Monrovia Peak

24 February 1990

By: David Eisenberg

Leaders: David Eisenberg, Frank Dobos

The ascent of Monrovia was scheduled in February to avoid the hot LA weather. Instead we were hit with a rare heat wave with temperature going up to 80 as we were going up the firebreaks. Fortunately, there was no smog.

The trip started off quite pleasantly with a drive through Monrovia. Myrtle Avenue has been transformed into a pleasant landscaped shopping area. It may help to know that the house number at the trailhead is 873 Ridgeside.

10 of us met at the Clamshell Truck Trail at 7:40. The truck trail continues for 1 mile before meeting the firebreak. The air was particularly clear allowing continuous views of Monrovia, Arcadia, and Pasadena.

With one slow slogging step after another, we toiled up the ridge watering the chaparral with our copious sweat. We arrived at Clamshell Peak at 10:30. At this point, a mild Santa Ana brought us relief from the heat. (Rubbing our faces with melting snow helped, too.) We took a brief rest period as we signed the register.

The clear skies provided views of almost all of the Angeles peaks including Monrovia which was finally visible just behind Rankin Peak.

We dropped 250' down the road where we hiked over many surprisingly deep snow patches to the firebreak over Rankin, arriving at 11:30. We neglected to bring a flag to pledge to, but passed the time reading the American Legion and Boy Scout plaques as we signed in.

We arrived on the snow covered summit of Monrovia at 11:50. Views included Santiago, Toro (possibly Rabbit but it could have been haze), San Jacinto and the Desert Divide, San Gorgonio, Baldy, and most of the Angeles peaks. We waited until 12:30 for the Bike and Hikers but they never came. We had to content ourselves with eating lunch and putting snow in our water bottles to stretch the supply.

We returned to the cars by the same route, arriving at 3:30.

Particular thanks to Frank Dobos who took over as assistant when Luella Martin came down with the flu.