At 9 am Wednesday, June 12, ten hikers gathered at the Azusa carpool point for the hike up to Mt. Islip. Two more hikers joined our group at the trailhead in the Crystal Lake campground. The sun was bright, the air was clear, and the temperature was comfortable for short sleeves and pants.
We went up to the peak on the new Cienega Trail. While it is about a mile farther along this route, this trail is gently graded, well shaded, and easy. Including stops, it took our group just 2 hours, 10 minutes to get to the top. Mount Islip rewards the hiker with outstanding views of nearly all of San Gabriel Canyon, Antelope Valley, and several adjacent peaks. Clearly, this is one of the better nearby hikes.
We returned to our cars, via the Windy Gap Trail, in just 1 hour, 20 minutes. It had been an outstanding outing. If there hadn't been quite so many pesky flies and gnats, it would have been perfect.
I was delighted to have Pepi Westhal back again as my assistant. She had been unsure of how well she could manage, but when she arrived on top, she was only 5 minutes behind the leaders. The big grins she wore made my day.
