Iron Hiker: Glendora Mountain

Friday, April 4, 2014

Glendora Mountain

Hiked: 4/4/2014
Distance: 0.8 miles round trip on use trail
Summit Elevation: 3322'
Prominence: 182'
Elevation Gain: 275'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 0.22
Round trip time: 30 minutes
Recommended water: 0 oz.
Parking/Fees: Adventure Pass
Difficulty: Easy

About 10 hours earlier, I had descended from Jones Peak in the dark. Today, I was looking for a quick hike, and got an extra quick hike on Glendora Mountain. I'm not quite sure how this peak made it as one of the Sierra Club Great Lower Peaks, other than it has some isolation and clear visibility from Glendora. I wound my way up Glendora Mountain Road passing a handful of bikes. I was surprised by a long line of skateboarders coming down the other side of the two lane road at high speed. They looked like professionals with sleek nylon jumpsuits and full motorcycle helmets. They were probably moving 30-40 mph taking the hairpin turns in stride. After dodging about 25 of them, I relaxed again and continued just north of Glendora Mountain to a turnout where I expected a use trail.

Glendora Mountain had apparently gotten more rain than Jones during the week, and the slopes were damp and muddy. I located the use trail, finding it very overgrown. It had knee high green grass and several downed trees blocking the way. It was not pleasant tramping up to the ridge, where tractors had scraped a very wide firebreak to the top. There was also plenty of poison oak that I unsuccessfully avoided, and later developed welts on my arms. I would have been better off sticking to the firebreaks the entire way. The ground remained soft and muddy on the firebreak as I gently walked to the summit. I found no register or benchmark, just one empty beer can. I thought about packing it out, but decided it was a fitting marker for this mountain. I took a few half hearted photos, then turned around and got back to car, finishing a 30 minute round trip. The skateboarders were the highlight of the day.