Mt Baden-Powell — Local services in Wrightwood

This is an adventure in all the sense of the word. In the Winter the roads may be closed check for road closures before heading out. This is a strenuous hike, and during the winter it makes it much more difficult. It can get very cold make sure you are dressed properly. The summit might not even be accessible, in the winter the amount of snow that accumulates at the summit creates an impenetrable wall of snow. The snow can go up to your knees, maybe higher and you will feel the cold in your bones. In the winter you must start heading down the mountain by 3pm it gets dark early and temperature can drop so dramatically, you could literally die freeze to death up there. In the summer you can definitely reach the summit, it's a long strenuous hike pack water a snack. I'm not a pro hiker so it took me 5 hours to reach the summit. I had to take a lot of breaks my muscles were aching my feet were tender. The trail however is wonderful, full of shade by the many alpine trees. Wonderful smells of clean fresh air with a slight sent of alpine. The mountain is amazing standing tall at 9,406 feet there was still snow in june. The most amazing experience I had was when I neared the summit, I sat down to rest and I felt like I was going to fall. Even tho I was on the ground. The mountain is so high you can see it, you can feel it, an amazing feeling of a little bit of fear realizing your so high in elevation. I'm not a professional hiker this can be done, take your time, rest, pack a sandwich, and bring water. You will absolutely love this hike and the mountain will forever live...

Beautiful hike!! Windy and a little cold at the summit, but views galore made up for that. The views are a little flat on the way up until you ascend high enough to see over into the Mojave desert, but once you get to the ridge at about 9000ft.. before the Wally Waldron tree, all I can say is Wow!!! A little further up to the summit and it all pays off. You get views of every summit in the ANF, including an up close view of Baldy, which is right next door. I Would say it's an intermediate level hike if you're in reasonable shape. My pedometer clocked it at just under 9 miles with a little over 2,800ft. elevation gain so it's definitely doable. By contrast, the Sierra Madre trail to Mt. Wilson was over 15 miles (accounting for walking around the observatory at the top) and over 4,000ft. of elevation gain. Baden-Powell is also on the 6 pack of Peaks challenge, so if you want to bag a challenging, but attainable summit, this...

Nice challenging hike. 4 miles from the base at Vincent Gulch on Hwy 2 to the summit with the Boy Scouts monument atop. 41 switchbacks ascend a little more than 3000 feet to reach 9500 give or take. Lamel Springs had a flow of about 1 gallon per minute - enough to cool off with the help of a bandana. I wanted to test out some new gear so made the hike with full pack and trail runners. The Merrill's did great even though they were second hand and were very comfortable while handling the terrain with ease. The Gregory Balitor 70 squeaked like crazy all the way up and back and become very annoying. I plan to downsize to a 40 liter for more PCT hikes so I wont troubleshoot the larger. Overall, this is a good hike that the local guides have described as difficult because of the climb and distance round trip. Good shoes, treking poles and 3 liters of water make it a...