For my birthday weekend, Bryan and I decided to backpack up to the summit of Mount San Gorgonio- the highest mountain in southern California. After doing a little research with our backpacking books and trail maps, we decided to break the climb up over 2 ½ days. The weather in CA was shaping up to be perfect for a backpacking in the mountains- very hot in the valleys (upper 90s!), which meant that we would expect conditions in the mountains to be in the low 70's during the day.
We planned to drive out to the San Bernardino Mountains after my meeting for work on Friday, departing from the Santa Monica area around 1:00 p.m., with plans to hit the trail by 2:30/3:00. Our goal was to hike up to 'High Creek Camp' by sunset, which seemed doable if we hit the trail when we'd planned… But, as Robert Burns once wrote "the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray." One guess for what delayed us in L.A… traffic, of course! We didn't get to the trailhead until 5:30! Three hours later than we'd planned, and after over 4 ½ hours on the road!! Lucky for us, backpacking is a great way to "stretch your legs" after a long road trip!
Although we had less than 2 hours of solid daylight, we geared up and hit the trail, as the moon began to rise over the mountains.
The first part of the trail took us through a wash, where tall mountains loomed above us.
The first couple miles were pretty steep, climbing from about 6,000 foot elevation to close to 8,000 feet. One point in the trail led us to a neat little rock outcrop where we had a great view, including a waterfall!
We soon passed the first camp along the trail: Vivian Creek Camp. The sun had just set behind the mountains, but there was still enough light that we felt like we could push ourselves to the next camp, 2 ½ miles further to Halfway Camp- that way we'd give ourselves a little less mileage to cover in order to get to the summit the next morning. We kept our headlamps handy, as we figured it would get dark before we reached camp. The sky's changing colors through the trees was beautiful!
Most of the dirt in this portion of the trail was dark brown, with most of the rocks a light granite, so even as the light began to fade, we could spot the ankle-twisting rocks in our path, illuminated by the moonlight. It was nice to allow our eyes to adjust slowly to the night, and we actually ended up backpacking quite a bit in the dark by the moonlight with our night vision. We only put our headlamps on when we came to a crossroads in the trail, and weren't sure which way to go. After consulting our map, and looking around a bit with our lights, we found the trail again and arrived at camp after about 30 minutes of backpacking in the dark.
This is where we encountered the only other backpacker of the day. As we hiked past this solo backpacker's tent, I noticed he had used branches to form a wall circling his tent, so I asked him about it, and he said, "Oh, I'm just making barrier." So, me being me, I just asked him, "Why?" He said, "Ah, I don't know, I just felt like it." I was thinking, 'OK… we're not in the bush in Africa, dude… yes, there are bears, but you don't need to make a boma to keep out lions or anything." But I didn't say it to the guy, just to Bryan in whispers. As we moved past him, he asked if we had a camp stove (Of course we did! Who wouldn't?) and Bryan said, "Yeah, you need to use it?" No, the guy had a brand new one, and was just asking. No wonder this guy was hiking by himself… Strange dude…
We pitched our tent at the base of a big ponderosa pine, cooked dinner, stashed our food in a bear canister and wedged it between some boulders, then hit the sack.
The next morning we emptied our backpacks of everything but the essentials: food, first aid kit, headlamp, and a jacket. We planned to hike up to the summit, then back to Halfway camp by the evening, leaving our tent, sleeping bags, therm-a-rests, etc. at the campsite. We hit the trail by mid-morning, passing under a huge fallen ponderosa pine.
After a mile or so following a gradual incline, we arrived at High Creek Camp along a cold, mountain stream. We filtered a couple litres of water into our hydration packs, and began traversing switchback after switchback, some through patches of snow, up the rugged mountain.
A couple behind us cut through the switchbacks straight up the mountain which infuriated Bryan and I- they were causing massive erosion!! Why even follow a trail up to the summit if they were going to cut their own?? I almost said something to them, but refrained. Bryan reminded me that I'm not the police of the world… but I was a park ranger for a couple summers, so doesn't that count for something?
Anyway, back to the hike. After dozens of rocky switchbacks, we slowly approached the top of the mountain we were climbing, figuring we were getting pretty close to Mount San Gorgonio…
Steep Switchbacks
Once we got to the top of this ridge, we were greeted with a cool view of the Palm Springs area, and Mount San Jacinto across the way.
Almost to the top!
After admiring the view, we trudged on, thinking we could see the summit ahead. I found a cool rock outcropping of granite and took a couple minutes to do a little bouldering.
Pause for bouldering
The last couple miles didn't get much easier… most of the trail was above the treeline, the ground littered with white granite; the sun was intense, reflecting off the white rock onto our faces.
Even though the elevation kept the temperature in the 70's, our proximity to the sun, coupled with our exertion kept us pretty hot. It seemed strange that we were hiking through snow in shorts! The last mile was mainly along a ridge- finally we were done with switchbacks!
Getting close! The sign says so!
We pushed and pushed, and appeared to be approaching the summit, but once we were there, we saw another peak just behind it… looked like we had another ¼ mile to go! A false summit! This is what I've read about a lot of summits, once you're up there it's hard to tell which peak is really the highest.
Almost there!!
After hiking through melting snow, we arrived at the real summit of Mount San Gorgonio- at 11,501 feet, the highest point in southern California- on my birthday!
Elevation Marker
A little corny… but we were happy to be up there! And, I deserve a birthday kiss!
Apparently, on a clear day, you can see all the way out to the Pacific, over to Telescope Peak hundreds of miles away in Death Valley, over both the San Bernardino and San Gabriel Mountains, and out to Joshua Tree National Park. Unfortunately, due to the heat wave southern CA was experiencing, most of our views were hazy with clouds, but we could see over to Big Bear Lake, and a 180-degree view of the Mojave Desert including Joshua Tree NP and the Palm Desert.
At the summit
While partaking in a little lunch of beef jerky, yogurt covered pretzels, dried fruit, and nuts; we were given quite a treat- a herd of 5 endangered Bighorn Sheep and one little baby traveled across the ridge in front of us. What an inspiring birthday present!
Bighorn sheep at the summit
After snapping a few pictures, we put our names in the registry box, and began our descent. Luckily we had our trekking poles, but the descent was pretty steep at points and was rough on our knees. Plus, as always, my heels were beginning to kill me- I was sure I had blisters. (I always get blisters when I backpack, so now I'm just resigned to the fact.)
After a few hours, we got back to camp. I doctored my heels a little, and was grateful to get my feet out of boots and into my flip flops! Since we still had a couple hours of daylight, I set myself up against a rock, drinking some Cabernet and reading my book, but also drinking in the changing colors of the sky through the towering pines as the sun set. Before darkness set in, we cooked a scrumptious (by backpacking standards) curry and lentil dinner, a little apple desert, and fell quickly to sleep.
The next morning, we packed everything up and were back on the trail, passing through areas we'd only seen in the dark on our way up.
Bryan emerging from the creekside after filtering water
We passed brambles with thorns, immense ponderosa and sugar pines, and trickling mountain streams. As we descended thousands of feet in elevation, we could feel the temperature rising pretty quickly- into the high 80's. Arriving back at the trailhead in the early afternoon, we reflected on a nice, exhausting trek, rolled the windows down and drove home, enjoying the breeze.
We planned to drive out to the San Bernardino Mountains after my meeting for work on Friday, departing from the Santa Monica area around 1:00 p.m., with plans to hit the trail by 2:30/3:00. Our goal was to hike up to 'High Creek Camp' by sunset, which seemed doable if we hit the trail when we'd planned… But, as Robert Burns once wrote "the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray." One guess for what delayed us in L.A… traffic, of course! We didn't get to the trailhead until 5:30! Three hours later than we'd planned, and after over 4 ½ hours on the road!! Lucky for us, backpacking is a great way to "stretch your legs" after a long road trip!
Although we had less than 2 hours of solid daylight, we geared up and hit the trail, as the moon began to rise over the mountains.
The first part of the trail took us through a wash, where tall mountains loomed above us.
The first couple miles were pretty steep, climbing from about 6,000 foot elevation to close to 8,000 feet. One point in the trail led us to a neat little rock outcrop where we had a great view, including a waterfall!
We soon passed the first camp along the trail: Vivian Creek Camp. The sun had just set behind the mountains, but there was still enough light that we felt like we could push ourselves to the next camp, 2 ½ miles further to Halfway Camp- that way we'd give ourselves a little less mileage to cover in order to get to the summit the next morning. We kept our headlamps handy, as we figured it would get dark before we reached camp. The sky's changing colors through the trees was beautiful!
Most of the dirt in this portion of the trail was dark brown, with most of the rocks a light granite, so even as the light began to fade, we could spot the ankle-twisting rocks in our path, illuminated by the moonlight. It was nice to allow our eyes to adjust slowly to the night, and we actually ended up backpacking quite a bit in the dark by the moonlight with our night vision. We only put our headlamps on when we came to a crossroads in the trail, and weren't sure which way to go. After consulting our map, and looking around a bit with our lights, we found the trail again and arrived at camp after about 30 minutes of backpacking in the dark.
This is where we encountered the only other backpacker of the day. As we hiked past this solo backpacker's tent, I noticed he had used branches to form a wall circling his tent, so I asked him about it, and he said, "Oh, I'm just making barrier." So, me being me, I just asked him, "Why?" He said, "Ah, I don't know, I just felt like it." I was thinking, 'OK… we're not in the bush in Africa, dude… yes, there are bears, but you don't need to make a boma to keep out lions or anything." But I didn't say it to the guy, just to Bryan in whispers. As we moved past him, he asked if we had a camp stove (Of course we did! Who wouldn't?) and Bryan said, "Yeah, you need to use it?" No, the guy had a brand new one, and was just asking. No wonder this guy was hiking by himself… Strange dude…
We pitched our tent at the base of a big ponderosa pine, cooked dinner, stashed our food in a bear canister and wedged it between some boulders, then hit the sack.
The next morning we emptied our backpacks of everything but the essentials: food, first aid kit, headlamp, and a jacket. We planned to hike up to the summit, then back to Halfway camp by the evening, leaving our tent, sleeping bags, therm-a-rests, etc. at the campsite. We hit the trail by mid-morning, passing under a huge fallen ponderosa pine.
After a mile or so following a gradual incline, we arrived at High Creek Camp along a cold, mountain stream. We filtered a couple litres of water into our hydration packs, and began traversing switchback after switchback, some through patches of snow, up the rugged mountain.
A couple behind us cut through the switchbacks straight up the mountain which infuriated Bryan and I- they were causing massive erosion!! Why even follow a trail up to the summit if they were going to cut their own?? I almost said something to them, but refrained. Bryan reminded me that I'm not the police of the world… but I was a park ranger for a couple summers, so doesn't that count for something?
Anyway, back to the hike. After dozens of rocky switchbacks, we slowly approached the top of the mountain we were climbing, figuring we were getting pretty close to Mount San Gorgonio…
Steep Switchbacks
Once we got to the top of this ridge, we were greeted with a cool view of the Palm Springs area, and Mount San Jacinto across the way.
Almost to the top!
After admiring the view, we trudged on, thinking we could see the summit ahead. I found a cool rock outcropping of granite and took a couple minutes to do a little bouldering.
Pause for bouldering
The last couple miles didn't get much easier… most of the trail was above the treeline, the ground littered with white granite; the sun was intense, reflecting off the white rock onto our faces.
Even though the elevation kept the temperature in the 70's, our proximity to the sun, coupled with our exertion kept us pretty hot. It seemed strange that we were hiking through snow in shorts! The last mile was mainly along a ridge- finally we were done with switchbacks!
Getting close! The sign says so!
We pushed and pushed, and appeared to be approaching the summit, but once we were there, we saw another peak just behind it… looked like we had another ¼ mile to go! A false summit! This is what I've read about a lot of summits, once you're up there it's hard to tell which peak is really the highest.
Almost there!!
After hiking through melting snow, we arrived at the real summit of Mount San Gorgonio- at 11,501 feet, the highest point in southern California- on my birthday!
Elevation Marker
A little corny… but we were happy to be up there! And, I deserve a birthday kiss!
Apparently, on a clear day, you can see all the way out to the Pacific, over to Telescope Peak hundreds of miles away in Death Valley, over both the San Bernardino and San Gabriel Mountains, and out to Joshua Tree National Park. Unfortunately, due to the heat wave southern CA was experiencing, most of our views were hazy with clouds, but we could see over to Big Bear Lake, and a 180-degree view of the Mojave Desert including Joshua Tree NP and the Palm Desert.
At the summit
While partaking in a little lunch of beef jerky, yogurt covered pretzels, dried fruit, and nuts; we were given quite a treat- a herd of 5 endangered Bighorn Sheep and one little baby traveled across the ridge in front of us. What an inspiring birthday present!
Bighorn sheep at the summit
After snapping a few pictures, we put our names in the registry box, and began our descent. Luckily we had our trekking poles, but the descent was pretty steep at points and was rough on our knees. Plus, as always, my heels were beginning to kill me- I was sure I had blisters. (I always get blisters when I backpack, so now I'm just resigned to the fact.)
After a few hours, we got back to camp. I doctored my heels a little, and was grateful to get my feet out of boots and into my flip flops! Since we still had a couple hours of daylight, I set myself up against a rock, drinking some Cabernet and reading my book, but also drinking in the changing colors of the sky through the towering pines as the sun set. Before darkness set in, we cooked a scrumptious (by backpacking standards) curry and lentil dinner, a little apple desert, and fell quickly to sleep.
The next morning, we packed everything up and were back on the trail, passing through areas we'd only seen in the dark on our way up.
Bryan emerging from the creekside after filtering water
We passed brambles with thorns, immense ponderosa and sugar pines, and trickling mountain streams. As we descended thousands of feet in elevation, we could feel the temperature rising pretty quickly- into the high 80's. Arriving back at the trailhead in the early afternoon, we reflected on a nice, exhausting trek, rolled the windows down and drove home, enjoying the breeze.
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