Monrovia Peak
5409 Feet

1/1/2004

Loop Trip
Ascent via Route 3
Descent via Route 1

Total Distance Covered: 16.6 miles (from GPS Track)
Total Elevation Gain: 4479 + 120 + 60 + 305 = 4964'

Elevation of Free Parking Area: 930'


Left Home @ 6:40am
Parked @ 8:35am

Left @ 5:00pm
Arrived Home @ 6:50pm


08:45am - Started Hike up from Ridgeside & Canyon Drive
08:59am - Reached trailhead
01:12pm - Reached Monrovia Peak summit
01:36pm - Left summit
01:52pm - Reached Rankin Peak
02:47pm - Reached Clamshell Peak
04:00pm - Reached the Cross
04:39pm - Reached trailhead
04:55pm - Arrived back at vehicle

Stats:

Time from Free Parking Area to Monrovia Summit (via route 3): 4 hrs 27 mins
Time from Monrovia back to Parking Area (via route 1): 3 hrs 19 mins
Total Hiking Time: 8 hrs 10 mins

Notes:

I ascended the peak via HPS Route 3.  This route is quite nice,
at least until you have to get back on the road by the lodge
ruins.  It's well shaded pretty much the entire way up to this
point.  Once on the road there's little or no shade.

I lost time in a couple places by trying to find shortcuts.  I hiked
up the Overturf trail past the old lodge ruins thinking it might connect up
with White Saddle but ended up turning back and coming back down to
the road.  This probably added 30 minutes.  I also thought I could
make a shortcut to the Red Box road by going up a gully.  While
I eventually did get up to the Red Box road it took awhile hunting
for a path through the thick undergrowth.  This probably took about
15 minutes longer than had I just stayed on the road.

I descended from Monrovia via HPS route 1.  If you like torture,
this is the route for you.  The problem is the firebreak trail
that leads down from Clamshell Peak.  It's steep, slippery, and overgrown
with brush.  I suspect that by March the ticks through here would
be extremely bad.  I noticed about 3 or 4 crawling up my pants
(over the length of the firebreak) and it was only the 1st of January.
There is one advantage to this route.  The lower section
(the Bill Cull trail) is extemely well maintained and offers excellent views of the dam
(something that route 3 doesn't offer).  Like the first part
of route 3, this trail is also quite pleasant.  The one good thing
about having used route 1 for descent is that the views of the
dam at sunset are fantastic.

I'm glad I did the hike as a loop with routes 1 & 3 but that firebreak
section sucked.  If I do this loop again I might see if I can use
the Clamshell truck trail instead of the firebreak.  It looked like
it might be possible to hike up the Bill Cull trail and then connect
up with the truck trail, but I'm not sure.