Riding off the success of my first “summit” hike from Cucamonga, I decided to try out the nearby Mt. Baldy. I had heard the part of the hike leading up to the Devil's backbone was a service road and kind of on the long side. Then I saw there was another option to go up “Register Ridge” to skip some miles AND make it a nice hike in nature instead of a service road. So I decided I would go up Register Ridge, and down Baldy Bowl Trail. This would make the mileage and elevation climb shorter than Cucamonga, so I was pretty confident I could do it.

I started my hike at around 6am to avoid the heat. There were so many more people there than I expected! A lot of trail runners and other hikers also starting the day off early. The trail was pretty tame (again, a service road) until I got to the turnoff for Baldy Bowl & Register Ridge, then we were on the dirt trail and the climb notably got steeper. I was a little afraid how steep Register Ridge would be, considering the steep climbs I can see around me up the canyon. Thankfully it didn't look impossible after I found the turnoff, though I did start sliding quite a bit once I did start. I busted out to the Exo Spikes, thankful I decided to be cautious about being prepared, which helped A LOT over the 25-45 degree climb up Register Ridge. RR was only 1.4 miles, but it took me just over 2 hours to finish that part before reaching the middle of Devils Backbone.

I took the optional detour to Mt Harwood before tackling the end of Devil's Backbone, which, while intimidating generally, seemed easy compared to Register Ridge, so I made my way up and around the people descending before joining the party at the summit of Mt. Baldy (And I do mean party. It was the most people I saw in one place since since COVID started!)

The descent via Baldy Bowl was a hot mess. I thought the hard part was over, but I was wrong. According to the sign at the summit, Manker Flats via Baldy Bowl was 3.5 miles away. It ended up being 6 miles XD The descent was also steep and sandy, and I fell on my butt several times. I finally put my spikes back on for an especially steep descent. It was also later in the day and the heat rolled in with a vengeance. I very nearly ran out of water, and actually put up my hood since I was getting a light sunburn on my cheeks. This was the hike where I decided I would always carry a water filter if there's any water source on the hike, even if I intended to pack in all my water.

Glad I did it, it's one off the checklist, but I think next time I will take the advice of one of the other hikers and ride the ski lifts DOWN to avoid the miles of difficult sand descent.