2 min
Overview
A short 4 mile loop through the San Gabriel High Country to Winston Ridge and Winston Peak along sections of the Pacific Crest Trail. This route turns a very easily-bagged single peak hike into a moderately strenuous two-peak journey, with expansive views of the interior San Gabriels and Antelope Valley. On an early Thursday morning, I joined up with a group of the Sierra Club’s Hundred Peaks Section and drove deep into the Angeles National Forest. As a member of the HPS, one of the goals is to summit 100 Californian peaks over 5000 feet. They range in difficulty from short drive-ups to full-scale backpacking routes. The group on this trip was attempting to combine four short treks into a combined trip that would make the drive worthwhile. We started at Cloudburst Summit, just a few miles from the end of the (currently drivable section of the) Angeles Crest Highway, parked at a small dirt lot, got out and stretched our legs. If you were only interested in hitting the top of Winston Peak — and also didn’t care that you probably drove for 90 minutes to do a 15 minute hike, face the fire road and look to your slight left — you’ll see a faint use trail that makes a quick ascent of the ridge, right toward the Peak’s summit. If you want to actually have a decent hike, go straight on the fire road and take its slow descent as it travels toward Cooper Canyon. Alternately, if you loathe fire roads, you can take the Pacific Coast Trail for one mile, as it parallels the road in a small gulch. If this is the farthest you’ve gone into the Angeles National Forest on the Crest Highway, you’ll notice the landscape is quite different than the drier scrubland near La Canada Flintridge — that’s because you’re already more than 7000 feet up — far higher than most of the prominent peaks of the western San Gabriels. The landscape here is more forested (with actual trees!), wetter, and cooler — most of us were hiking in long sleeves and pants, even at the end of May. Winter does tend to linger late into the season here – and the regi
Trail Stats
7.1 km
219 m
2275 m
2016 m
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Photos
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