May 21, 2016
We accomplished the old Famous Boy Scout Hike up to the top of Baden Powell. This hike consisted of more switchbacks than any other hike Skylar has ever done. The top is about 2/3 mile straight up but you have to hike roughly 4.5 miles of switchbacks to get there. On this hike we had Skylar, Alyssa, Alan Caserio, and Jim Neilson. It took about an hour and 45 minutes to get to the top and about the same to get down. The top was pretty bare of trees but you could see all the way to Edwards Airforce base out in the Desert. Looking towards LA you weren’t able to see anything due to the heavy amounts of clouds in that direction. The top was also very cold, we couldn’t believe that people were in shorts and t-shirts hiking. I could barely even feel my hands as it was so cold up there. To our surprise there was an art student who created an art gallery that consisted of two of his art pieces, one photograph and one painting. It was quite an interesting concept or idea to have an art gallery on a hike and it was definitely something unique.
Heading back down the mountain was quite a killer on the knees as it was nearly all down hill, I don’t recall a single flat spot on this trail and the trail was packed of hikers. A lot of people hike this trail as it is part of the Pacific Crest Trail so they got their big packs on their backs taking up most of the width of the trail so there was a good amount of getting out of people’s ways on the way down. It is proper trail etiquette to let the hiker going up to have the trail and keep their momentum instead of stopping them unless they are okay with it.
