For a couple of weeks now, we had been talking about repeating our hike up Mt. Baden-Powell (9,399′), but adding a trip down the peak’s western ridgeline as well. We had also kicked around the idea of doing the hike in the reverse direction, from west to east. In either case, we’d need to shuttle a car to one end or the other, so we thought we’d make the trip when our kids were visiting earlier during our week-long stay in Wrightwood. Well, we ended up being busy with other family activities and didn’t get the hike in, so we decided instead to do it on our own, starting from Dawson Saddle in the west, making the 4-1/2 mile hike eastward to Baden-Powell, then retracing our steps back west. A bonus would be making short side trips to two other HPS-listed summits, Throop Peak (9,138′)and Mt. Burnham (8,997′), along the way. Based on mileage figures cited in various hiking guides, we figured the hike to be around 9 miles with about 2,000′ of elevation gain (our previous ascent of Baden-Powell last November from Vincent Gap was of similar length but with 40% more gain). Typically, we got a late start, arriving at Dawson Saddle about 11:30am – the day had warmed quite a bit, and it certainly felt hotter than the forecasted 66 degrees. We were looking for the Dawson Saddle trail, built by a team of Boy Scouts in the early 1980s who logged more than 3,000 work hours during its construction – this path would lead us south up Throop Peak’s north ridge to a junction with the PCT just east of the peak, which we’d climb via a short use trail. Then, we’d walk the PCT up to Baden-Powell, taking a similar use trail to tag Mt. Burnham about midway up the ridge. There was an obvious trail just across Hwy 2 from where we parked but no signage at all – we knew there were two trailheads here, an official one and a popular shortcut, but since this was the only one we had seen, we started up, knowing we’d get to the same place. After a couple of short, steep switchbacks, one of which was blocked by a fallen tree, we found the main trail, encountering a group of fathers and sons at the junction – they explained that the official trailhead was a few hundred yards east of where we had started, and that there was a large sign marked “Dawson Saddle Trail”. So much for our powers of observation – oh well. We left them behind as we made reasonable time up what turned out to be a moderate but very manageable grade, although Chris right away felt very tired on the steeper sections – his energy tank would be on fumes throughout the day, resulting in a slow pace well below our average. We reached the PCT after about an hour of walking, logging 2 miles in the process, and we found the use trail up Throop Peak, as well as a refreshing breeze, without any trouble. It took another 15 minutes or so to reach the summit, which offered amazing 360-degree views – there was a fair amount of detail visible not only on the hazy desert side but down in the smoggy Inland Empire as well, though we couldn’t see downtown LA as we could in November. We searched all over the summit area for a register but could not locate it – we settled instead for a summit self-portrait. After a few minutes taking in the views, we headed back down to the PCT, immediately setting out eastward into the saddle west of Mt. Burnham. Here, the trail follows close to the ridgeline, reminding us of the Reyes Peak trail in Los Padres NF above Ojai – at the bottom of the saddle, we dipped below 8,600′, meaning we had some 800′ to gain back to the Baden-Powell summit. Climbing out of the saddle, we left the ridgeline to round Mt. Burnham’s north shoulder, passing through what may be the prettiest forest we’ve walked through in the area to date – a couple of switchbacks brought us back south to the ridge’s crest, where we regained our southward views as well as found the use trail to Burnham’s summit. At the top, we found a campsite but no sign of a summit marker – however, Jane’s diligent searching turned up the register can, buried below a small pile of stones tucked beneath a large patch of buckthorn. By now it was about 2:30pm, and we figured it would take us at least another 45 minutes to get to Baden-Powell – we had left our dog, Frances, back at the cabin (locked inside since we have no fenced yard or dog run there), and we were concerned about leaving her alone for too long. After a brief rest, we headed out again, initially traversing the south side of the ridge for the first time before switching back up the slope and re-crossing the ridgeline to its north flank. From here, the PCT wound moderately upward, and before long we could see the bare crest of Baden-Powell’s NE ridge above us, where we knew from our previous visit the summit trail left the PCT. We paused at this junction to marvel at the tremendous views to the east – this vista, to which photographs can do no justice, is worth whatever effort is required to get here. We spied a lone hiker descending the summit trail above us, and we struck up a conversation with him as he approached – Eric McConnell was his name, aka Snakecharmer (his trail name so bestowed given his five encounters with rattlesnakes on his trip so far), today being his first back on the trail after taking two weeks off in Wrightwood to heal his badly blistered feet. He is the only PCT thru-hiker we’ve met on the trail to date, and we were full of questions about his experience so far – his sounds like a truly epic journey (as are pretty much all PCT thru-hikes), and we’ve included a link to his blog at right. He reminded us a lot of our son, Carter, and, after taking his photo, we wished him well as he continued the day’s walk to Little Jimmy Camp, some 7 miles west near Islip Saddle. We continued on up to the summit, staying only long enough to sign the register and snap four pictures (for more detail on Mt. Baden-Powell, please see our previous post here). We had passed a use trail down Baden-Powell’s west ridge on our way up, and decided to take it down instead of backtracking to the PCT junction – it no doubt saved us a few minutes, and we shortly regained the PCT westbound (technically northbound) as the breeze picked up into a steady south wind. We had some 4-1/2 miles back to the Jeep, and we figured it would take us at least an hour and a half – it was a full two hours in the end. Still, the late afternoon sunlight offered a totally different perspective on the terrain, both in the shadows of the forest and in the silhouettes of mountains and plains more distant. The two-mile walk north away from the PCT to Dawson Saddle was very pleasant, and we followed the official trail back to Hwy 2, noting the somewhat dilapidated trailhead sign in the process. Our total distance came out at over 10 miles, but this was a great hike, one requiring no small amount of effort but offering gorgeous scenery and an enjoyable experience overall.