Overnight at Mt. Baldy with the Fritz

SoCal’s favorite summit and one of the deadliest mountains in the US are ironically but not surprisingly the same mountain, Mt. Baldy, or Mount San Antonio. 15-20 people have lost their lives on the mountain in the last 10 years. Most recently this winter, during the rescue, or more accurately, recovery, of one hiker, the helicopter found the bodies of two more hikers who hadn't even been reported missing. At this point, you might be wondering why this blog took such a serious turn. Knowing me, I must’ve gotten lost.

I’m not sure how many times I’ve been up Mt. Baldy in the last 6 years, but more often than I’ve washed my car. I just acquired a new tent and a “short”, familiar trail seemed like it could make for a good test and a quick adventure. Also, doing this trail overnight meant I could bring Fritz along without worrying about him overheating. Good idea or brilliant idea? Does Fritz even have a say in this?
Starting from Manker Flats, the main trailhead, there are a myriad of options on how to get to the summit. The summit is 4,000 ft higher than the trailhead so as long as you’re going up, you’re probably going in the right direction. The most popular trail is the 6 mile Devil’s Backbone trail. This is nominally the easiest as the first 3.2 miles is a fire road and less than 1600 ft of climbing. The remaining 2.8 miles are decidedly steeper, precarious at times, where people fall and die the most, and the final half mile is a morale crushing rocky 600 ft climb. So you can see why it’s so popular.

The second most popular route is the Ski Hut trail, which shares the same fire road for the first mile, and then diverges to a steeper, sketchy single track trail, goes past the ski hut (surprise!) and summits in just 4.1 miles total, climbing 3400 ft in the final 3.1 miles. Why it’s not more popular is anyone’s guess.

Our plan was to take both! The ski hut trail going up and the backbone trail coming down. As for camping and water, there aren’t many options. There is only one water crossing, next to the ski hut, so I took 3 liters of water with me. Either way, I could refill half way down. The forest service allows permit free dispersed camping but realistically there are only a couple flat spots on the trail. Camping on the summit is also an option although it's windier than the barn door of a C-130. 
I left the house at 7:30pm on a Friday after work, waiting until most traffic subsided. Most, not all. L.A, where today’s rush hour doesn’t end until after tomorrow’s rush hour starts. We started up the trail at 10pm under a full moon. Barely needed a headlamp. Of course, while I was basking in moonglow, I completely missed the ski hut until I realized I was already in the rock fall below the Baldy Bowl. One decision made for me, I wasn't going to camp at the ski hut. We crossed the rock slides and made the next +600 ft climb in a quarter mile and that was enough. By midnight, I was pretty tired (surprise!) and decided to set up camp.

I got a Nemo Hornet Osmo tent that I only set up once in the driveway. Setting it up at night with gusty winds and being unable to drive in any tent stakes was challenging in a good way. I’m going to say it was in a good way only because I like to suffer. It reminds me of my childhood. Fritz always looked at me like I could do magic - produce food and water, drive a car, turn on lights. But I got the feeling his impression of me took a nosedive as he watched me wrestle tent fabric blowing in the wind like a modern performance artist. I couldn't get the stakes in the ground so the rain fly just sat limp on the tent like a sad tortilla.

I tried to put Fritz inside the tent on his sleeping bag to hold the tent down while I tried to tie up its corners to rocks. He kept coming back out to show his disappointment and offer help. He was really excited when I crawled into the tent with him as he realized that this sad tent was for both of us and not punishment for being a bad dog.

We had 4 to 5 hours to sleep but this being an hour away from L.A., traffic is ever present. Hikers passed by periodically, and Fritz had to bark to let them know that a dog probably set up this tent. By 5am, we had maybe 3 hours of sleep and that was going to have to be enough. Well, consider this an all night hike with a long nap. Mind. Set. Match.  

We packed up quickly, split a small packet of tuna (mmmm, fishy breakfast), and left for the summit, a mile and +1300 ft away. That took less than an hour, though I was still partially disappointed in my “slow” summit of 2H50, albeit now with a 30 lb pack. We missed the sunrise by a few minutes, although that wasn't our A goal. It was a C goal. We wanted to C the sun rise. Ok, if you're still reading, condolences for your diminished decision making capacity.

We took a long rest at the summit, stopping for 20 minutes to eat. Fritz had his full breakfast. I warmed up some soup and had a half rice crispy treat - that’s about 160 calories for me between 10pm and 8am. I don’t think my trainer was impressed with my fueling plan. Good thing I don’t have a trainer. 
The descent starts with a juicy steep section with a lot of loose rocks. With all the rocks sliding down over the years, Mt. Baldy must be at least 18 feet lower than it used to be. Baldy and receding, just like me. This is the only part I let Fritz off leash because it wasn’t safe for either of us to be tethered together.

The next section was the infamous Devil’s Backbone. But it’s only sketchy if you have a functioning amygdala. Steep dropoffs on one side, steep dropoffs on both sides, heck even sections with steep dropoffs on three sides don’t really bother me. The trail itself is wide enough for two feet or four paws but not both at the same time. Fritz and I had to run single file. In the winter though, this is where all the L.A. idiots come to die. The winter route is the ski hut trail. Somehow going straight up a steep hill is safe, but crossing one is dangerous as feck. For us, 2.8 miles later found us safe at the ski resort called the Notch.

I was really relieved to make it here. Not only could I get a can of coke and possibly even a full meal, I could dump the two frizzly poo bags I’d been carrying for hours. I could even take the ski chairs down to the car, though dogs aren’t allowed leaving Fritz to navigate the last few miles on his own. But unburdened of his poo, lightened of some water and tuna, I strolled the final 3 miles with Fritz relaxed, footloose and fancy free. Nothing like the first couple miles when my feet were tight and I was full of fancy.

A quarter mile from the finish, Fritz gave us one more souvenir. At least I didn’t have to carry it for too long. Thanks, buddy. Man’s best friend right there.
Stats. 10 miles, 4000 ft of climbing and descent, a few hours of sleep, 5H:20 hours of hiking, 11.5 hours elapsed, 300 calories (coke, tuna, soup, rice snack), average 92 bpm heart rate - easy on the cardio, tough on the quads.