A surprisingly large crowd of thirty-eight hikers turned out for this Labor Day weekend outing. Even with consolidation we still had an eleven car caravan which left the Mt Baldy carpool point for the Highway 138 off-ramp from the 1-15 Freeway. After reorganizing we drove east on 138 toward Lake Silverwood, then turned onto dirt roads leading from the Mesa campground toward Cleghorn saddle.
The group proceeded up the firebreak southeast of Cleghorn. Some turned back before reaching the road at the top. The rest hiked over to Cleghorn and endured the short but brushy thrash to the summit. After returning to the cars three hikers checked out. The remaining group drove over to the turnoff to Cajon where we lunched in the shade, since this day was very warm. After lunch we bagged Cajon, listened to HPS Chair Ron Jones and to myself make announcements on the summit, then returned to the cars and drove to and bagged Sugarpine, then Monument. Because of the permanently locked gate on the Sawpit Canyon Road we had to retrace our tracks back to Mesa campground, from where everyone went their separate ways.
I learned later that another HPS outing attracted twenty-two hikers on the same Saturday. This means that at least sixty hikers were available to do HPS outings during a three day weekend. Perhaps outing leaders should take note of this for future scheduling.
