| |
|
| | |
|
| Hiking | 6.55 Miles |
1,260 AEG |
| | Hiking | 6.55 Miles | 2 Hrs 44 Mns | | 2.55 mph |
| 1,260 ft AEG | 10 Mns Break | | | |
|
|
| |
| Linked |
|
none
[ show ]
| no linked trail guides |
| Partners |
|
none
[ show ]
| no partners | | Like Sunrise Mtn, Peter promised that West Wing would not disappoint, especially for something mid-week on a workday when I have only a few hours of daylight to hike and no time to drive to something more remote. Peter also mentioned something about a rugged ridgeline that I would totally enjoy; and, [despite my less than pleasant encounter with a bee two days earlier], temptation got the better of me and I was off to conquer West Wing Mtn and have some fun on this rugged ridgeline.
Like with Sunrise Mtn, I’m not even attempting to describe my route for this one... just reference my GPS tracks for details. That said, [generally speaking], I stayed on the trails and/or routes for almost the whole thing on this one compared to my Sunrise Mtn loop which involved a bit more free-styling. In fact, if I’m remembering correctly, [aside from heading straight up / straight down a few annoying switchbacks which don’t really count], I don’t recall being truly “off-trail” at any point. Most of the peaks comprising West Wing Mtn all have trails and/or routes leading to them. As much as I love to free-style and go off-trail, it was a nice change to be able knock out a ton of these mini-peaks, thanks to the assistance of trails/routes.
West Wing Mtn has two primary ridgelines, each containing several peaks/prominent points. The main trail traverses the one closer to the parking area, while the one further from the parking area is more rugged and has no official trail [but is very well routed]. Wanting to save the best for last – and also test the waters [or in this case the mountains] for bee activity – I decided to knock off the ridgeline with the trail first, which includes the highpoint.
After completing the first ridgeline and looping back around and up toward where the official trail passes by the start of the rugged ridgeline, I still had my doubts about proceeding, [shown on my GPS track where I began to depart from the West Wing Mountain Trail towards the rugged ridgeline, only to go running back to the trail after just a few steps when I saw a huge bee a short distance in front of me]. Luckily the bee did not pursue, and I decided I was going to give the ridgeline a go… I had encountered several bees at various points during the hike while on the trail… and while walking through the development to get to the trails for that matter. Peter mentioned to me that the bees are attracted to the Palo Verdes, which just so happen to be in full bloom this time of year; and sure enough, the times where I saw bees/heard buzzing were always by the Palo Verdes. Making sure to keep a few feet away from any Palo Verdes that I passed – or to pass by any Palo Verdes that I had to brush up against very quickly – proved to be quite effective at not pissing off any bees.
The only times I heard buzzing/increased buzzing were when I had to pass very close to any Palo Verdes and when I stopped for more than a few seconds in areas with Palo Verdes nearby [i.e. usually right on top of the summits/prominent points]… so with that in mind, I kicked things into high gear and tore it up across the rugged ridgeline, most of which, [to my pleasant surprise], proved to be exclusively hopping boulders vs. negotiating loose/rocky footing, [although there were a few portions of that too]. While it would’ve been nice to have taken a few extra minutes on the various prominent points to enjoy the views, [which were actually quite nice for a city hike], I was hesitant to stop for more than a few seconds or even slow up my pace… the last thing I wanted to do was linger in one spot for too long and piss off any bees. So instead of my normal, ‘take my time to smell the roses’ type of approach, I conquered this ridgeline ‘hit it and quit’ style and it was an absolute blast.  |
| _____________________
| God save the Prom Queen, cuz [reality check!] AEG's King...! |
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Route Editor
Route Scout
