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West Bear Canyon

Posted on July 28, 2008 by: Traveler

  • The trail for West Bear Canyon (for anyone feeling so inclined to hike it) begins at the Mount Baldy visitor's center.
  • Follow the little signs (oddly enough they say Mount Baldy lies ahead) pointing through the residential area. Would have been nice to see just one more sign like this at the junction.
  • See! Hikers Welcome! That right there should have told me I didn't need to look for pink ribbon put up by the Forest Service Rangers.
  • A very large oak tree growing through a residence.
  • Can't really make it out, but to the far left side of this house is Old Glory; a tree with a seven foot diameter.
  • This is a platform that I believe a house will be built on. Interesting!
  • After crossing this rickety bridge the trail starts.
  • The source of contention. Take the RIGHT trail here if your destination is the summit of Mount Baldy. If ravine hiking is your cup of tea, then continue ahead and cross just a little ahead where the pink ribbon hangs from the opposite bank.
  • Trail picking up on the opposite side with pink ribbon pointing the way.
  • This has to be the way! Right?
  • Upon arriving at one pink ribbon, I could pretty much pick up the next one up ahead.
  • Pink and blue (or yellow from previous picture), I didn't care as long as there was one pink.
  • At this tree, the trail pretty much meanders up the scorched hillside, and then picks back up higher in the ravine. I guess if you have a bunch of firefighters, carrying all their gear, travel over the same spot then the their will be a visibly trodden pa
  • Back in the ravine looking down. At this point, I figured I would hike up to the ridgeline and traverse to the right where I knew the trail was heading.
  • Narrow boulder strewn ravine.
  • I do admit, I did like the boulder hopping and the scenery across the valley made me want to go higher for a more expansive view.
  • Blooming Yucca
  • Slow moving made me finally abandon even the thought of traversing to the right and completing the Bear Canyon Trail.
  • Back down in the canyon, I stopped along a portion of the stream that had a small (tiny) cascade.
  • The leaves at this tiny cascade were like small ferns.
  • Does this look like a trail to you? I thought so too... once I was finally on the right track.
  • Had I just walked up a little bit in the opposite direction. Damn pink ribbon!

Closest City: Mt. Baldy
State: California
Country: United States

Mount Baldy is a hiking destination I could return to over and over. The mountain offers some huge gains (4,000 ft. or more) on every route to the top. I have ventured up two of the three major routes up the mountain; the Baldy Bowl and Devil's Backbone Trails. In May of 08, I attempted to hike the third and longest route up Mt. Baldy with my buddy Randy (Beer Gut).  I don't watch too much T.V., and I'll admit, I should have at least turned on the morning news for the weather forecast (that didn't even cross my mind though). So Beer Gut and I are driving up for a day hike on the Bear Canyon Trail and his friend calls inquiring if we had been turned around because of a wildfire and recommended we be careful. Thanks buddy, no worry's... then we round the bend and see California Highway Patrol cruisers blocking the way! Well, we were turned away at the intersection of Mountain Ave. and Mt. Baldy Rd. Set back but not defeated, we headed for Mt. San Gorgonio (roughly an hour away). We had our minds set on hiking (and we were preparing for a trip to Yosemite), so up Gorgonio we went. Just above High Creek Camp, the trail was completely erased from the snow, so again we had to turn around without summiting. The thought then came to mind we just weren't meant to be up high this day. On the way down, we could see the fire burning on the flanks of Mount Baldy. Thanks Chippies! End result was the fire burned approximately 500 acres but didn't destroy any dwellings. Good for the mountain folk, I guess. That wasn't my end result though because I had my mind set on doing the Bear Canyon Trail, so the stage was set for a repeat attempt. I drove back to the Mt. Baldy Visitor Center (sans Beer Gut) where the Bear Canyon Trail begins it's climb up the west flank of Mount Baldy. 

The trail starts out through a residential area (look for the TRAIL signs. After crossing a scrappy plank bridge you will begin walking on a dirt trail. Look left and you will spot a few more cabins on the hillside. At the first trail junction is where I went wrong. Now, I'll just skip to the end and tell you I went the wrong way on this day and didn't summit Mount Baldy. Not standing on top of the highest point of the Angeles National Forest wasn't entirely my fault though and I say this for two reasons. The first was no good map (sorry Tom Harrison Maps) and the second was pink ribbon (I'll explain).

The Bear Canyon Trail is an established trail. There shouldn't have been anything confusing about the route up, except when I came to this junction not depicted on the map and two equally established trails branched off in different directions. I knew there were switchbacks coming up but I didn't know just how far. So I decided I would travel a little bit up both trails to make my decision from the terrain. I started straight ahead following a little creek bed and then I looked across the creek to see a pink ribbon hanging from a tree branch on the opposite bank. Straight it was! That's the clue I was searching for...what I should have done was follow my own thinking and see some of both directions at the trail junction.. That would have told me beyond a reasonable doubt that I should have taken the right fork. I'm so stoopid!!! Not so fast with all the judgements here... I was following the guidance of a friendly Forest Ranger.

Yep, on a previous hike up the Baldy Bowl Trail, a Ranger gave me the advice to look for pink ribbon which they use to indicate the true beginning of the trail. The Baldy Bowl Trail follows a paved road for the first 0.9 miles (past San Antonio Falls and through a couple more switchbacks. A very faint trail rises up from the left and then it's a straight shot to the summit. Well, the residents of the area consider Mt. Baldy to be "their mountain", and take off the ribbon to keep at least some hikers away. So, on the Bear Canyon Trail, when I see this pink ribbon on the opposite bank, what the Ranger told me about the pink ribbon marker on another route up this mountain is all that comes to mind. I begin to follow this trail across, and what do you know, I see another pink ribbon, then another. I'm onto something here... even though the trails disappears at times and is faint in others the pink ribbon has to be the way. Sometimes the pink is hanging with yellow and blue ribbon too, but I don't care... one of them is pink! The signs were screaming wrong direction but reasoning was out the door. Finally, I abandoned the pink ribbon theory after climbing up a narrow, boulder strewn ravine.

So here's my theory, the pink ribbons (and yellow and blue) were for the firefighters battling that 500 acre blaze from the previous weeks. Yeah, I saw evidence from the fire but I only thought, "Man, I hope this didn't burn all the way up!" After hopping back down all the boulders and walking through the burnt area, I arrived back at my "wrong way junction". I had to see how convincing the trail would have been to the right. There would have been no dispute! Oh well, stay tuned for that post because the third times a charm.         

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Tags

West Bear Canyon, Bear Canyon Trail, Mount Baldy, Mount San Antonio, Angeles National Forest, Mount Baldy Visitor Center, hiking, backpacking

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