Last weekend, as wind gusts of 30 miles per hour roared across a flat area called “The Notch” halfway up Bald Mountain, three young men staggered down from the top, looking cold and tired, but confident. It was so exciting to just reach the highest point in Los Angeles County and be in such punishing conditions.
Not only did they risk the high altitude and strong winds of the summit, they also risked a $5,000 fine for violating a U.S. Forest Service closure order.
After a September wildfire ravaged Bald Mountain Village, destroying 20 homes and scorching more than 50,000 acres of the surrounding slopes, the U.S. Forest Service closed all trails to the stunning summit for more than a year — until December 2025 – to ensure public safety and promote the “natural recovery” of damaged and fragile plants and soil.
A hiker hikes along Bald Mountain at a popular ski area.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
However, the three climbers climbed a trail known as the “Devil’s Backbone” because its ridge is very narrow and has spine-numbing drops on both sides. Did they see any charred land or trees along the way? Woolen cloth?
“No, it’s nothing, the road is good,” said Isaiah Rosas of Moreno Valley. “There were a lot of people going up and down with us.”
That’s the problem. While villages 5,000 feet below were devastated by the Bridge Fire in the fall, the summit and the most popular trails to the summit escaped largely unscathed.
So like everything else in our fragile public discourse these days, the government’s shutdown of the mountain has sparked heated debate on social media. On one side are the so-called Trail Karens, who monitor online webcams and question why the Forest Service doesn’t ticket “ignorant and selfish” violators who are hiking anyway. On the other side: Contemptists denounce the Forest Service as another “useless” government agency that instinctively shuts down everything in the name of “security” at the expense of freedom.
Sound familiar?
Adding fuel to the fire was the agency’s decision to allow recreational businesses in enclosed areas to continue operating — despite alleged threats to plants and soil.
The young men were among dozens of hikers who defied the federal closure of the Bald Mountain trail despite risking a $5,000 fine.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
“This just screams that capitalism is okay and has nothing to do with safety or protecting our public lands,” one Reddit commenter wrote in a particularly fiery post a few months ago.
Another wrote: “Fundamentally we can see this is not a safety issue or trying to get the land back which is why I think a lot of people don’t care about the closure and will still hike rates.”
Robby Ellingson is the general manager of Mt. Baldy Resort, a small, family-run ski area popular with ski enthusiasts in the heart of a closed area of the mountain. favorite.
Ellingson said in an interview that none of his ski trails or equipment were burned, so he actively lobbied the Forest Service to “close it in a different way.” But instead of changing the lines on the closed map, the Forest Service gave him an exception to work within the closed area. That means his restaurant and bar, aptly dubbed “The Top,” halfway up the mountain, remains open for business. Once enough snow accumulates, his ski trails will open.
The closure of the Bald Mountain Trail has dealt a devastating blow to the restaurant business at Bald Mountain Resort. “We failed all fall,” general manager Robby Ellingson said.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
After a long, hot hike to the top, having a cold beer in a restaurant and taking in the sweeping views is a long-awaited reward, so closing the popular trail in September is a devastating blow to Ellingson’s business .
“We failed all fall,” he said. “We’re being tight-lipped about it and expressing our displeasure about it.” But he hopes the Forest Service will relent and reopen the trails in the spring when the snow melts.
While he’s eager to maintain a good working relationship with Forest Service officials, he said he worries their sweeping and stringent closure decisions will damage their credibility.
Ellingson said public officials often make the mistake of saying “it’s never too safe.” But actually, you can, he thinks.
“If you try to be too safe, you’ll end up with stupid rules that are counterproductive” because a lot of people will ignore them.
U.S. Forest Service spokesperson Dana Dilks acknowledged in an email that the most popular summit trails — Devil’s Backbone and Ski Lodge Trail — did not burn in the Bridge Fire. They were closed because they “provided access to other trails that did burn,” she wrote.
On the hillsides surrounding those burned trails, “vegetation has been completely consumed, leaving the terrain without a natural barrier to erosion,” she wrote.
Dilks said the Forest Service predicts “catastrophic landslides and massive debris flows in burned areas during the winter storm season,” and those dangers will persist until vegetation grows back.
“Once the seasonal weather passes, we will re-evaluate potentially hazardous conditions to see if certain areas can reopen,” Dilks said.
Outside the post office/fire station in Baldy Hills Village last week, residents were bracing for possible landslides as the inevitable winter storm began to roll in. Concrete barriers are being installed; others are preparing sandbag distribution points.
But locals also said the scope and lack of flexibility of the road closures seemed counterintuitive.
“I think it’s unfair to businesses and local people,” Baldy Hills resident Cindy Debonis said of the long-term closure of the mountain trails.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Even the paved road around the corner that leads to the stunning views of the valley is closed. So taking your dog for a morning walk on Glendora Ridge Road, when the air is warm and the sun is shining, and there’s no obvious landslide threat on the burned hillsides above, could theoretically result in a $5,000 fine.
“They keep saying it’s fire-related, but there’s nothing left to burn,” said longtime resident Cindy Debonis, 63, shaking her head.
“I think it’s unfair to businesses and local people,” she said. “I want to walk. I want to go hiking. This is where I live.
