This hike was tough! First of all, I parked about two miles below the trailhead (long story) so I ended up adding 4 miles and about 800 feet of elevation to this hike that was supposed to be around 10 miles. I put in 15 miles and about 4900 ft of elevation gain. The hike took me around 7.5 hours.

The hike starts you off going up a vehicle trail (Baldy Rd) for the first couple miles until you reach the ski lodge. This trail is a smooth gravel travel and is relatively easy. Once you get to the ski lodge, you have a few different options for summiting Mt. Baldy. I did the original 6 peak challenge loop so I took Devil's Backbone up from the ski lodge. This is where it gets tough. From here it's a very steep incline until the summit. It doesn't let up until you summit either. Parts of the Devil's Backbone trail get narrow and there is some wind, but I never felt unsafe. Once you get past the narrow portion, you have a wide mountain face to traverse a little more freely. There were some patches of snow but they didn't interfere with the route. Temperature was around 50 and I was comfortable in a long sleeve and light windbreaker.

Once you summit, the views are beautiful. You can see an enormous portion of the San Gabriel Mountain Range and the inland empire to your right.

The back half of this loop was where things became problematic. The back half is very steep for a few miles and it is a lot of loose rock. Make sure to bring poles. I was constantly sliding and even fell a couple of times. Poles would help tremendously for this.  After a couple miles of sliding, the trail leveled out to a nice steady decline until it reconnects with the vehicle trail that you started on.

All in all, this is a beautiful hike. Most of it is exposed, allowing for beautiful views of the SGM.