Bailey & Hastings 10/21/07

Rick Kent · Bailey & Hastings 10/21/07

Continuing a relentless assault in the San Gabriels Mike Schasch and I did Bailey & Hastings Canyons yesterday.

Of the two, Bailey is obviously the most popular. Both canyons had about a dozen rappels each. We might have done one or two more in Hastings. Thus, in total we probably did about 25 rappels. Accessing Bailey was rather easy and it's a fairly clean canyon. Hastings was another matter. The bushwhacking to get to and also some inside the canyon was a bit unpleasant. There were also a lot of foxtails. Some of the rappels in Hastings were interesting (and there was a lot of downclimbing) but overall we weren't sure it deserved a 3 star rating. Still, anything's worth doing once and together the two canyons made for a day filled with many rappels and substantial downclimbing. One mostly dry waterfall rappel in Hastings had a small swarm of bees that we had to rappel through. Looked like they tried to sting the rope a few times but fortunately neither Mike or I got stung. We joked about what might have happened had we encountered a swarm of killer bees. Oh, and we also just about stepped on a baby rattlesnake (12 inches) at the base of one of the rappels.

I'll post up a link to photos later.

-Rick

HikeUp

With Hasting's Canyon practically in my back yard, I am curious about your bushwhack route to the drop in point. I assume your exit point was Ranch Top Rd.?

Also, curious to see the pics of Hasting's. Thanks in advance for posting!

Rick Kent

Ok, photos are here:

Bailey Canyon 10/21
Hastings Canyon 10/21

-Rick

Rick Kent

Yes, our exit was onto Ranch Top Road. We followed Brennen's description for the drop-in. From the stone hut remains we dropping into Bailey Canyon, followed it up canyon a bit and then followed a sort of use trail (many actually) that worked its way up onto the ridge that seperates Bailey and Hastings canyons. Once on this ridge we followed it up a bit further before dropping down into the canyon.

HikeUp

Thanks for the good info.

HikeUp

Rick,

I was wondering if you had a gps track of your climb from the stone hut in Bailey Canyon to your drop in point in Hasting's Canyon.

From Hastings Peak I was looking down the ridge between Bailey and Hastings canyons and wondering if it would make a good shortcut route to descend from Hastings Peak to the hut. Looked doable from above but it would be crucial to know where to drop down off the ridge.

TacoDelRio

Cute rattlesnake. Laughing