Mt. Pine hiking

On May 13th 2007 I went for a group hike up Mt. Pine. The idea of the hike was to test my knee for a progress in recovery from an injury while descending the San Gorgonio week before. It was going to be an intermediate hike but turned out to be rather challenging one. The total distance both ways was over 11miles with over 4000ft elevation gain. We climbed the mountain using the Acron trail. Initial 2 miles or so where rather easy with some flat fire road hiking. Then we went up very steep ridge that required scrambling on 2 or 3 occasions. You definitely need to be not afraid of exposed terrain and heights. There is some sinking feeling that a single wrong step will lead to a very long slide down that could cause injury or worse. After the ridge less exposed to elements hike leads up to a mountain - the slope factor is rather high making it strenuous hike. At the top you can see Mt. Baldy in close vicinity as well as the desert. On the other side is Los Angeles which is not visible (we are on the other side of the range). The clouds that are visible are frequently made up of pollution seeping in from Los Angeles through gaps in the mountains. It is very unpleasant to see ones view obscured by brown colored clauds. Overall the hike was a great workout. Waken up at 6AM and came home at 6PM. Total hiking hours - around 8 including break at the top.

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Album created on 2007-05-16 and last updated on 2007-05-16