I came, I crawled and I conquered! I custom printed the t-shirt for the occasion. I did come prepared with a gorilla tripod so I could take better selfies using a self-timer or a shutter remote. I did crawl to get to the iron pole marker that tells hikers they have just hiked 3.5 miles from the Baldy Notch Ski Area into the Devil's Backbone Trail. The Devil's Backbone Trail has this reputation of being treacherous to hikers who could not wait until the snow melts or till late spring when it is less dangerous to hike. I conquered for my bragging rights.
The photo was taken by a male millennial who asked about my background. I thought he was asking where I am from at first so I told him that I come from San Diego. When I told him that I am an Asian and specifically Filipino, he said that he is from France and born to a French father and his mom is from Laos. He moved to LA from New York more than two months ago and he did four hours from Manker Flats to the summit. Not wanting to admit that I have been crawling on the trails at a snail's pace for more than 6 hours, I told him that I cheated and took the ski lifts instead.
It took me more than two years to finally bag good old fucking Mount Baldy. After shamelessly
bagging San Jacinto peak with a meet-up group in 2014, I decided to start hiking my own hike so as not to cause drama to the meet-up hikes I have been signing up with after some time. Nobody but me knows that I conquered Mount Baldy with either baby steps or geriatric shuffles.
The sack Buddha from the Northern Philippine cordilleras, too, came to bag good old fucking Mount Baldy. I knew I looked just as silly as I amused myself pretending to take photos of the glorious holy shit with selfie takers in the background. The sack Buddha was also with me at the San Jacinto Peak.
I couldn't believe I have been close to the summit the first time I attempted to bag good old fucking Mount Baldy through the Sierra Club Ski Hut trail into the Baldy Bowl. It was at the Baldy Bowl Trail where I met Ginger who was hiking with a special needs child. They were on their way to the summit for the umpteenth time. It was Ginger who told me that the mountains will always be around when I told her that I just turned around and decided to bag the summit another time. We talked about how hikers have fallen to their death while trying to bag good old fucking Mount Baldy.
Good old fucking Mount Baldy is in the middle of nowhere and a compass of sorts. I took the east approach from the Manker Flats into the San Antonio Falls fire road to the Baldy Notch via the Devil's Backbone Trail. My first attempt into the summit was through the south approach. The route starts from across the Manker Flats campground through the Sierra Club Ski Hut trail. I made past the Baldy Bowl which I think is even more brutal than the last leg of the Devil's Backbone Trail, some quarter of a mile more to go before reaching the summit. Aside from being on the Pacific Crest Trail route, the good old fucking Mount Baldy is also on the San Andreas Fault Line.
Lying on the ground after a backbreaking hike was so tempting. I thought of Tae Kwan, the Korean backpacker I met at the Baldy Notch trail. He was making his descent and he mentioned that he spent his night on the summit. I asked him about backpacks and if he had done San Gorgonio, my next must hike peak in order to earn a medal from Adventure 16 through their 3-peak challenge. A16's 3-peak challenge entails hiking the three tallest peaks in Southern California. This includes the good old fucking Mount Baldy at 10,064 feet elevation; San Jacinto Peak at 10, 834 and Mount San Gorgonio at 11,503 feet.
While waiting for hikers for their customary selfies by summit landmark, I went on a shooting rampage with my D3200. The two gentlemen in red looks like regulars to the summit from the West Hollywood gayborhood.
The annual race to the top trail running competition concluded about an hour before I reached the summit. There were still a lot of hikers lining up for their solo or group pictures by the summit landmark like there was a fair at the summit. There I was, the aging participant observer, happy Baldy to me!
A good number of the hikers I saw at the summit are Native Americans, also known as Hispanics. I used to think of the dominant population in Los Angeles area as Mexicans but upon reading the history of the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, I now think that the Hispanic population in the Los Angeles area are descendants of the Tongva Tribe. The Tongva tribe of Native Americans became Gabrielino Indians to the Spanish conquistadores who posed as friars and forces and manned the San Gabriel Missions in the late eighteenth century. The Tongva tribe of Native Americans inhabited what become the Los Angeles basin which now constitutes most of San Gabriel Mountains National Monument.
There I was!
Comments