Chantry Flats

Conditioning Hike or Snow Travel?

This past Saturday 27 of us headed into the Angeles National Forest to hike up to Mt Wilson. This was the Group 4 conditioning hike for the Sierra Club's Wilderness Travel Course. Throughout this 10 week course there are 4 weekend outings, this first of which is the "conditioning hike".  The purpose of the trip is to practice newly learned navigation skills, work on nutrition & hydration while hiking and get used to clothing and gear choices. The round trip loop from Chantry Flats to the top of Mount Wilson always proves to be a challenge at 14+ miles and close to 5ooo' of elevation gain. This year a small winter storm threw a new, but very cool challenge to the mix, SNOW and near freezing temperatures at the top. The "snow travel" outing is usually the 3rd outing for the course, but we got a preview this weekend! This was also a great hike for us to check our fitness level as we are now in serious training mode for our Mt Whitney hike in April with the Big City Mountaineers Summit For Someone program.

For many, this was the first time hiking up to Mount Wilson and we have to say everyone ROCKED this hike. Each person rose to the challenge and did great! We are super excited to head to Joshua Tree National Park with the group for the next round of adventure.

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