Mount Baden-Powell is one of my favorite peaks and hiking to it from Dawson Saddle is among one of the best in the San Gabriel mountains. Unfortunately, the 2 is still mostly closed and we are not able to access this trailhead. So, we would have to summit via Vincent Gap to finish all 12 of the SoCal peaks.

This route was one of the first tougher hikes (longer distance, over 2k elevation gain, at higher elevation) I attempted when I was first getting into hiking, and I did not make it to the summit that day. While I have summited Baden-Powell multiple times, and have hiked down to Vincent Gap from the summit, this would be the first time I summited via this route.

We met at the trailhead around 8 and the parking lot was mostly full, but we were able to park. Despite the number of cars, the trail wasn’t very crowded and mostly consisted of what appeared to be a large group hiking down. The weather was great and there were no bugs at all. The summit was sunny and breezy but not cold and had very few people.