Quick Stats: 16.6 Miles & 7,323′ gain over the entire Pleasant View Ridge (and then some) starting from the PCT. HPS #67 – 71
After attempting Triplet Rocks, I was kind of the mood for an adventure like I had last summer. . . A really long adventure in the San Gabriel Mountains where I didn’t need a climbing helmet, avalanche transceiver, nor an ice axe. A nice simple trekking adventure where the risks were low but I would still get the opportunity to spend a full day in the mountains peakbagging. Looking at my calendar I didn’t think I would get anything like that for a month or two; but then I decided to rearrange some plans.
I decided on the Pleasant View Ridge experience that I had mapped out a while back, which could potentially bag 5 HPS summits over the course of a day. Of course, I sometimes have a bad habit of not looking at an elevation graph when I come up with ideas for these kinds of adventures in the local ranges (“It’s just the San Gabriels,” she says, “it will be fine!”), but more on that later. This area of the San Gabriel Mountains (which is very close to Waterman Mountain / Triplet Rocks) is very isolated, and many of the peaks in this area are described as the most secluded / most isolated / most difficult to reach. Looking at the map, I could see that you could gain the ridge via the PCT near Eagle’s Roost, and then follow this ridge all the way out to the named point at the end (which is an HPS Peak), while bagging 3 other peaks on the way. I could make it especially crazy by adding a side quest to Goodykoontz Peak. I could make it even zanier by making sure I get the silly little unnamed peaks that are marked on the Peakbagger App (because I can be a bit of a completionist).
So that’s what I did. I got an alpine start, encountered some tents of thru hikers on the PCT near the trailhead, and was able to reach the SE Summit of Mount Williamson (Not the 14er) long before sunrise.
Speaking of: As the sun began to rise, it was a full moon (or a day away from it), and I got to watch the sunrise to my right while the full moon was setting to my left.
It was really magical experiencing that, which I got to do fully while on the summit of Mount Williamson (HPS #67).
First bit of success on my day, but the day was just starting. At various points I ran into decent packs of snow on the north facing slopes, which I did not expect. Normally this isn’t an issue, but I made a point of wearing my backpacking boots that have 750+ miles on them, not my 3 season mountaineering boots, so I was getting precisely zero purchase in these patches.
Note to self: It’s time for new boots.
After getting down to the first of many saddles, it was time to take a quick detour SW to bag Goodykoontz Peak. Large sections of the day’s trails are decently well maintained (despite being in a recently reopened burn area), and other sections are still pretty easy to follow use trails. Not the case headed to Goodykoontz. There were many times where your guess, where ever you area reading this, is as good as mine if I was actually on “the trail.” I did my best when possible since I don’t want to contribute to erosion, including willingly trying to chop steps with a trekking pole in snow so I wouldn’t be on a burn scarred mountainside. . . but for sections it was unavoidable. After making my way over the ridge for a while both on and off trail, I eventually found my way to the summit, making HPS #68.
Retracing my steps, I found my way back to the Pleasant View Ridge Trail (as it was named on my Topo), and continued down to the saddle leading to Pallett Mountain. This was the rub for the whole adventure: All of these peaks are decently prominent (or have a decent amount of relief compared to one another), which meant in between each peak was a drop and rise of between 800′ and 1,100′. I was still moving quickly because it was relatively early in the day, but looking onward at the next saddle from the summit of Pallett Mountain (HPS #69), I did briefly reconsider the extent of the trip.
However I was already out there having a blast, and on the summits I had cellphone reception so I could text with a new romantic interest (this is the most I’ve ever looked at a phone on an adventure). . . so down I went from the summit of Pallett to Burkhart Saddle.
You can reach Burkhart Saddle from a separate trail to get to the next peak (or two). Will Thrall Peak via Burkhart Saddle is one of those local adventures that is notorious for its difficulty. I apparently found a way to make Will Thrall Peak even harder, by going over the entire Pleasant View Ridge. Making my way up from Burkhart Saddle I was slowing down. At this point I’m starting to get pretty exhausted– my usual rhythm is gone, “the zone” I’m in is intermittent, and my usual “keep moving no matter the speed” pace is over with as I have to take period breaks on the way up. The trail is easy to follow– it’s just really steep.
The summit of Will Thrall Peak (HPS #70) has a fun plaque that actually made it worth it. It was a pleasant surprise I didn’t know existed, and really energized me a bit; which was good since I still had one more peak to go: “Pleasant View Ridge.”
The use trail doesn’t quite exist between Will Thrall and the end of the ridge, so at times I found myself doing some light scrambling just because I could. So few people are out there, I don’t think it’s possible for a use trail to form, so it really is just a choose your own adventure sort of deal.
Getting to Pleasant View Ridge (HPS #71) was both exciting and frustrating. Exciting because I had reached my last new summit of the day. Frustrating because I still had to get back to my car, and the thing about ridgeline adventures is: You’re at the mercy of the ridge. Every gain and fall in elevation is what you have to follow, and having already done it once (with more energy than I now had), I knew what lie in wait. Here we go. . .
There’s not much to be said about the return trip. It was exhausting. I was moving extremely slow compared to my normal pace. I was taking food and water breaks really often. I was looking at my map often to see how much progress remained. . .
But I kept reminding myself of how much I had done, how far I had come, and how little remained. I eventually would make my way past Pallett Mountain, back up to the ridge heading toward Mount Williamson, and would finally find my way back to the PCT (where I ran into some thru hikers), before finally making it back to Alyx.
I’m glad I did this trip when I did, because this entire area is now closed as of April 22nd, and won’t reopen until December 31st of 2023 when the Williamson Rock Area and Trail Closure (ANF Order No. 05-01-22-04) expires. Perfect timing. 🙂
Climb on with love.