Mt. Whitney Training | Hike #3 | Mt. Baldy

Mt. Baldy was hike #3 in our training for Mt. Whitney! In case you missed it, our first training hike was El Cajon and our second was Mt. Baden Powell.

Mt. Baldy was a hike that I’d heard a lot about, as it’s a pretty popular Southern California hike, and one that I’d been wanting to do while we lived nearby (nearby as in still 2 hours away…but close enough). We recruited our friends to do his hike with us, and we were so glad to have the company! We woke up early on Saturday for another early morning drive to the trailhead to get there before it got too crowded. We arrived probably around 7:30, and it was already pretty packed. The one downside of this hike: lots of people. After some quick bathroom breaks, we were on the trail by 8!

We decided to start up a different route that would be less traveled, quicker, but more challenging. A local working the chair lift (there was no snow, but it was open as an easy way for people to head to the restaurant) called the route the “savage route”. Why not go hard when you’re training for Mt. Whitney?! This route was veerrry steep and had us travel up right below the chair lift. It eliminated the long, winding fire road, but it was tough! To give you some perspective, this section was about a mile in length with 1,277 feet of elevation gain, and the whole hike (about 9 miles) was a total elevation gain of 3,702. Lots of elevation in that one mile! However I strongly recommend this “savage route” if you’re training or want a great workout! I will say, it does make the hike shorter in distance than if you go the usual loop but I think it’s definitely worth it.

Once we got to the top of that route, we followed the typical route heading up Devils Backbone. There are many ways you can get to Mt. Baldy, and we choose to do the loop counter clockwise, heading up Devils Backbone and then going down past the ski hut and then ending on the fire road. I enjoyed hiking up Devils Backbone. There were definitely some sketchy moments, and I wouldn’t recommend doing this section if there’s snow, but I thought it was pretty fun too and there were some great views along the way!

Towards the peak, the last bit is a pretty exposed area (in other words, make sure you do your bathroom breaks beforehand ;)) and a lot of switch backs. Parts of it reminded me of Quandary, though much easier since it was at a lower elevation! We got to the top at about 4.5 miles and enjoyed the nice break to soak up the views and have some lunch!

The way down seemed to be a bit never ending, but it was really scenic and pretty! Definitely steep, and I was glad to have hiking poles since there was a lot of loose dirt and rock. May have slid just once. ;)

This was definitely a fun and beautiful hike, and one that I’d do again!

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