Quick Stats: 4.2 Miles & 636′ gain via the Forest Road from the ACH near Charlton Station.
After having to abandon my adventure to Cirque Peak I didn’t think I would find myself on a mountain summit this weekend. I was wrong. Frankie wanted to get outside and had suggested Potato Mountain (which I’ve done before), and I brought up a few adventures that are in the same wheelhouse (or maybe even a little easier) that would be great for her first summit after her surgery.
The trail to Vetter Mountain isn’t a trail– it’s an unmaintained forest service road starting from the Angeles Crest Highway near Charlton Station. You hike along the road through an area still recovering from the Station Fire over a decade ago.
It’s a gradual road hike for a while until you reach a point where you leave the paved road in favor of a dirt road which takes you to the top where the historic Vetter Mountain Fire Lookout sits atop the summit.
This was destroyed in the Station Fire in 2009, but 11 years later the Lookout was rebuilt in a joint partnership between SoCal Edison (SCE) and the Angeles National Forest. There’s a team of volunteers that staff the Lookout during fire season, hiking in around sunrise and leaving at sunset.
Overall it’s a nice little hike that leads you to a fun spot of historical significance– those spots are all around in the San Gabriel Mountains and I always enjoy coming across them.