Sawtooth Peak, Burnt Peak, Liebre Mountain

9 March 1996

By: Patty Kline

Leaders: Patty Kline, Frank Goodykoontz, Peter Doggett, Janet Bartel, Harriett Edwards

We all met at 7:00 am at the Sylmar rideshare point for a nice 10 mile day hike in the Angeles National Forest in northern Los Angeles County. It was about 1-1/2 hour drive out to the roadhead for Sawtooth via 2 lane paved and then dirt roads accessible to fairly low 2WD vehicles.

We had our first lunch on Sawtooth at 5200 feet. The rollercoaster of the ups and downs which gave the peak its name made the peak seem a lot more than the approximate 1600 feet of gain total coming and going.

Next we drove a short distance for the roadhead for Burnt. This peak at 5788 feet had very little gain on a dirt maintenance road of about 6 miles round trip. The road is for servicing the radio site on the summit. We had our second lunch here.

Liebre at 5760 feet was 7 or 8 miles more on a dirt road. We drove almost to the top, parked and walked the 250 feet to the cairn to sign the register. Even though Liebre was just a drive up, it is one of my favorite HPS peaks because of the beautiful open grove of trees on top. You feel like you are in the middle of nowhere with empty valleys all around you. It was too cold and windy to stay for more than a minute. We continued driving in the same direction we came from on a smoother road rather than going back the way we came. This road we proceeded on is very exposed and spectacular as it switchbacks down to the "Old Ridge Route." There are remnants of the 1918 original concrete road which wove back and forth under existing blacktop. They didn't know how to cut down hills for a straighter road then. Now we just take the side of the mountain off.

The participants were Larry Hoak, Ed Bergeron, David Goltzman, Gary McNulty, Bob Emerich, Bill Siegal, Harvey Ganz, Cathy Reynolds, Mike Fredette, Hank Warzybok, Paul Graff, Andrew Shearon, and Peter McGowan from Australia. It was really nice that Peter McGowan could come on this hike. His Mother was Theresia Glover, who I'm sure all of you know died January 28, 1996. Peter is out here for a visit to take care of his mothers affairs. We have all enjoyed his company and he has liked meeting his mom's friends plus doing some of the hikes she liked.

Thank you very much to the leaders. Frank Goodykoontz and I were assisted by Peter Doggett, Jan Bartel and Harriett Edwards.