The Three Saints, Part 1: Mount Baldy (San Antonio)
Southern California's Three Saints – Southern California's three tallest peaks are all named for saints: San Antonio (everyone calls it Mount Baldy), San Gorgonio and San Jacinto. This fall I set out to stand on top of all three, one hike at a time. First up was Mount Baldy (10,064 ft), on September 26. San Antonio Peak – I drove up from home that morning. There were a lot of cars parked by the trailhead, but I found quite a bit of parking farther up the road, between the trailhead and the resort parking lot. I started from Manker Flats at 9:20. The directions are simple: walk up Falls Road past San Antonio Falls to Mt. Baldy Road, then turn up the Baldy Bowl Trail, which climbs past the Sierra Club Ski Hut. The spring there was still running in late September. It's a steep one: 4.1 miles of nearly nonstop climbing to the summit, which took me 3 hours and 10 minutes. From the top I could see the other two saints, San Gorgonio and San Jacinto, lined up to the east and waitin...
