Cole Point, Mount Emma, Old Mount Emma

8 March 1997

By: Ray Soucy

Leaders: Ray Soucy, Dianne Edwards

I didn't remember seeing all three scheduled in a long time so I thought I'd have a go at them. And judging by the number of phone calls I received asking about the hike, I figured we would have a large turnout. Well, that's just what we had - twenty-one hardy souls hankerin' for an up-and-down firebreak hike. I'm not sure all of us were prepared for quite as much as we got!. And one hiker, John Dykstra, would be getting his 100th peak today on Old Emma.

After a 7 am rendezvous at the La Cañada meeting place we car pooled to Mt. Emma Road at marker #396 and left some vehicles to set up a car shuttle. Then, it was back to the Angeles Forest Hwy trailhead around 8:45 to begin the hike to Cole Pt. This trailhead is described in the HPS write-up (#10J) but is not depicted on the HIPS map (#SGT-4). It was shaping up to be a fine day, weather-wise, and Patty Kline took advantage of today's rather lengthy sign-in process to move some HPS merchandise, but by 9:00 we were on our way. The group was staying together nicely as we negotiated the 2-miie ridge route to Cole, and by now we all had a taste of what the rest of the day would be like on this roller-coaster of a route.. It seemed that we were always coming around a corner or over a bump to find yet another steep downhill grade to an equally steep uphill dredge. A mutiny was building. (I could head some of the sheep behind me: "B-A-A-H-A-H-A-A-A")!

Well, the usual placating with goodies at breaks worked just fine and everybody shut up! And of course, the more hikers, the more variety of goodies to choose from! Quite a cast of characters, too. After a decent break atop Cole we got back on the roller coaster and hiked the firebreak connecting Cole to Mt. Emma. B-A-AH! It was going to be a strange day...

We celebrated John Dykstra's 100th peak when we reached the top of Old Mt. Emma and some of us reminisced about our own hundredth peak. One last ridge to deal with and we were back at marker 396 for the ride back to the Angeles Forest Hwy. Trailhead and the remaining cars. I'll bet I wasn't the only one with sore quads the next day, or so I'd like to think. Oh, well, good conditioning for next week's Santiago-Modjeska foray ... but that'll be another story for another day!

Participants on today's outing were Lee Zebold, Harvey Ganz, Dave Zalewski, John Morrison, Haven Fearn, Craig Wheeler, John Dykstra, Joe Young, Rick Breyt, Yasmin Sibulo, Leisha Gremblion, Kim LaPorte, Ann Kramer, Kathy Cheever, Jill Peterson, Janet Damen, Don Tidwell, Shane Smith and Patty Kline.