This was our second attempt at Baldy, after the beginning of March was too snowy to get past the notch. We parked at Manker Flats and went right at the fork, heading east toward the notch.

After a break, we continued up the infamous Devil’s Backbone. I needed way more breaks than usual; not sure if it was because of the heat or the steepness. The aggressive cloudy winds got pushy, but at long last we reached the summit. There was snow capping the top and we didn’t linger with the crazy wind.

Halfway down, I felt like we should have been all the way down. That’s when I realized we were taking Bear Canyon Trail instead of the Baldy loop ? This normally unnerving discovery was cushioned by the insanely beautiful views along this trail. I’m so glad we went the wrong way. Total serendipity.

We followed this much, much longer trail into Mt Baldy village and found a gracious local who drove us back to our car at Manker Flats. I don’t recommend this version of the Baldy hike the way we went and ran out of daylight, but sometimes wrong turns have great rewards.