San Gabriel Grand Slam 6/7/03 15 peaks in 14 hours. What a day! For some time I had wan't to see how many peaks I could bag in a single day. After reviewing most of the peaks on the HPS list, the San Gabriel area seemed to be the best bet. To my knowledge there really isn't any other place where there is such a large number of easy peaks in a relatively small area. Thus, I had begun to plan out my attack months in advance. Starting with the 7 peaks in the Mount Wilson section, I then selected the next closest peaks. In all I selected 15 peaks that fit my requirements. I had no idea whether this was feasible or not. I also selected an additional 4 peaks just in case. Here are the 15 peaks: Mount Deception Mount Disappointment San Gabriel Peak Mount Lowe Mount Markham Occidental Peak Mount Wilson Barley Flats Mount Sally Vetter Moutain LO Mount Mooney Mount Hillyer Wiston Peak Mount Akawie Kratka Ridge The extra 4 I selected were Mount Lawlor, Wiston Ridge, Mount Williamson, and Mount Islip. These 4 were less attractive due to hiking distance or other factors. Knowing that I would need to use as much existing daylight as possible I got up at 4am and left home by 4:40am. The drive from Bakersfield to Eaton Saddle took exactly 2 hours (not bad considering I drove all the way from Bakersfield). Observations: On more than one peak (especially Hillyer) I searched endlessly for a summit can and never found one. This accounted for at least 40 minutes (10 or 15 minutes on Mount Disappointment, and another 10 minutes or so on Mount Markham). The weather was extremely hot (and humid). I had been using Accuweather to get an idea of the temperature for Mount Wilson but this proved to be totally unreliable. It gave me the impression that the area would be much cooler than it really was. If you go in June, just realize it will be HOT! If I ever do this again it will either be earlier or later in the year. The flies and mosquitos were ferocious. The only good thing about this is that it keeps you moving. If you stopped for more than a moment you would be surrounded by a swarm of these viscous insects. They especially seem to like to fly into your mouth and ears. I used mosquito repellent but this seemed only minimally effective. Although I tried to get up as early as possible I still did not arrive at my starting point until 6:41am. Thus, another hour or more of daylight could have been utilized. There's no reason you couldn't start at 5am if you wanted to. The only possible catch is that Skyline Park might not be open until 10am. Thus, you might not be able to get to Mount wilson. I wasted at least 10 to 15 minutes on the way to Lowe because I went down the road instead of the trail and then had to work my way up the loose scree to the trail. On Occidental, I met an HPS party that included Frank Goodykoontz and Ping Pfeffer. This was a pleasure. I had seen Frank's name on the HPS web site and so knew of his legendary status. He has completed the HPS more times than just about anyone. Having the chance to talk with him and Ping was great. It was interesting to learn that Frank was a computer programmer (like myself) but of an earlier era. He started with the early systems (in the 50s?) and programmed in machine language. Later he programmed in Fortran. He didn't start hiking until age 50. I spent about 15 to 20 minutes talking and hiking with Frank and Ping before moving on to my next peak. Few summit cans were found. In fact I think I only signed in to 4 or 5 out of 15. I expected this on the peaks in the Mount Wilson section, but not on the others. Notes: On the way to the Akawie trailhead I lost 10 minutes by missing the parking place for Akawie and had to drive back. There is a section of the trail to Occidental just past the start that is about 80 feet above the road and is exposed. A slip here and you would fall all the way down to the road. Needless to say, this could be fatal. Take great care here or better yet try to avoid this spot. You'll know what I'm talking about if you come to it. A hiker (David Trinkle) died from a fall on the Mount Wilson trail due to similar trail errosion in April of 2000 (http://tchester.org/sgm/lists/deaths.html#hiking). Are there any shortcuts one can take to get down from San Gabriel and Markham? A shortcut off Mount Markham could save a lot of time but I don't know if a suitable one exists. Foxtails were bad on Occidental and extremely bad on Barley Flats. One word: GAITERS! I had great difficulty finding the highest point on Mount Hillyer. As a result I visited probably every high point on this peak. Log: 04:40 Left Home 06:41 Set off from Eaton Saddle 07:31 Reached Summit of Mount Deception 07:57 Reached Summit of Mount Disappointment 08:20 Reached Summit of San Gabriel Peak 09:09 Reached Summit of Mount Lowe 09:40 Reached Summit of Mount Markham 10:36 Returned to vehicle at Eaton Saddle 10:50 Started hiking up Occidental by the TV tower 11:16 Reached Summit of Occidental Peak 11:44 Returned to vehicle 11:57 Reached high point of Mount Wilson 12:56 Reached Summit of Barley Flats 01:55 Reached Summit of Mount Sally 02:53 Reached Vetter Mountain Lookout 03:48 Reached Summit of Mount Mooney 05:27 Reached Summit of Mount Hillyer 06:37 Reached Summit of Winston Peak 07:24 Reached Summit of Mount Akawie 08:17 Reached Summit of Kratka Ridge 08:38 Arrived back at vehicle Stats: Total Time from Start (at Eaton Saddle) to Finish: 13 hrs 57 mins