Ice House Canyon Trail Mount Baldy
My friend Talley was in town this weekend for a wedding and I found out he had decided to hike Mt. Baldy on Sunday. Well, I can’t pass that up, right? So my best friend Matt, Talley and I head out at into the early morning and arrive at the trail at 6:30am. The parking lot is bustling with life as an REI Adventure club starts organizing outside the bathrooms. We decide to hit the trail ASAP and so we head out ahead of them.
Most of the way up the trail we were alone except for the people we passed. Then we reached an area where a couple people had put up tents. There was about 12 of them. Then there were stretches where what would have been peaceful appreciation of nature was split by the loud conversations of a couple frat boys. Their presence was quickly forgotten when we got to the first patch of ice. The trail was completely covered with snow in parts, forcing us to find alternate routes including some footsteps across hard packed snow/ice. Luckily for me, my shoes have alot of good tread on them, so I was only slippy once or twice.
The ice aside, it was pretty good going up, but up at the saddle is where we had to turn back. It was ice and snow all the way up…and we didn’t have crampons or snowshoes. Add to that a bone-chilling wind and we weren’t minding heading back down at that point. It was so cold, I couldn’t move my fingers well enough to operate my camera!
Anyway, we headed down fairly quickly as we wanted to get some early lunch since we had alot of free time on our hands after failing to make the peak. On our way down, Talley decides that his ass is done storing a vile concoction that would put mustard gas to shame. After loosing this abomination on Matt and I, we all manage to move along down the trail. About 5 yards out, we pass a man and his son. We start the countdown…5..4..3..2..1..then a faint exclamation through the trees, “BOY, YOU BETTER CHECK YOUR DIET!” We all break into laughter and Talley has a self-satisfied look on his face.
After lunch at the Mt Baldy Lodge, that was the end of the fun, so we packed it up and headed back home.
Miles covered: 7.5 round trip
Elevation Gain: ~2,700
Rating: Intermediate
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