Officially called Mount San Antonio, but known as Mount Baldy because of the absence of trees at the summit, this mountain has the highest peak in the San Gabriel mountain range. This mountain range is located in northern Los Angeles County and western San Bernardino County, California. If you are on the Los Angeles side of the mountain, on the other side is the Mojave Desert.

There is plenty of hiking available, which affords wonderful views.

Supposedly, from this view above, you can see the ocean, which is about 50-60 miles away. However, when I was there it was too hazy. But there is actually a house for sale on the mountain that actually advertises “Ocean View” in the listing, because on the one or two days a year when it is not too hazy, you can actually catch a glimpse of the ocean while in your mountain home 5,000 feet up and 60 miles away.


Many of the tops of the large cone bristle pine trees were sheared off—the wood of this type of tree is very brittle, and the tops get sheared off from the howling winds.


We hiked up to a small waterfall, at about 6,300 feet elevation.


What struck me most, besides the views, was the extreme dryness. The waterfall was a trickle compared to its normal flow, and some of the housing developments have their water shut off every night in order for their tanks to refill. It is easy to see why the area catches fire, since a careless tourist can easily catch the mountain on fire.

Besides the noisy Harleys that constantly thunder up and down the mountain on weekends, visiting the lodge and bar there, the locals also complain of bears. With the extreme lack of water, and therefore food, the bears have learned that, since Thursday is garbage day, the humans who live in the mountain village put their garbage out Wednesday night. And food thrown away by humans is tasty to starving bears.

There is a nice ski resort that becomes active in the winter. The resort is the largest and steepest in Southern California, offering 26 runs spanning 3 mountains and 2,100 vertical feet. However, given the desert-like atmosphere during the summer, it is hard to imagine the mountains having any snow. But, an old postcard helps explain why the ski resort is still in business.

We also saw the house where some scenes from Commando were filmed.

I guess now I have to rewatch that movie!

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