Day 31: We hiked up Mt. Baden-Powell, then hiked another ~9 miles to Islip Saddle, right where SR-2 meets (abandoned) SR-39. Fog precluded views for the latter half of the day, particularly to the south.
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May 19th, 2015.
Start location: Jackson Flat campground, mile 371
End location: Islip Saddle, mile 386
Miles hiked: about 15
We got off to a terribly late start. We weren’t walking until 10 am. We didn’t wake up until 8, having had a very cold preceding night. The morning was frigid, and it slowed our packing and departing. Once we left, it took about 30 minutes of walking for us to not be cold.
View from Jackson Flats campground near the Pacific Crest Trail
We started descending towards a day hiking trailhead off SR-2 that was immediately adjacent to Baden-Powell (we can’t recall the name of the trailhead). After that, we climbed. And climbed.
Sign on the ascent to Baden-Powell’s summit
SR-2 from Baden-Powell’s ascent. The road was our start elevation.
The ascent up Baden-Powell is 3.8 miles of switchbacks climbing about 2600 feet. We’ve seen steeper, but we went up slow because of how poorly we slept and because of Rick’s ankle. We took two breaks on the way up.
Tree along the Pacific Crest Trail whose trunk had a prominent knot in it. On the ascent to Baden-Powell’s summit.
Views to the north (towards Palmdale) were clear. Views to the south (towards Burbank) were obscured by fog. It was this way throughout the day, even at the summit.
Our view to the west from the summit of Baden-Powell was obscured by clouds.
a 1,500 year old tree near the summit of Mt. Baden-Powell.
We ate a no-cook lunch at the summit and enjoyed the views we could. We spent about 30 minutes up there before continuing down. As we descended from the summit access trail towards the PCT (the PCT comes about 1/10 mile from the summit), we passed a group of fellow would-be thru hikers eating lunch. We hadn’t seen any of them before; we’re officially behind the group of people we spent the first 300 miles hiking with, and we don’t care. It’s nice to hike at our pace.
As we descended Baden-Powell along the Pacific Crest Trail, we entered fog.
Clouds rolling over hills during our descent from Mt Baden-Powell.
We continued past Baden-Powell over ups and downs along a ridgeline. The fog was a constant downer; We knew we would have had have great views if not for the darn fog.
We ate dinner at Little Jimmy Spring. Other hikers stopped at the spring as we ate.
We’re camping at Islip Saddle, literally just off SR-2 aka the Angeles Crest Highway. We’ve pitched our tent down a small hill from the trailhead’s parking lot. Just across SR-2, the gate that blocks off the northernmost, abandoned portion of SR-39 is accessible.
Little Jimmy Spring along the Pacific Crest Trail. One of the few nicely flowing piped springs we’d seen.
SR-2 Sign near Islip Saddle on the Pacific Crest Trail
What’s left of abandoned SR-39’s intersection with SR-2 at Islip Saddle. This is just beyond a metal road block.
Goodnight.