Led by Jeff Johnson and Gina Masequesmay
Photo above: The view south over Crystal Lake from the fire road, Monrovia Peak center left and Mt. Wilson center right. Photo Jeff Johnson.
By Jeff Johnson
South Mount Hawkins is one of the most prominent high peaks in the central San Gabriels and one of the easiest to get to. It was the site of a fire tower, built in 1935, reached by a fire road from the Crystal Lake Recreation Area below. The fire tower burned in the 2002 Curve Fire and after that the fire road was not maintained. The road has now deteriorated until it is undriveable but it still very hikable for hikers looking for an steady, evenly graded route and willing to climb over a few boulders. And that is what we did.
Some of us came up to the Crystal Lake campground the night before to have a night of highish elevation before the hike and, since it was almost the start of the peak Perseid meteor showers, maybe see some meteors. Gina did see a few meteors over two nights from a relatively dark spot in the campground.
We were on the trail at the Windy Gap trailhead early on Saturday, before the parking lot was full. We had no trouble climbing over the washouts, gullies and rock slides along the lower sections of the fire road. The most dramatically washed out and rock-slidden spot on the road is where it crosses Snowslide Canyon. That gully was filled with snow as late as the end of June. The upper road is still in driveable condition though a car could never get there now since that part of the road is now cut off from the outside world.
At South Mt. Hawkins peak, you can still see where the fire tower stood. The concrete vault of the fire watchers’ pit toilet is now completely out in the open.
After lunch in the shade and a brief nap (for some of us) we headed down. The day was heating up, we were not in a hurry, and we made frequent stops in patches of shade.
The only flowers that stood out on the day were bright yellow blazing star (Mentzelia laevicaulis). We made a short detour on the way down to visit the Big Cienaga, a hillside seep above the campground. We were hoping to see lemon lilies (Lilium parryi), which have been abundant there around this time in past years. This year, we found only a few deer-chewed lily stems. We did find the indigenous yellow sneezeweed in bloom (Helenium bigelovii), fragrant California mint (Pycnanthemum californicum), bright cardinal monkey flower (Erythranthe cardinalis), and some kind of currants that had fruit (Ribes sp.).
