TBA
Hiking Smith Mountain
Tried to hike Mt. Wilson, but the approach via CA-39 (Azusa Ave.) is still closed, right at the Smith Mountain trailhead.
Since we were already 17 miles up CA-39 from Azusa, it was a hot day and the more elevation we had, the cooler it was, we decided to hike Smith Mountain since it was right there.
Hike #73 in the Trails of the Angeles (8th ed) guidebook says 7 miles round trip, 1900' elevation gain. It was one of the most well graded trails we'd seen, and the first 3 miles up Bear Creek trail to the saddle were beautiful. A little hot, but we had enough clouds most of the time to stay cool.
Then the last 1/2 mile is a scramble up the 30-40 degree (!!!!!!!) slope to the top-- more of a scramble, really. A little over an hour to get to the saddle, then 40 minutes later we hit the "top". Turns out the "top" really is a false top, and you STILL have to go another massive hacking-through-brush to get to the real top. That sucked. So we didn't do it.
A hugely steep scramble down took 35 minutes to the saddle; if you need proof that it was dangerously steep, there it is.
Then back down. All in all, not a very satisfying 3 hours.
