Day 22 - san gabriel moUntains to wrightwood

April 18 | Miles 351.8 - 369

I woke under a starry, moonlit sky to an unbelievable sunrise.

We headed out early knowing we had a massive, probably snowy climb ahead.

The incline was not kind to my quads. The dudes beasted up the hills as I huffed and puffed.

The views, however, were breathtaking. The imposing Mt. Baldy dominated the landscape under a blanket of snow.

We climbed and climbed and crossed some sketchy snow (and I lost the trail at one point and had to bushwhack my way 200 vertical feet back up from a dirt road) before we got some killer views of Baden-Powell and, in the distance, Metro Los Angeles. We even passed a closed ski area.

At one point I glissaded and soaked my whole butt with snow, but it was all good. We jammed out the final miles to the highway in record time, arriving around 1.

A couple of trail angels named Leroy and Diane were gracious enough to host us and 3 other friends for the night in the extremely hiker-friendly town of Wrightwood. He picked the 8 of us up in the back of his classic red and white GMC truck and ferried us down Highway 2 as our hair blew in the wind (maybe his plan was to air us out a little…). We headed to town and picked up groceries for dinner (pizza bagels, salad, beer, and ice cream) after hitting up the local brewery, where I picked up the first round.

Looking forward to a restful nearo tomorrow, and a hot breakfast we’re planning to cook up for the crew.