On Top of Old Baldy

From the May 2010 Automobile Club of Southern California Westways magazine.                                              

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Bedroll, heavy-duty axe, large drum can­teen. Check. Wide-brimmed hat, cravat, six-gun, holster, and ammunition. Check. Add nine of your buddies striking a pose atop a 10,OOO-foot mountain-and a photographer to prove you made it to the top-and you have the fixings of a wilderness hunting adventure at the summit of Mount Baldy, circa 1890.

Officially, the mountain bears the name San Antonio, but it was nicknamed Old Baldy in the 1860s by hard-luck gold miners who noted the mountain’s treeless pate. The peak dominates the eastern San Gabriel range and is the highest point in Los Angeles County.

The original route to the crest of the moun­tain started at Devil’s Backbone, a harrowing knife-edged approach from the east. But in the summer of 1889, Dr. B.H. Fairchild hired hunter Fred Dell and a party of laborers to build a shorter (but steeper) horse trail up the south ridge. Fairchild hoped to convince Harvard College that it should construct a permanent astronomical observatory on top of Baldy to replace the school’s temporary site at Mount Wilson. When the director of the college observatory later trekked to the summit-where the party from Dell’s Camp had erected a stone summit monument-the weather was so bad that Harvard opted to pass.

Although the summit never became a scien­tific apex, Mount Baldy has rewarded countless hikers with wonderful vistas. Be sure to bring your camera. W