Strawberry Peak Rock Climbing

Strawberry Peak has an elevation of 6164.73 feet. The north face has been climbed and there are boulders in the meadow below. Beware of poison oak back there. 3.6 mile approach (+1531' -63' elevation).

Park here: 34.30927, -118.11342

From Upper Big Tujunga Canyon Road turn south on Colby Ranch Road (3N24.1). This road winds down to Big Tujugna Creek. Cross a rickety bridge that leads you to an unkempt parking lot. Park here and hike up the road and look for a trail on your left. If you hit the gate, you've gone too far. Beyond the gate is private property (Colby Ranch).

From the Angeles Crest Scenic Byway Roadside Inventory, ". . . Colby ranch, homesteaded by Delos and Lilly Colby while he was mining Wickiup and the Upper Big Tujunga Creeks in 1890. The first cabin was built in 1891 with a two-story structure being built in 1895. The ranch was used as a resort, by different people, off and on until it was sold to the Methodist Church as a retreat in 1945. . . . Strawberry Peak, named in 1886 by patrons from Switzer’s resort who said it looked like a strawberry. This peak was the site of a March 1909 hot air balloon crash with seven people on board. A book, “The Perilous Voyage” was written about the incident."

Name Origin

From the HPS website, "Named by 'some wags at Switzer's Camp', according to Hiram Reid (1886). It is told that they fancied a resemblance to a strawberry standing with its blossom end up. "We named it Strawberry because there weren't any strawberries on it." Reid icily noted that "the joke took" and that burlesque name has been commonly used by the old settlers; but the peak name is waiting some worthy occasion for a worthy name . Like many other playful peak names, few expected the name would last, but it has-perhaps because Americans have always loved to toy with place names.

The first known ascents were by parties led by Bob Waterman from Switzer's. A trail was built along the Arroyo, and then up Colby Canyon to the saddle west of the summit, and then up the Class 3 rock to the top. This was one of the most popular destinations during the first "Great Hiking Era" (1895-1935). It was also.climbed and poetically recorded by Saunders (1923). One of this peak's most curious moments was when a giant gas balloon, the America crashed on the summit after being caught in a storm. The six men aboard, including Captain. A. E. Mueller, spent a freezing night on the mountain but clamored down Colby Canyon to safety the next morning (1909). It was front page news and some sought to rename the peak after Mueller but nothing came of it."

I had to look up what "wags" means, "wives and girlfriends." Google also said the term is most likely offensive. I found the original quote on page 370 of the History of Pasadena, "Strawberry Peak [?] — The top of this can be seen like a little old New England haystack peeping over the west shoulder slope of Mount Lowe. It was named by some wags at Switzer's camp in 1886, from its fancied resemblance to a strawberry standing with its blossom end up ; but one of them said, " We called it Strawberry peak because there weren't any strawberries on it." The joke took ; and that burlesque name has been commonly used by the old settlers ; but the peak is waiting some worthy occasion for a worthy name. This lofty peak is really back in the third range of Pasadena Mountain summits — and in front of it is seen a smaller portion of a lower and smaller cone called."