This weekend our plan was to hike a section of the PCT/Silver Moccasin Trail starting from Three Points and continue to the higher elevation of Cloudburst Summit. This section of trail sticks pretty close to the Angeles Crest Highway and crosses it several times, so you do hear a good deal of traffic noise when cars and motorcycles are traveling through. The scenery, however, makes up for the fact that you’re so close to the highway. The trail takes you along Waterman Mountain and into the Pleasant View Ridge Wilderness. It’s a beautiful trail with no lack pine trees and tons of fallen pine cones along the path. As we reached the higher altitude, we started to see some patches of snow along the trail Finally arriving at Cloudburst Summit, we were so close to Winston Peak that we decided to climb up and check out the views. Looking off in the distance we could see the snowy north face of Mount Baldy. It was about 1:30 pm when we started to head back and the winds were kicking up. We ended up doing about 12 miles out and back today according to my GPS stats. On the way home we stopped off at Charlton Flats to grill up some food. It was definitely feeling chilly by this time, but a warm bite to eat hit the spot.
Starting off at Three Points on the Pacific Crest/Silver Moccasin Trail.
I love when trails are covered in pine needles.
Hiking around Waterman Mountain.
Passing through Glenwood Camp.
The Pleasant View Ridge Wilderness is beautiful.
A rocky section.
Not much snow.
If we were thru-hiking, we'd have only 400 miles left to go to Mexico.
Snow up at the higher elevations.
There were so many pine cones!
Views looking towards the desert.
Crossing over Angeles Crest to continue along the PCT/Silver Moccasin Trail.
Someone decorated this little pine with ornaments. I've seen this a few times on the trees that are closest to Angeles Crest Highway. So cute!
Climbing up and continuing on to Cloudburst Summit.
From Cloudburst Summit we hiked a straight shot up to Winston Peak.
It's a steep trail, but it's short. Probably a little over half a mile.
Enjoying the views from Winston Peak.
Lots of rocks on this peak and very pretty.
We took a break up here before heading back down.
Looking over at the snow-cap.
On our way back through the Pleasant View Ridge Wilderness.
