Germar's Monthly Updater

October 2008: More hiking in Southern California Check box, if you don't want to see comments when enjoying full-size pictures.

In continued spending the weekends with the San Diego Hiking Club in October. The cumulative elevation gain per week was about 6000 feet, also counting my frequent bike rides up Mt. Soledad after work. I like to move more than ever!

5-October 2008: Wilson Peak On the first weekend in October, I hiked to Wilson Peak with eight friends. The mountain is west of the Anza Borrego Desert and most of the trail went along an old, and now overgrown, jeep route. It is named after cattleman Alfred Wilson of Ranchita who ran cattle in Borrego Valley before the turn of the 20th century.

Hero shot Wilson Peak Chollas

18-October: Tahquitz and San Jacinto Peaks In the middle of the month, I hiked with a friend to Tahquitz Peak, located in the San Jacinto Wilderness. There is a fire lookout tower on top of the mountain and my friend was staffing the tower for the weekend. I continued my hike up to Mt. San Jacinto. There I met with friends from the San Diego Hiking Club, who came up via a different route. (I took their route in October 2003 myself, look here!) I hiked to South Peak, located South-East of Tahquitz, the next day.

South Peak San Jacinto Mt. Baldy Sunset at Tahquitz Beautiful Hemet Tahquitz Lookout Tower

25-October: Mount Baldy Madness I organized two hikes in the San Gabriel Mountains, North-East of Los Angeles, on the last weekend in October. On Saturday, we first hiked 4 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail to Vincent Gap before climbing Mount Baden-Powell (alias North Baldy), the 4th highest peak of the San Gabriel Range. It is named after the founder of the boy scouts and there is also a monument in his honor on top. We stayed at Blue Ridge Campground over night, enjoyed a beautiful sunset, lots of good food and wine, and had a great campfire. On Sunday, we hiked up Mount San Antonio (alias Mt. Baldy) and bagged Pine Mountain and Dawson Peak on the way. Mount San Antonio assumed a place in history in the 1920s when nobel-price winning physicist Albert Michelson installed a mirror at Lookout Mountain, 3 miles South West of Mount San Antonio, to retro-reflect a beam of light originating from the observatory at Mount Wilson some 22 miles away. The exact distance was very accurately surveyed and using these measurements, Michelson calculated the speed of light to be 299,796 km/s. Today’s value is only different by 0.001% percent!

Wally Tree Mt. Baden Powell Happy Campers Happy Hikers Our Trail Pine Mountain and Mt. Baldy

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