Distance: 5.3 miles round trip on trail and dirt road
Summit Elevation: 5275' (Emma), 5061' (Old Emma)
Elevation Gain: 1850'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 1.5
Round trip time: 2 hours 45 minutes
Recommended water: 24 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free at turnount on Mount Emma Road
Difficulty: Easy
Emma (HPS #254) and Old Emma (HPS #274) are frequently climbed mountains south of Palmdale. The official signed Mount Emma trail starts from a turnout on Mount Emma Road. The road was paved, but somewhat isolated with little traffic. I parked the turnout and followed the good trail up to Mount Emma where I found a triangle marker, register, and benchmark. Emma had nice views of the northern San Gabriels. The temp was about 45F, but the wind made it cold blowing steady at 20-25mph. I put my hood up and followed the wide, rolling, dirt road that connects to Old Emma. It's about 1.5 miles between the Emmas, with Peak 5080 in between. Old Emma had a summit cairn, but no register. Instead, beer and soda cans adorned the cairn, along with an old shoe and random bits of trash. Old Emma appears to be a popular party destination. I took a break behind a juniper tree on the north side of the summit to get out of the wind and looked down on the Little Rock Reservoir. I took a use trail down the ridge back to the road, then hiked 1.5 miles along the road to the truck. Eight cars passed me in that one. A black Nissan truck took interest and pulled over at a turnout a few hundred feet in front of me. After waiting about 30 seconds, it pulled back on the road and left. It was either a good samaritan who saw I was not in distress, or a serial killer who decided I was either not a lone female or not an easy target. I'll never know which.
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