real hike (not really first, but he keeps on saying this is the first real hike). The trail is easy for the first hour or so along the creek, then it keeps on going up and up and up climbing out of the canyon. Madan got tired almost to the point of frustration. Josephine Saddle with the water tank at 2.1 miles had to be Madan's napping place for today. John and I then headed off to the peak. It is easy to not find the "real" way to the peak from Josephine Saddle. If you are on a path that is gently inclined, you are on the wrong path. Go north for less than a minute on the big trail, and you will see a steep unmaintained looking trail on your right, just go up that way. It is easy to think maybe you are not on trail and are just bush whacking. The first scrambling part was a nice change from just walking for the last two hours. It does get scary at times and by scrambling I mean, you can't walk and you have to pull yourself up a steep face of a mountain. After ten minutes of scrambling, walk for around half an hour then comes the real scrambling part. This one lasts about half an hour. It is steep downhill then uphill all the way to the summit. You will lose trail several times except for the occasional paint on the rocks, but it does not matter - trail or no trail it is the same. Just keep on working the rocks till you reach the summit. John and I ate lunch and came down dehydrated. We were so thirsty by the time we were at the trailhead. I had two litres of water, but that wasn't enough. I will gladly come here again, and the last one mile (from Josephine Saddle to Strawberry Peak) was the best part of the hike. I was thirsty for two days after this hike.