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I'm eager to hear any recent information on this trail. Is it accessible still (e.g. no killer fire restrictions)? Are there campgrounds nearby?

I'll be in that area, and was thinking of trying San Antonio from a route that required as little peregrination from i-15 as possible. I hate driving by big cities, and will gladly expend an extra 1000' vertical to avoid traffic.

I climbed Baldy for the first time last year via this route. The directions that DougB linked to are pretty accurate. There's only room for 2 or 3 cars at most off the right (west) side of Acorn Dr at its intersection with Finch, and the ground's a little rocky but I didn't have any real trouble parking my car. Just stay on Acorn all the way up to the trail and you shouldn't have any problem with the people who live by it.

For an introduction to Baldy, this was a pretty fantastic hike (a far cry from a Manker Flats intro, I bet....), just be sure you're mentally prepared for all the ups and downs; it's very grueling especially having to go back over Dawson and Pine after already enduring the 1,200' slog up Baldy's north side. The "Other Devil's Backbone" (in my opinion the TRUE D's Bone, as compared to the pics I've seen of the "normal" one on the tourist route up Baldy) on Pine's north ridge is a very interesting scramble and somewhat loose.

Hope you have fun, this is a much less frequented route and gives Baldy some more respect!

Thanks. I was considering staying at the Guffy or Blue Ridge campgrounds ~8000' ... any idea how realistic that might be, if I arrive on a weekday ~3PM? I really just need a legal place to stop a vehicle and set up a tent.

Guffy will work 4 'ya...
I love climbing Baldy from this side.

I did this about nine years ago?. we parked outside the Guffy cg. A great hike that was about seventeen miles rt as I recall

Guffy will work (just have to make sure the gate is open). If you are already there, you might as well consider just hiking down the fire road to the base of Pine. It will save you the drive back to Wrightwood in the morning.

My wife and my two daughters stayed in Guffy June 13th and 14th (weeknights). We had the place completely to ourselves. We were there because we are hiking the PCT in continuous pieces from Mexico to Canada over a period of years. We got in over 50 more miles. My girls are 8 and 14 years old.

Guffy is a wonderful campground. We live in and frequent the Sierra Nevada, and still thought this was one of the nicest, most "viewful" campgrounds we'd ever stayed in.

While there we also wanted to summit Baldy because it is the LA County highpoint (our other "family fun," long-range activity is trying to summit all the California County highpoints). But we didn't want to drive all the way around to do Baldy's normal route.

We did Baldy from the north, from Blue Ridge Road, over Pine Mountain and Dawson Peak. (The other advantage of this route (besides us already being within 3 miles of its start) is that we summitted two others of the tallest peaks in the range.) This is 10 miles round trip. There is an established trail, which is obvious, although it is rough enough at one point (for a quarter mile) that I would rate it "Class 2 plus," although, obviously there really isn't such a rating. The drive from the town of Wrightwood would take about 1/2 hour, to the start of the trail. The Forest Service Visitor Center just beyond town has a handout map that briefly describes the hike. It is shown on the topo map I had.

This photo is taken during the first qurter mile of the hike:





From Dawson Peak, looking at Baldy: