Mt. Baldy

Last Saturday Kirk and I hike Mt. Baldy with some friends. It turned out to be a little bit more of an adventure than any of us had bargained for.
We started out nice and early and moved along the trail. About 3 miles in, we hit snow and the trail was hard to find. We ended up leaving the trail and just going straight up the hill to a ridge where we knew we would find the trail again. From the ridge, we headed up to the summit. The wind started to pick up, and since we were at 9000 feet elevation, it was pretty cold. None of us had jackets either, just long-sleeved shirts. As we moved up, the wind also blew in fog/clouds. It was really pretty as they moved in, we couldn't see the city at all, just the clouds.

We were also in snow the last mile or so up to the summit. Again, we couldn't see the trail and just followed footprints through the snow to the top. It was so cold! I just focused on the guy in front of me and kept moving. Kirk made it up a little faster than the rest and sat under the last bush to stay out of the wind a bit.

Finally we all made it to the summit. We were so cold we were only at the top for a minute to snap a picture then we headed down.

We went down a different way than we came up. Again, the trail was covered in snow. We were in a hurry to get down off of the top and missed the actual trail. We were headed north instead of east. Luckily we realized this pretty soon and didn't get too far off, but it did mean cutting our own trail through the snow. We could see the real trail and where we wanted to end up, but 0.6 miles ended up taking about an hour. Here is a picture of Katie, Hope and Brit following Kirk's foot prints through the snow.

Finally we made it back to the trail and followed a section called Devil's backbone. It is named because of the steep dropoff on either side. By this time we were in the fog and couldn't see far down, but I bet it would have been pretty scary if we could. The fog was pretty though. It was kind of mystical and made me feel like I was walking through a scene of Lord of the Rings.

It was a really cool hike though. I would totally do it again, especially if it wasn't as cold or if I were more prepared. I'm glad that we got friends to go with us too. That makes it better.

Now I have 3 days of school left until summer vacation. I have a few plans for the summer: my parents and Melissa will be here for my first week off, then we're headed to Utah for a week. I'll also be visiting Lindsey in Idaho for a few days and of course hiking Mt. Whitney. Kirk and I also want to go backpacking in the Sierras. Gotta fit it all in in just 7 weeks! It should be a fun summer!