Bear Canyon Trail is the most difficult trail toward Mt. San Antonio (14 miles RT, 5500 ' elevation gain). On 16th of July, I packed all my stuffs to my backpack: 3 of 32oz bottles of water, food, clothing, amateur radios, antenna and so on. On that day, there was a contest called CQ World Wide VHF Contest. Amature radio operators can hike to mountain peak to contact other ham operator around the world. So, I did the same thing. I choose the most challenging route. My backpack was so heavy that I didn't know how I did climb up there. But I did. I arrived at the trail head at Mt. Baldy Village at about 6:30 am. There were only two or three cars parked there. It is not difficult to find a parking space if you arrive early. And the park lot is shaded most of the day. It was a hot day and I swet like cazy. My backpack was so heavy that I had to walk slowly. I arrived at the peak at about 1:30 pm and I had my lunch on the way up. There were a lot of hikers (at least 10)who were up there already. Mt. Baldy is the most popular mountain peak in southern California. I set up my radio station at the peak, and did some radio contests. I left the peak at 4:00 pm. Some hikers asked me what route I came up. I told them that I came up from Mt. Baldy Village. They said " WOO". Most of the hiker came up from Skit Hut Trail or Baldy Notch route. I counted no more than 10 or 15 hikers choose Bear Canyon Trail. It is long and steep climb. It is a good training hike for Mt. Whitney. I enjoy that hike even though it is a hard climb. I got back to my car almost 8:00pm. I will hike this trail again without those heavy pack to make the hike more enjoyable.
kq6ee
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San Gabriel Mountains
