Backpacking overnight

The weekend before last I got all my stuff together and headed out for an overnight backpack through the San Gabriels up to Messenger Flats campground. I parked the car there and my lovely girlfriend Edie was nice enough to drop me off at the beginning of Trail Canyon so I could hike 4 miles up to Tom Lucas campground, sleep over there, then continue the remaining 7 miles up to Messenger Flats.

I'd been used to hiking these trails fairly regularly on day hikes, but adding a 50 pound pack is definitely a new dimension to the whole equation. The fact that I was backpacking by myself meant that I had to shoulder all of the equipment, food, etc. It was great, though, I loved being able to set up camp in minutes and break camp even faster. The picture above is the my tent set up at Tom Lucas that Saturday around 1:00 in the afternoon. There was a group of Korean hikers who were stopping by on a day hike, shown below.



The next day I set out for the upper reaches of Trail Canyon, to eventually intersect with Condor Peak Trail at around 6000 ft. Sleeping out under the stars was fantastic; I love my tent, my new sleeping bag, I loved making coffee, breakfast and hiking on up in the fresh mountain air. It would have been great if Edie could have come, but I promised her that I would check out everything before I asked her along. One good thing about sleeping at Tom Lucas, which is around 4000 ft., is that my lungs got that much more acclimatized to the altitude. The photo below shows the top of the ridge looking out over Trail Canyon. You can see Los Angeles in the far background and the Santa Monica Mountains.



And my stoic mug.





The above is a shot of yucca at different stages of development at about 6500 ft. looking south towards Mt. Baldy and Mt. Wilson.



Here is the end of the trail, at Messenger Flats, intersecting with the Pacific Crest Trail, which runs from Mexico up to Canada. Not just yet.



Here's looking down the other side of the San Gabriel mountain range into the edge of the Mojave Desert. At this point, all I wanted was a meatball sandwich and a beer.