The official trails:
- Ski Hut trail (aka Baldy Bowl trail)
- Devil's Backbone
- North Backbone
- Bear Canyon
- Register Ridge
- San Antonio Ridge
- Devil's Backbone
- Ski Hut trail
- Register Ridge
- North Backbone
- Bear Canyon
- San Antonio Ridge
The Devil's Backbone and Ski Hut are the most popular by far. If you want solitude, any of the other trails get you some.
The single ascent I did in winter was the Ski Hut trail, and it was quite a bit more challenging with snow and ice. The Devil's Backbone is notoriously dangerous and fatal when covered in snow.
Register Ridge used to be a faint use trail, but it's well groomed now and seems more like a maintained trail.
For the San Antonio Ridge, I went up the Ski Hut trail, then descended from Mount San Antonio to Iron Mountain #1 and finished at Heaton Flat. The trail along the ridge is good until you get to Gunsight Notch, then it becomes technical and harder to follow. It remains one of the most difficult and dangerous hikes I've done.
An uncertain future
A couple of weeks ago, I started getting severe pain in my left shoulder. It built up over four days, and I woke up one day with limited ranged of motion. Multiple trips to the doctor, including a PT and orthopedic, showed arthritis and deterioration of the joint. The orthopedic recommended a shoulder replacement and I am waiting to complete the MRI and CT before scheduling the surgery. It will be a very long and difficult recovery with some permanent loss of strength. It's unknown whether I will be able to get back to the challenging scramble routes I enjoy the most. I knew the day would eventually come, just not this soon. I am left with mixed feelings about whether to continue my peak bagging adventures or call it.
Ouch, sorry to hear about your shoulder. Time catches up to everyone eventually. Neither of my ankles is in very good shape these days.
ReplyDeleteI've loved reading your posts all this time. I'd hate to see them end, but I wouldn't blame you if they did. Good luck!
Robert,
DeleteThank you for the well wishes. Ankles are probably a bigger concern for hiking, so I hope you can find a good PT to help you strengthen them. If you are anywhere near Orange County, I highly recommend Kinetik Performance and Rehab in Mission Viejo.
After reflecting a bit, I think I'll be able to continue hiking and posting eventually, but certain routes on my to do list will be too risky. There should still plenty of mountains in the Venn diagram of "interesting" and "able to do".
Right there with you, Tekewin. Will continue to follow the blog and your exploits no matter the targets. Hell, even the old AW Canyon training is fun to read about when you're the writer. Keep going!
ReplyDeleteGloop,
DeleteThanks. I appreciate your support, truly. I'm not in a great frame of mind at the moment, but Bob Burd just overcame a hip replacement, so how bad can a shoulder be? What bothers me most is being a burden on my wife. She has been more than supportive and she doesn't need any added burdens.