The 2017 Sierra Club Wilderness Travel Course has been running down here in Orange County for three weeks which means it's finally time to start hiking!

For the next 2 months in addition to class on Tuesday night we'll spend every other weekend hiking, rock scrambling, doing map and compass navigation, snowshoeing, and finally backpacking for two nights and three days into the snow at 9000 ft.  And if you've been paying attention to the snow levels this year snow activity is looking damn promising.

But first we get everyone out for a good long dayhike to prepare them for what's to come.  This year the heavy rains caused us to make a last minute change from Santiago Peak via Holy Jim to Mount Wilson from Sierra Madre.

January 29th, 2017

Mount Wilson (5,713')

[Pics] [Map]

This was the second day of the 2017 Mustache Mosey and we planned to have an easy day climbing the 3rd -ish class pile of rocks called Teutonia Peak.

January 15th, 2017

Teutonia Peak (719')

[Pics] [Map]

The Mustache Mosey (aka The Premier Upper Lip Hair Based Desert Social Event Of The Season) began back in 2011 as a way to spice up a relatively pedestrian pair of peaks with some not insignificant access difficulties.  Peaks were climbed, ridiculous mustaches were worn, and unfortunately several vehicles had tires shredded before we were done.  And we've maintained the tradition ever since.  (Except for the tires.  Mostly...)

January 14th, 2017

[PicsKelso] [PicsLavaTubes] [CalTopo] [Map]

The first time I visited Guadalupe Canyon Hot Spring in 2014 it was to climb the DPS peak Pico Risco. It was a rough trip and due to various factors we arrived at the camp around 2 am and managed to do just about everything wrong.

We didn't have a reservation and ended up stumbling around other people's camps until we found one that was unoccupied and and had a filled hot tub which we proceeded to soak in until almost 4 am, sleep a few hours, then did a brutal drive back to Orange County that same day.

Despite that it stood out as one of the most beautiful and memorable desert trips I've done and ever since I've wanted to come back when there was a little more time to enjoy the amenities.  Which finally came about this weekend for New Years 2017

We made the plans late and I expected they'd be filled up considering the holiday.  Sure enough the first query we made through http://www.guadalupecanyonoasis.com got a reply they'd been filled up for 3 months.  However when we tried http://guadalupecanyonhotsprings.com we were told there was plenty of room and we proceeded to reserve the El Coyote pool for $100 for two nights.

January 1st, 2017

Guadalupe Canyon Oasis

Guadalupe Canyon Hot Springs

[Pics] [Map]