The San Gabriels Granite Mountain is not the most scenic or well known summit of the range. However it lies on the famed Hundred Peaks Section maintained by the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club. Over the years of SoCal visits, I've ticked off a number of the more well-known summits. Hence, I've started working my way through the lesser known summits for variety and perspective on Southern California's Mountains. I discovered this challenging loop of the San Gabriels Granite Mountain along with Rabbit Peak, Roundtop and Iron Mountain. Here's my description and trip report.
Granite Mountain Loop Hike Overview
Granite Mountain lies within the Pacifico Mountain area of the San Gabriels. At the northeaster side of the range, the climate is drier and feels like a transition point between the Mojave Desert and the dense scrubby chaparral and pine forests of the interior San Gabriels. Before the Station Fire, the summit had scattered conifers. These days its mostly open with a few surviving Jeffery Pines and Pinyon Pines. The lack of tree cover leads to wonderful views but total sun exposure.
Below is the route as I completed it. Most of the climbing is basically an open country bushwhack. Total distance was 12.6 miles with about 4,100' of gain. It took me about 6.5 hours to complete.
Route Description and Trip Report
Trailhead to Rabbit Peak
I awkwardly parked at Monte Cristo Campground for this hike. There's no formal trailhead parking which is unfortunate. On a Monday morning in December there wasn't anyone there so I didn't feel bad. The "trailhead" is at the northern end of the campground and is basically a fire road. The starting altitude is about 3,750'.
The first 1.5 miles are a straightforward walk up a fire road, gaining about 600'. There's some sort of homestead in the center of the cirque so the road sees minor traffic. I reached an unmarked junction and went left, further climbing the fire road. At 2.8 miles and about 4,660' of altitude, I found the heard path going up Rabbit Peak. Its not marked and easily missed. Having a pre-loaded GPS track helped take the guesswork out of the affair.
The herd path was essentially a bushwhack. I gained 800' in about 0.5 miles with grades around 15-20%. Moreover, it was a tough navigation through loose dirt any plenty of prickly things. Not sure what I was expecting at first but this was most of the rest of the hike.
Eventually I gained the 5,243' summit of Rabbit Peak, 3.3 miles from the trailhead. There wasn't a summit register.
Rabbit Peak to San Gabriels Granite Mountain
The next section was tough. There's no trail between Rabbit Peak (5,243') and Granite Mountain (6,555') - just a lot of trudging through scrub and avoiding razor sharp yuccas. Its 2.3 miles between the two summits with lots of pointless-up-and-downs. My pace was tortuous-like.
Slowly I made my way along. There were 2-3 subpeaks I went up and over before finally getting to Granite Mountain proper. The last 1.3 miles was a continuous climb. Fortunately the views opened up - Pacifico Mountain, Antelope Valley, Strawberry Peak, Waterman and Twin Peaks were plainly visible.
In stark contrast to the ground I just covered, the summit was practically pancake flat. A few granite outcroppings all vied for true highpoint. In peakbagger fashion, I stood on all of them, just to be certain I tagged the highest point. I took my lunch at the top and tried to pick out as many summits as possible.
Roundtop and Iron Mountain
From the summit of Granite Mountain, I descended over open country to a forest road. On the map its listed as Forest Road 3N90. I cruised along this road with minimal loss and gain. It was quite pleasant - many of the taller summits to the west were visible.
Roundtop was 1.7 miles from San Gabriels Granite Mountain and 7.4 miles from the trailhead.
Descending Roundtop to the saddle with Iron Mountain was a doozy. It was the steepest terrain on the entire hike. In addition, it was loose, very scrubby and full of yuccas. My altimeter noted 1,500' of elevation lost over 1 mile. Truly a slip and slide. Not sure which would have been worse- going up or down.
At the bottom, I climbed a short distance to a fire break that traced the ridgeline to Iron Mountain. The final summit wasn't nearly the difficult of the former. From saddle to summit was roughly 400' gain over 0.4 miles. Iron Mountain was pretty but there wasn't a summit register.
Iron Mountain back to the Trailhead
I descended the way I came back to the saddle of Iron Mountain and Roundtop. It was a little confusing finding the fire road but it forks just past the saddle and descends to the first junction. From there it was an easy descent back to the trailhead.
Overall it was a hard hike that felt more like a route or bushwhack. But I didn't see a soul all day - nice to have such a place to yourself. Hope I can make it up again this season.
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