Until recently (meaning 2019), I thought there were three trails that reach Mt. Baldy. The easiest is to take the ski lift to Baldy Notch, and then travel via Devil's Backbone Trail to the summit. This one has 1,800 feet of elevation gain. The more challenging one is to start from Mankers Flat and get to the summit via the Ski Hut Trail, passing by the green hut built by the Sierra Club half way through the hike. This one has 3,800 feet of elevation gain. The most challenging route (I thought) starts in Mt. Baldy Village and reaches the summit after more than 6,000 feet of climbing on the Bear Canyon Trail. I have done the first one maybe three times, the second around 20 times, but I have not tried the third one yet.

After visiting Wrightwood on the north side of Baldy a few times, I found out that there is actually an even more challenging way to get to Baldy, and it starts in Wrightwood, beginning from what's called the Acorn Trail. After 1,500 feet and two miles, you would reach the world famous Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). Spend another mile on the PCT, you will come across an inconspicuous trail that goes to the right, called the North Backbone Trail. That begins steep climbing that takes you first to Pine Mountain, then to Dawson Peak, and finally to Mt. Baldy. The overall elevation gain on the 15 mile round trip adds up to 7,500 feet according to my GPS map. You can bypass the Acorn Trail by directly driving to the intersection between the PCT and North Backbone Trail, but you need a car that can handle dirt roads, and it extends your driving time by two hours.

On this particular day, I wanted to check out the most challenging route to Baldy. So I found parking around half a mile from the Acorn Trailhead (this is as close as you can possibly get). Right away, the uphill walk is pretty steep. At the trailhead, I saw a big signpost with a boar's head next to it.

An hour later, I reached the Acorn Trail/PCT junction with a sign and a nice bench for resting.

On this first part of the hike, I met a lady who lives near the Acorn trailhead and told me that she uses this section of the trail daily as her training for more ambitious hikes like Mt. Whitney. On this entire day, I met two other people on the PCT and then I was on my own for two miles on the North Backbone Trail.

Interesting observations on the PCT:

I looked up Jodi and Jerry and found out that they were the first to try hike the PCT in the winter, from Mexico to Canada. Unfortunately, they got lost in a winter storm in December 1983 and slipped and fell off a 300 foot cliff above the Acorn Trail. Only in 2015 did someone finally successfully complete this hike.

At the top of this massive face that was perhaps created by a landslide should be what's called the Wright Mountain.

Looking south from the PCT, I could now see the massive Pine Mountain. There was still a small amount of snow close to the top in July!

Here is the service road below the PCT that intersects the North Backbone Trail. It's very easy to miss, isn't it?

Now that I had climbed a little bit higher, I could see Mt. Baden-Powell in the north, and some strange white rocks on the trail.

The next section becomes dangerously steep, loose, and slippery. Be very careful especially on the way back.

Close to the top of Pine Mountain, it gets less steep, and finally I came across that small snow patch from the earlier pictures.

The top of Pine Mountain is at 9,648 feet. Here is a 360 degree view.

So, I already hiked five miles to get to this point. But there are still 2.5 miles to go to get to Baldy. First, you would have to descend around 500 feet, and then climb to Dawson Peak (9,575 feet) on the left. Then, you need to descend again for 750 feet, and finally climb around 1,300 feet to Baldy. Don't forget you would then need to come back the same way, and re-climb Dawson and Pine. Even on this July day, parts of the trail that goes to Baldy were still covered in snow.

I decided to sit down for lunch, take in the views, and call it a day.