The Obligatory belongs to a guy I bumped into while noodling around at flickr.com (here’s his photostream.) He has a bunch of write-ups and pix from Southern California outings. A snippet:
I got nothin’ against slow hikers. Most of the time when I’m hiking with Will or his friends, I’m the slow hiker in the group. But the Icehouse Canyon trail is absolutely littered with people hauling fully-crammed overnight packs for an 8 mile round-trip. Hike light! You don’t need all that crap!
Well said.
Ice House Canyon is a relentless climb. The trailhead is 5,000 feet above the urban communities from which the hikers undoubtedly started. So they probably start out suffering at least minor altitude effects.
Plus, many of those hikers probably drove by the big-box outdoor store down the hill from there to grab a few extra cannonballs before heading up.