Mount Baden - Powell Ridge

Mount Baden - Powell is one of the highest peaks in the San Gabriel Mountains. The north slope of the peak, between 2,500 meters (8,200 feet) and 2,750 meters (9,000 feet), has the best forest of limber pines, Pinus flexilis, in Southern California. This pine and the buckwheat, Eriogonum kennedyi ssp. alpigenum, are restricted to a very limited range within the San Gabriels, the high ridge connecting Mount Baden-Powell, Mount Burnham, Throop Peak and Mount Hawkins. Also found in this area are lodgepole and Jeffrey pine, Pinus contorta ssp. murrayana and Pinus jeffreyi. Other plants of note include Holodiscus microphyllus, Monardella cinerea, Eriogonum umbellatum, Oreonana vestita and Cycladenia humilis.

Animal populations in the area are typical of the higher Southern California mountains. Of particular note is the occasional occurrence of bighorn sheep, Ovis canadensis, along the southern slopes of the ridge.

Rocks in the area range in age from Pre-Cambrian (probable) igneous and metamorphics to Pre-Cretaceous metamorphics. The Vincent Thrust Fault, the oldest major fault in the range, dating to the Mesozoic, passes through the area.

Integrity: Virtually undisturbed, though there are some hiking trails.

Use: Research, educational, observational, light recreational.

July 1976