On a shoulder of Mt. Williamson, heading down. Photo Jeff Johnson
By Jeff Johnson
The summer of 2015 was not good for hiking in the local mountains. It was hot, then hotter, then there was fire, and smoke, then storms, or at least the threat of storms, and then more storms. Our hikes kept getting canceled during the peak summer season when we should have been out enjoying the beauty of wild southern California together.
Group shots and selfies at an overlook on the PCT. Photo Nancy Beverly.
But by October, things still looked good for our scheduled hike in the San Gabriels from Dawson Saddle to Mt. Baden-Powell. Then a summer rockslide onto the Angeles Crest Highway east of Islip Saddle cut off access to Dawson Saddle.
So what could we do that would be high enough not to be too hot, and would not be overrun by crowds diverted from closed areas? Most of us have been to Mt. Islip enough times recently. How about Mt. Williamson from Islip Saddle? The trail from the Islip Saddle parking lot toward Mt. Williamson is a section of the Pacific Crest Trail. I had never been to Mt. Williamson. So I joined the GLS group that diverted there on October 10.
Checking the map to decide whether we really had arrived at the summit of Mt. Williamson or whether it was the higher bump in the background. Photo Jeff Johnson
Some of us started up the trail a little weighed down because we didn’t trust the weather even for a short day hike, so brought extra layers and extra water. It wasn’t long before we met a PCT through hiker whose backpack looked smaller than mine. He said that everyone brings too much stuff. He had shipped a bunch of stuff home from Washington right after he started in the Spring. He said the group he was with was averaging 25 miles a day. For us, maybe some day, but not October 10.
On the Pacific Crest Trail where it traverses a steep slope below Mt. Williamson. Photo Jeff Johnson
This is a nice section of trail, well-maintained and, since this area has not burned recently, many trees. Lots of views in all directions from a different perspective than from the peaks that we visit most often, which are to the south of Mt. Williamson. Since most of the people in the trailhead parking lot were going south on the PCT, our trail on the north side of the road was not crowded.
At the junction of the PCT and the Mt. Williamson spur trail, we met a group of Korean hikers, or at least hikers from Koreatown in L.A. who were speaking Korean. They took our pictures and we took theirs.
The summit of Mt. Williamson is one of several bumps on Pleasant View Ridge, but we were not completely sure which of those bumps it was. We found a stone pile on the top of the first bump and decided to call that bump the summit. After a snack and a brief nap for at least one of us, we headed down. We made it back to the La Canada rideshare point early enough to still get things done that afternoon.
This hike is worth repeating. Maybe next time we can continue to more distant bumps on Pleasant View Ridge.
A view of peaks on the high ridge of the San Gabriels south of Mount Williamson, including Mount Lewis, Mount Baden-Powell, Mount Burnham, Throop Peak, Mount Hawkins, Middle Hawkins, South Hawkins, and Mount Islip. The road below the ridge is the Angeles Crest Highway, part of the section of the highway that is closed until next year by a landslide that doesn’t seem to appear in this picture. Maybe it’s past Dawson Saddle, which is on the left side of the picture.
