Hot, Cool, and High Benchmarks

Hiked: 4/20/2019
Distance: 12.5 miles round trip cross country
Summit Elevation: 469' (Hot), 857' (Cool), 1833' (High)
Elevation Gain: 2475'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 1.9
Round trip time: 7 hours
Recommended water: 104 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free in Big Wash
Difficulty: Strenuous (combined)

I went benchmark hunting just west of Salton Sea before the desert became a furnace. I was looking for two benchmarks above Big Wash (Hot and Cool), and another one somewhere in the hills below Travelers Peak (High). I planned my own route from Big Wash off highway 86. A couple of mistakes made this a more difficult hike than it should have been. Both could have been prevented with better attention to GPS.

To reach Big Wash going south on highway 86, exit right at an unmarked intersection south of Red Earth Casino, then continue south on a jeep trail until you hit Big Wash. The road started off in poor condition, then got better. High clearance and 4x4 recommended. My first mistake was a driving error. Once I started up Big Wash, I ignored my GPS and just drove. I missed a north jog and took the wrong jeep trail into a side wash south of Big Wash. I stopped where I could turn around, but that added at least a mile to my trip and some unnecessary hiking up and down loose ridges to get back to Big Wash. Once in Big Wash, I headed toward the north ridge above it where Hot was placed. I went directly at Hot, and climbed up a crumbly gully. The gully had better footing than the ridges. I reached the Hot benchmark and signed in the tiny register.

Driving up Big Wash

Looking down Big Wash from Hot BM

Next, I headed along the top of the ridge toward Cool, two plus miles away. Moving along the top of the ridge was easy and open and looked a lot better than navigating the wash below. The ridge was broken in one place before Cool where erosion had created a 100' drop. It wasn't too hard to get down and back up the other side. A little more ridge walking got me to Cool where another tiny register lived. The first page of the register was a pre-printed form placed by the Borrego Benchmark Club. I don't think I've seen one of these before, or didn't notice. I took a break at Cool and enjoyed the views of harsh terrain all around. The east side of Travelers Peak looked interesting.

Accidentally startled a bird out its nest

High BM is somewhere up there

High benchmark was less than two miles away (as the crow flies) and 1000' above Cool somewhere in the cluster of hills to the west. Because of deep canyons and cliffs, I headed toward the south side of High, then turned north where I could see contiguous ridge line. As I reached the right elevation, I made my second big mistake. Instead of tracking to the exact location in my GPS, I hiked up to a nearby high point and found nothing. I checked the GPS, then headed to the next nearby high point, then the next through the intervening gullies. I ended up wasting about 30 minutes visiting every high point and ridge line in frustration. High was near a low point on one of the ridges and I finally found it by strictly going to the GPS coordinates. It was there on a flat rock with a downed wooden pole. I signed in to the register and took a longer break. The view back to the Salton Sea was now less hazy and quite impressive. When I started back, I took a long gully I had avoided on the way up. It had accumulated some boulders that actually made descending easier. I thought about dropping all the way into Big Wash to the return trip, but it looked more difficult than just staying above it. I returned the way I came and ran out of water on the last mile. I picked up three mylar balloons during my trip.

Looking down from High BM

Travelers from High BM

Heading back

Ridge break

Wild Things San Gabriels v3

Another foray into Grand Canyon in the Angeles National Forest came up somewhat disappointing. I moved the camera from a successful location the previous trip to a more stable location at the base of a small tree. It was in a location where a lot of animal traffic had previously traveled, but it appears the winter storms had altered the terrain enough so that animals were finding easier ways up and down the canyon. I got one bear on the way down, but she never came back up in front of the camera. I did catch a pair of deer going up a very steep slope where I would never have suspected. I'll chalk it up to a learning experience.

Brown Mountain Loop

Hiked: 4/12/2019
Distance: 12.1 miles round trip on trail and cross country
Summit Elevation: 4466' (Brown), 4406' (4406), 4288' (4288)
Elevation Gain: 4211'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 3.4
Round trip time: 6 hours 40 minutes
Recommended water: 92 oz.
Parking/Fees: Adventure Pass at Sunset Ridge
Difficulty: Strenuous

John Robinson's Trails of the Angeles was the first hiking book I ever read. I used to spend hours going through each hike in the book and dog eared the pages for hikes I wanted to do. One of those was the classic Brown Mountain Loop (Hike 21 in my edition). It starts at Sunset Ridge above Millard Campground but parking at the campground works just as well. To get there from Loma Alta Drive in Altadena, go north on Chaney Trail to the parking area on Sunset Ridge outside a locked gate. The loop goes up Sunset Ridge trail and Millard Canyon past Dawn Mine to Tom Sloan Saddle, then over Brown Mountain, down the northwest ridge firebreak (picking up peakbagger peaks 4406 and 4288) to Ken Burton Junction, circling back to the Campground on Brown Mountain Road. I completed this hike with a short side trip into Grand Canyon to pick up a trailcam.

I think this was my fifth trip up Millard and Grand Canyon on the Sunset Ridge trail. Nothing much has changed over the last year except for some downed trees and a trail crew fixing things up. There was still plenty of water in the streams and plenty water coming over Millard Falls. I continued past Dawn Mine without stopping and ducked up Grand Canyon to grab a trailcam. The camera didn't have much on it -- one bear and a few deer. When I got out of Grand Canyon, I continued up to Tom Sloan Saddle. The trail was in a good shape with only one fallen tree across it. I stopped for calories at the saddle, then continued up to Brown Mountain over several bumps. A large rock cairn was at the summit with two registers. One looked like the regular Sierra Club register and the other was for something called the Mini Six Pack of Peaks. I hadn't heard of that before but must be some kind of play on SoCal Hiker's Six Pack of Peaks. It was nice day so I relaxed at the summit a while. I could see downtown LA through the smog, also Lukens and the peaks around San Gabriel Peak.

In Millard Canyon

Grand Canyon is bear country

Low class 2 on the way to Brown Mountain

Brown Mountain summit

Looking back at Disappointment, San Gabriel, Markham, and Mt. Lowe

I started down the northwest ridge with quick stops at Peak 4406 (with a metal post) and Peak 4288 (with nothing I noticed). There was a decent use trail down the firebreak, but it grew increasingly steep and was somewhat overgrown as it neared Ken Burton Junction and Brown Mountain Road. The last part of the ridge was uncomfortably steep and loose, but I was glad to be going down instead of up. When I got to the road, I met the first other human for the day, a mountain biker. I ended up meeting 4 other bikers on the way back to Millard Camp but no other hikers. From Ken Burton Junction, it's 5.5 miles back. And it's mostly uninteresting single track hugging the canyon walls. The only odd thing I noticed was a stand of tall pine trees about half way back that seemed out of place. In any case, I was glad to be on easy terrain and finished without any further breaks. There is one final 400' gain at the end on a connecting trail to the Sunset Ridge parking lot.

Peaks 4406 and 4288 on the ridge

Post on Peak 4406

This yucca was glad to see me

Looking back at Brown from Peak 4288

The steep part of the ridge

Ken Burton Junction below

Water tank at the junction

Almost back to Millard Campground

This friendly bear was in Grand Canyon back in March