Route Climbed: Traverse from Baldy Date Climbed: November 15, 1997
I had climbed this three times previously from Heaton Flats and had wanted to make this traverse. John Rosmus and I started at Manker Flats up to Baldy. Hit snow almost immediately (8500') and it was cold. We were in running shorts since we planned to run down from Iron to the car we had left at Heaton. Made the top of Baldy OK and started the traverse to Iron. There were a couple of Class 3 spots but not a big problem. Made the top of Iron after 6 hours. Had a fun run down over the bumps to Heaton Flats finishing after a total of 8 hours and 25 minutes. This is one of the toughest 17 milers I have done but worth it!
Climbed with notinkansas . Murray Z, and Cathy R. on a beautiful clear day. Murray and Cathy were somewhat ahead of us, but it took us approx 6 hours to summit, and 4:15 to decend. Temp on the summit was around 31 degree F with wind gusts to around 25 mph. One tough day hike!
A long arduous climb. 6000' is a lot to go up, but down was even nastier being worn out from the hike up. Made it to the top from the saddle in ~2.5hrs the use trail was in pretty good shape,not hard to follow. Couldn't have done this without my buddy Dave(thank you my friend).
Route Climbed: Heaton Trail to Bumps to Iron! Date Climbed: October 11, 2003
Phew! Reached the summit at 1:30pm, and didn't see one person the entire day! I've never done a hike with 6,000 ft. of elevation gain, especially when almost half of that is on steep crumbly terrain! I was exhausted.. I thought those "bumps" would never end! But I did only get 3 hours of sleep the previous night, and I haven't done a big peak hike in a few years. :O I was originally planning on doing the entire ridge hike from Iron Mountain, across the Ridge to Baldy and down. But that idea quickly vanished once I collapsed at the top of Iron Mountain, and realized that I didn't have enough energy to attempt the ridge.
Amazing views from the peak though. In fact, I stayed up there for an hour and a half, took a nap, refueled with food & water, and gazed longingly at the ridgeline connecting Baldy with Iron.. I'd like to hike it another time, perhaps approaching it from Baldy instead.
Route Climbed: Heaton Trail ridge climb Date Climbed: April 28, 2002
Penelope May and I hiked up the Main Trail, one of the longest, nastiest hikes in San Gabriels. 14 miles Round trip, 6,000+ feet of gain. We took 10+ hours car-to-car. As a joke, we ran the last mile downhill and the flat road to the car. Great, strenuous trip.
Route Climbed: Heaton Trail and up ridge Date Climbed: April 25, 2002
My strategy was to go for the bumps then summit:
Bump 5385', 805' gain, .52m
Bump 6138', 753' gain, .57m
Bump 7292', 1154' gain, .73m
Summit 8007', 715' gain, .42m
This worked wonderfully since it broke down the climb into manageable sections..
I did profiles for each of the four segments with Topo! and this made the hike essentially four climbs which were easy to handle rather than one huge climb.
Also with Topo! I found I could read how the grades changed throughout.. for instance the first leg to Bump 5385' starts out steep for the first quarter mile, then levels for for the second quarter mile.
It was a cloudy day with a 30% chance of Thunderstorms in the afternoon. I started early and fortunetely, there was no rain or lightening. It took me about 2 hours, 5 minutes from Heaton Trail top to the summit ( time of day time).
agorokhov - Oct 25, 2004 1:18 pm
Route Climbed: Heaton Trail Date Climbed: October 23, 2004Hiked with friends Mike and Alex.
mdostby - Oct 24, 2004 11:48 am
Route Climbed: Heaton Trail Date Climbed: October 23, 2004Without a doubt the most difficult day hike I have done in the mountains of Southern California. Hiked with friends Miguel, and Alex.
Scott M. - Feb 16, 2004 11:27 am
Route Climbed: Traverse from Baldy Date Climbed: November 15, 1997I had climbed this three times previously from Heaton Flats and had wanted to make this traverse. John Rosmus and I started at Manker Flats up to Baldy. Hit snow almost immediately (8500') and it was cold. We were in running shorts since we planned to run down from Iron to the car we had left at Heaton. Made the top of Baldy OK and started the traverse to Iron. There were a couple of Class 3 spots but not a big problem. Made the top of Iron after 6 hours. Had a fun run down over the bumps to Heaton Flats finishing after a total of 8 hours and 25 minutes. This is one of the toughest 17 milers I have done but worth it!
kdonaldson - Feb 8, 2004 6:27 pm
Route Climbed: Heaton Date Climbed: Feb 7, 2004Climbed with notinkansas . Murray Z, and Cathy R. on a beautiful clear day. Murray and Cathy were somewhat ahead of us, but it took us approx 6 hours to summit, and 4:15 to decend. Temp on the summit was around 31 degree F with wind gusts to around 25 mph. One tough day hike!
notinkansas - Feb 8, 2004 1:47 pm
Route Climbed: Heaton Date Climbed: Feb. 7, 2004Climbed with
kdonaldson. It was a great day, beautiful weather. It was nice to hike as a team. I usually go solo.
sierradiscgolfer - Jan 15, 2004 10:14 am
Route Climbed: Heaton Trail Date Climbed: 1/14/04A long arduous climb. 6000' is a lot to go up, but down was even nastier being worn out from the hike up. Made it to the top from the saddle in ~2.5hrs the use trail was in pretty good shape,not hard to follow. Couldn't have done this without my buddy Dave(thank you my friend).
songhiker - Oct 13, 2003 1:31 pm
Route Climbed: Heaton Trail to Bumps to Iron! Date Climbed: October 11, 2003Phew! Reached the summit at 1:30pm, and didn't see one person the entire day! I've never done a hike with 6,000 ft. of elevation gain, especially when almost half of that is on steep crumbly terrain! I was exhausted.. I thought those "bumps" would never end! But I did only get 3 hours of sleep the previous night, and I haven't done a big peak hike in a few years. :O I was originally planning on doing the entire ridge hike from Iron Mountain, across the Ridge to Baldy and down. But that idea quickly vanished once I collapsed at the top of Iron Mountain, and realized that I didn't have enough energy to attempt the ridge.
Amazing views from the peak though. In fact, I stayed up there for an hour and a half, took a nap, refueled with food & water, and gazed longingly at the ridgeline connecting Baldy with Iron.. I'd like to hike it another time, perhaps approaching it from Baldy instead.
asmrz - Nov 27, 2002 7:06 am
Route Climbed: Heaton Trail ridge climb Date Climbed: April 28, 2002Penelope May and I hiked up the Main Trail, one of the longest, nastiest hikes in San Gabriels. 14 miles Round trip, 6,000+ feet of gain. We took 10+ hours car-to-car. As a joke, we ran the last mile downhill and the flat road to the car. Great, strenuous trip.
RobertCharlesAltman - May 9, 2002 5:53 am
Route Climbed: Heaton Trail and up ridge Date Climbed: April 25, 2002My strategy was to go for the bumps then summit:
Bump 5385', 805' gain, .52m
Bump 6138', 753' gain, .57m
Bump 7292', 1154' gain, .73m
Summit 8007', 715' gain, .42m
This worked wonderfully since it broke down the climb into manageable sections..
I did profiles for each of the four segments with Topo! and this made the hike essentially four climbs which were easy to handle rather than one huge climb.
Also with Topo! I found I could read how the grades changed throughout.. for instance the first leg to Bump 5385' starts out steep for the first quarter mile, then levels for for the second quarter mile.
It was a cloudy day with a 30% chance of Thunderstorms in the afternoon. I started early and fortunetely, there was no rain or lightening. It took me about 2 hours, 5 minutes from Heaton Trail top to the summit ( time of day time).