The weather was good today so I decided to take another shot at Potato Mountain, since I ran out of sunlight and had to turn back last time. I took a more challenging bike ride over to Claremont Hills Wilderness Park, following Euclid until it intersected with Mt. Baldy Road. The descent was easy, but I stopped at the Evey Canyon/Mt. Baldy Road and was amused at Pomona' College's claim to the area. Continuing along Mt. Baldy Road, I passed a bunch of rich people homes and eventually got to CHWP.
I must have gotten there around noon because there were tons of people at CHWP. Most seem lost in their own world, but I made sure I greeted everyone even as I was listening to my MP3 player. Eventually I broke off the main CHWP loop, and took a right to go towards Potato Mountain. Some hikers pointed out to me that the ocean and Catalina island were visible on the horizon, since the sky was surprisingly clear of smog. I hadn't noticed and was surprised when I saw it too. I took the direct dirt path to ascend Potato Mountain, and had to shut off my MP3 player to do so. By now, I was sweating heavily, and the eucalyptus oil was having noticeably weaker insect repelling effect. By the time I got to the top, I had to reapply. It was a nice view at the top. There were 4 potatoes left on the concrete thing. There was also lots of shattered glass scattered about.
On the way down, I decided to try the steep descent on the southwestern side of Potato Mountain, rather than backtrack. At first it looked like it would be easy going after an initial slide, but more and more situations came where I had to slide down. At this point I started to doubt myself, but concluded I was getting to the bottom one way or another, since the going back up would have been very difficult. I had a few uncontrolled slides where I felt rocks being shoved in my ass, and some of these rocks managed to shred my shorts. There were also tons of sharp yucca plants, so I had to watch where I put my hands. The scariest part came when I realized one of the ditches I was sliding down was about to turn into a cliff 10 feet away. I had to use upper body to haul myself two ditches over and continue the slide. The main ditch then led into a steep drop, so I had to slide on the left lip in order to stay on the ridge. At one point, the non-existent road appeared to dead-end, but this was solved by scrambling over the rock in the way. Eventually, I made it to the water reservoir, where I was glad to be on a paved road again.
On the way back up Palmer Canyon Road, I noticed "Private Property" signs on a road that led off into a foresty area. Intrigued, I decided to ignore the signs and see what was up this road. It actually led into a fascinating experience, walking along a heavily forested community where more than half of the homes were destroyed by fire and not rebuilt. So there was a combination of ruins, intact homes, and nature reclaiming its territory. There were fallen trees, overgrown brush, and general signs of disrepair. I met a local there who told the story of how his mother's house here managed to survive while the neighbors all burned down. His story was rather bittersweet. Apparently there is some dispute with the city, so homeowners of destroyed property have not been allowed to rebuild. Eventually the road ended at a tree watering station, and I could not go further unless I had a machete and long pants. I had to turn back to Palmer Canyon. Palmer Canyon was boring. The sun was beginning to set, so I took a brisk pace all the way back to the start of the trail. It had set by the time I got to my bike.
Route Map 
