On Friday, I visited an old friend I hadn’t seen in months: the Mt. Baden Powell trail near Wrightwood. I was nervous about what I’d find, given the trail’s proximity to a recent wildfire.
The Bridge fire started near the Bridge to Nowhere trailhead in Angeles National Forest in early September. It charged northward, burning 56,030 acres and destroying 81 structures, including homes in Wrightwood and Mt. Baldy. It also incinerated campgrounds and scorched dozens of miles of trails.
Given the region’s fire-related closures, I hadn’t been back in 9½ months. I drove toward Wrightwood wondering how devastated the landscape would be. Would the trail be well maintained? Would this place where I’ve spent so many hours bounding up the mountainside still be as beautiful as I remembered?
The San Gabriel Mountains as seen from the Mt. Baden Powell trail.
(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)
After my eight-mile trek to the summit of Mt. Baden Powell and back, I am relieved to report that it was an awesome day on the mountain — with some caveats.
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The Mt. Baden Powell hike is one of several trails that reopened in late June after Angeles National Forest officials, for reasons that remain unclear, terminated the Bridge fire order.
Just over two weeks after the closure order was canceled, the California Department of Transportation announced that the section of State Route 2 (Angeles Crest Highway) from Big Pines Highway to the gate near Vincent Gulch in Angeles National Forest had reopened to the public.
From the Mt. Baden Powell trail, hikers can see a portion of the Bridge fire burn scar.
(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)
This meant hikers could actually park near the trailhead rather than parking five miles away and hoofing it down the highway to reach the Baden Powell starting point. (Note: The section of Angeles Crest Highway between Vincent Gulch and Islip Saddle remains closed but could reopen this fall.)
As I drove west out of Wrightwood on Angeles Crest Highway, it was impossible to miss the burned landscape. I stopped at the Inspiration Point vista lookout and the destroyed Grassy Hollow Visitor Center, where blackened trees jut out of the ground like dark skeletal remains.
But pulling into the Vincent Gap parking lot, I was relieved to see green conifers thriving on the mountainsides. I chatted in the parking lot with another hiker who said she’s been coming to Wrightwood since the early 1970s when her grandparents had a home there. She was eager to return after the closure order was lifted but, like me, was nervous to see the fire’s effects.
It was hard to see so many burned and dead trees killed by fire and by drought, she said. She was surprised by how the area around Vincent Gap still looked healthy.
Several burned trees remain in the Bridge fire burn scar near Bear and Vincent gulches around Wrightwood.
(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)
As I started the trail, infamous for its 40(ish) switchbacks, I spotted California sister butterflies as well as chipmunks performing parkour exercises across the trail, trying to remain unseen and looking extremely cute in the process. I listened to the tweets of dark-eyed juncos and the teensy blue-gray gnatcatcher.
About two-thirds of a mile in, I started to take in the views, looking northeast where the fire’s burn scar is easy to track by simply observing the large swaths of brown and dead trees. A begrudgingly optimistic person, I smiled when I saw green cedars and pines still alive among their dying brethren.
I was relieved to see the small wooden bench, just under a mile in, still perched on the mountainside. I yelled at a particular boulder just before Lamel Spring: “I remember you!” Although so much had changed around the trail, so much remained the same.
Chipmunks are easy to spot on the Mt. Baden Powell hike through the San Gabriel Mountains.
(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)
At Lamel Spring, I refilled my water bottle and felt grateful at the burst of colors around me — bright orange lichen and wildflowers including small pink roses, scarlet monkey flowers and the rare lemon lily. A mountain chickadee buzzed past my head before landing on a branch nearby, where it kept watching me as I savored the cool spring water. It’s easy to forget that some of these animals are as curious, if not more, of us than we are of them. They people watch too.
I continued my hike and smiled when I saw the large old log on the trail that someone long ago carved “half way” into. It is, indeed, the halfway point.
The higher I climbed, the cooler and quieter it got, outside of the ravens squawking to each other from across the mountain. After some light grumbling, as I was ready for lunch, I arrived at the Wally Waldron Tree, a limber pine that might be the oldest living thing in the San Gabriel Mountains. Believed to be 1,500 years old, this tree is thankfully yet another thing that remains unchanged on this trail.
The Wally Waldron Tree remains alive and well, perched on a ledge parallel to the Mt. Baden Powell trail. The tree might be the oldest living thing in the San Gabriel Mountains.
(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)
I was the only human on the summit, and I took the opportunity to, for the first time, lie down and enjoy my surroundings. (I did set a timer because I have this nightmare of accidentally falling asleep on the trail!)
Mt. Baden Powell is one of my favorite hikes, in part, because it’s a suffer fest. I have almost given up several times on this hike because it is a challenging slog up the mountain. Outside the trickling spring, there isn’t any water, and it can get hot as you charge up its more exposed switchbacks. But I keep coming back because every single time I reach the top, I am awestruck by the panoramic views of the San Gabriel Mountains, the Antelope Valley and more. It is important to be reminded of the specks of stardust we are sometimes.
Several burned trees near Inspiration Point near Wrightwood.
(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)
This was the first time I’ve hiked Mt. Baden Powell and not seen a single cut-through on the trail, a bad habit of hikers who ignore the switchbacks and charge straight down. The trail was easy to follow and in pristine condition. A forest service worker told me that several volunteers are to thank for that. (Thank you!)
After the hike, I headed west down Big Pines Highway to see how the rest of the region fared in the Bridge fire. The first three-quarters of a mile of the highway are in the burn scar, but as I drove farther west, it became harder to discern where the burn scar was. There was so much green and life around me.
The hike to Mt. Baden Powell was thankfully spared in the Bridge fire and has hundreds of lush green shade trees.
(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)
Multiple campgrounds were damaged or destroyed in the fire and remain closed, including Blue Ridge, Guffy and Lupine. But several are open and offer beautiful escapes in the outdoors.
Those sites, which are managed by Mountain High, include:
- Appletree: Eight first come, first served walk-in campsites, including three that are ADA accessible; piped water available; vault toilets.
- Peavine: Eight first come, first served walk-in tent sites; no potable water; vault toilets.
- Lake: Eight sites, including six requiring reservations, next to Jackson Lake; drinking water available; vault toilets.
- Mountain Oak: Seventeen sites near Jackson Lake featuring flush toilets and water faucets.
- Table Mountain: A large campground featuring more than 100 of both first come, first served and reservation-only sites; drinking water available; vault toilets.
The last place on my list was Jackson Lake, where you can rent kayaks and paddle boats from Mountain High every Thursday through Monday.
Jackson Lake is a popular place near Wrightwood where families enjoy fishing, picnicking and staying at the nearby campground.
(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)
Families were picnicking and fishing, including some teenagers standing in the water in waders.
One child, hearing the croak of a local amphibian, shouted to his grandfather about how he was going to catch a frog and have frog legs for dinner that night. Nearby, another youngster had just caught a rainbow trout. She held the fish in her hands, showing an older kid her score.
May they, too, get to visit this area for many years to come.
3 things to do
A cluster of mushrooms in Canyon View Park in Aliso Viejo.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
1. Forage for information in Los Feliz 🍄
In collaboration with Friends of Griffith Park, Foraging & Mushroom Hunting Women of SoCal will host a beginner-friendly talk at 6:30 p.m. tonight at the Los Feliz Branch Library (1874 Hillhurst Ave.) on how to find mushrooms in the summer. Bat Vardeh, the foraging group’s founder, will explain how fungi is always growing in the region. Learn more at the group’s Instagram page.
2. Have a fin-tastic time in Long Beach
Cal State Long Beach’s Shark Lab will host its free family-friendly Sharks @ the Beach event from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the CSU Long Beach Hall of Science. Guests can take lab tours, talk with scientists and observe live marine animals. No registration is required. Learn more at the lab’s Instagram page.
3. Help trees recover from wildfire near Malibu
The Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains needs volunteers from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday to tend to more than 400 oak trees at Trippet Ranch in Topanga State Park. This is the first tree care event in the park since the Palisades fire. Participants will water trees, yank weeds and apply mulch as well as possibly plant new acorns to replace trees that did not thrive. Volunteers will also collect data for a reforestation project, which started in 2018. Participants should bring sun protection and water and wear clothes they don’t mind getting dirty and durable shoes. Register at eventbrite.com.
The must-read
Deepwater bubblegum coral, a host for California king crab, observed during a 2020 exploration of the Santa Lucia Bank off the central coast of California.
(Associated Press)
Despite continued challenges from the federal government, California is moving close to its goal of conserving 30% of lands and coastal waters by 2030. Times staff writer Lila Seidman reports that almost five years after the state launched its 30×30 initiative, California has conserved 26.1% of its lands and 21.9% of its coastal waters — or roughly 41,000 square miles and 1,150 square miles respectively. It’s great news — though it comes with an asterisk. “Federal attacks on public lands and environmental protections … could impact our progress,” California’s Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot said, “and we could actually see — if these federal attacks are successful — our acreage moving backwards.”
The Times will keep following these stories in The Wild and in stories from our climate team.
Happy adventuring,
P.S.
The REI store in Burbank will host its first community day from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. Guests can snag free milkweed for monarchs from Arroyo Foothills Conservancy, which will teach visitors how to raise the milkweed to support pollinators. Shift Our Ways Collective will hand out pumpkin starters and teach folks how to take care of the seasonal plant. Also, other local groups, including Friends of Griffith Park, CicLAvia, We Explore Earth and Northeast Trees will host additional programming, including screening short films.
For more insider tips on Southern California’s beaches, trails and parks, check out past editions of The Wild. And to view this newsletter in your browser, click here.
