Sunset Peak
Jul. 1st, 2023 03:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
goobergunchToday is forecast to be the hottest day of the heat wave (with a forecast high in the 90s), so I decided to hike something relatively easy—Sunset Peak (5796'), from Crow Canyon Saddle (4523'). I didn't get to the trailhead until 8:25am, because I am not a morning person and finding waking up for a proper alpine start from a hotel bed difficult, even with piercing blue microwave digits glaring in front of me all night long. So it was already unpleasantly warm by the time I started up.
HPS Route #1 (4 miles round-trip and 1300' of gain) is just a firebreak trail that takes you straight up the mountain. No switchbacks, no concessions, only some flat portions and dips where the ridgeline dictates. Under normal conditions this would not be difficult. However I'm not in the shape I'd like to be in, frankly (and at this point that is a project for next season) and also, again, it was very hot. I was dragging pretty hard by the time I reached a fire road junction at about 5400', and at that point I realized that I could keep going directly up the mountain, exhausting myself, or I could take the fire road route to the top. The fire road is a bit further—it essentially runs north and west of the summit before switching back up—but much less steep. I could basically just cruise up at a reasonable speed. Just below the summit I encountered a couple other hikers who passed me coming up. Yeah, I wasn't the fastest party on the mountain today. Ascent time: 1 hour, 46 minutes.
As you might expect from a peak with 1273 feet of prominence, the views from the summit are quite nice, with great views of San Antonio Canyon, the higher peaks in the San Gabriels, and the haze over the Los Angeles Basin. There used to be a lookout tower, but it's long since collapsed and the wreckage is mostly uninteresting, although there's one beam to which people have affixed a row of stickers. I stayed long enough to take all of my usual summit shots, but between the heat and constant pestering by insects, I didn't stick around longer than that.
For my descent route I just went with fire roads all the way back to Crow Canyon. I figured that the firebreak, while shorter, would probably actually be slower because I'd have to worry about footing and actually take some degree of care on descent. Plus I like trying to loop hikes when possible. Sunset Ridge Fire Road has worse views, mostly because it mostly has trees growing on both sides, but at this point I was grateful for the shade and there was the occasional nice vegetation frame of one of the nearby peaks.
I made it back to the Baby Bronco in 1 hour, 22 minutes. I had the last parking spot on the road when I arrived, but there was only one other car parked nearby when I returned. Total time out was 3 hours, 28 minutes. A bit longer than I was hoping for (the Hundred Peaks Section website stats Route #1 as a 2.5 hour hike) but perfectly serviceable given conditions. That's HPS peak number 8 for me. I'm not actively prioritizing the list as I don't get to SoCal often enough to focus on it, but hey, it's something to slowly chip away at.
I spent the next few hours slowly driving back to the hotel and stopping at a couple used bookstores and comic shops. Gotta get some loot while I'm here, right?
HPS Route #1 (4 miles round-trip and 1300' of gain) is just a firebreak trail that takes you straight up the mountain. No switchbacks, no concessions, only some flat portions and dips where the ridgeline dictates. Under normal conditions this would not be difficult. However I'm not in the shape I'd like to be in, frankly (and at this point that is a project for next season) and also, again, it was very hot. I was dragging pretty hard by the time I reached a fire road junction at about 5400', and at that point I realized that I could keep going directly up the mountain, exhausting myself, or I could take the fire road route to the top. The fire road is a bit further—it essentially runs north and west of the summit before switching back up—but much less steep. I could basically just cruise up at a reasonable speed. Just below the summit I encountered a couple other hikers who passed me coming up. Yeah, I wasn't the fastest party on the mountain today. Ascent time: 1 hour, 46 minutes.
As you might expect from a peak with 1273 feet of prominence, the views from the summit are quite nice, with great views of San Antonio Canyon, the higher peaks in the San Gabriels, and the haze over the Los Angeles Basin. There used to be a lookout tower, but it's long since collapsed and the wreckage is mostly uninteresting, although there's one beam to which people have affixed a row of stickers. I stayed long enough to take all of my usual summit shots, but between the heat and constant pestering by insects, I didn't stick around longer than that.
For my descent route I just went with fire roads all the way back to Crow Canyon. I figured that the firebreak, while shorter, would probably actually be slower because I'd have to worry about footing and actually take some degree of care on descent. Plus I like trying to loop hikes when possible. Sunset Ridge Fire Road has worse views, mostly because it mostly has trees growing on both sides, but at this point I was grateful for the shade and there was the occasional nice vegetation frame of one of the nearby peaks.
I made it back to the Baby Bronco in 1 hour, 22 minutes. I had the last parking spot on the road when I arrived, but there was only one other car parked nearby when I returned. Total time out was 3 hours, 28 minutes. A bit longer than I was hoping for (the Hundred Peaks Section website stats Route #1 as a 2.5 hour hike) but perfectly serviceable given conditions. That's HPS peak number 8 for me. I'm not actively prioritizing the list as I don't get to SoCal often enough to focus on it, but hey, it's something to slowly chip away at.
I spent the next few hours slowly driving back to the hotel and stopping at a couple used bookstores and comic shops. Gotta get some loot while I'm here, right?
