There are 11 peaks in the Mt. baldy area which are very popular day hike destinations. Having done these at one time or another I decided to see if I could do all 11 in one day. With no luck getting my usual victims to join me I started from Ice House at 6:00 A.M. Saturday. I needed my headlamp for the first 15 minutes or so but once I was in Falling Rock Canyon there was enough daylight where I could put it away. I made it to Sugarloaf where someone had placed a new register container which looked very impressive. Someone had definitely put some time into making sure this one would stay. Unfortunately I have no pictures for the day as my camera went on the fritz.
After that I followed the ridge to Ontario where I couldn’t find a register. I then followed the ridgeline to Bighorn and then off the East Ridge to Cucamonga saddle. The rest of the day would now be on defined trail. I made it to the Cucamonga turnoff where I elected to go to Etiwanda first where again there was no register. I then followed Cucamonga’s North West ridge to the top. Heading on down to Ice House saddle where there were a ton of people as usual I elected to follow the use trail to Timber instead of going straight up the ridge. I decided to take a 30 minute lunch here as I was halfway done and needed a break.
After lunch I headed toward Telegraph’s switchbacks finally making it to the peak. The sun was still high in the sky as I headed toward Thunder. After Thunder I followed the road down most of the way to Baldy Notch. I had started the day with 6 liters and that would have been enough for the entire day but I decided to take a little break to drink something that didn’t taste like Cytomax J After a drink with some nice cold ice and with just three peaks to go I headed up the backbone where I made a semi-quick detour up to Harwood and then making my way up finally to Baldy where I stopped and chatted for a few minutes with some people who were camping.
With the sun getting lower I quickly headed over to West Baldy and finally at 6:25 I had tagged my last peak! I then traversed over to the Ski Hut trail where I had to put my headlamp on at the Ski Hut for the rest of the way.
I really wasn’t looking forward to walking down from Manker’s Flat back to the Ice House parking lot which would have been an additional 2.5 miles. I was fortunate to run into a hiker at the Falls who was coming down who offered to give me a ride down.
I finally made it to Manker’s at 8:20 PM. End of a long day.
Do this on a Saturday as the ski lift stays open till 8 during off season. That way if you're low on fluids you can fill up or if you want to bail out just take the lift down to the parking lot.
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