Breaking The Law Hike To Ontario Peak

I honestly thought that the trail to Ontario was open. I saw the closure for Mt. Baldy trails, but apparently missed the fact that the trails out of Icehouse Canyon were closed too. An overabundance of caution if you ask me, but no one asked me. I thought that the parking lot would be packed with hikers skunked out of Baldy, but these trails were closed too. Next time put up signs or tape. The conditions were awesome and there was no reason to close these trails.

I had been to Timber the weekend before and there was no snow before the saddle. This time there was a little snow after the Chapman junction and it was snow covered past the saddle. Not much snow, only an inch or two, but hard as ice and microspikes were necessary. Crampons would have been overkill.

I decided to forgo Big Horn since I like to go straight up from the saddle, but that was was steep and icy and I decided discretion was the better part of valor and went off on the main trail. I can’t remember the last time I’ve done that but it was nice. A couple of nurses followed me since they had only been a couple of times and it was easy to lose the trail when it was covered. There were two people who had past me, but the snow was so hard it was difficult to see the tracks of their microspikes, I know the way, or can find a way so it wasn’t a big deal. As far as I know only 6 of us made it that day. No one passed us going up as we were coming down. As always coming down from the saddle was a drag, not the switchbacks, but the rocky canyon bottom. The trail between mile 1.5 and 2 has been rearranged a little bit and there was a little route finding, not a big deal, but it is tiresome. Still it was a nice hike, perfect weather, and made so much better by the fact that so few people were there. That’s always a plus.