San Gorgonio Summit Hike

I'm happy to say that I have stood on the peak of San Gorgonio Mountain. I've wanted to summit this mountain for over 15 years. It was about 15 years ago that I got into more serious hiking, and somehow I never had the opportunity to hike San Gorgonio until last year, when my friends and I attempted a summit via the Vivian Creek trail - and didn't quite make it. Even though we were totally exhausted after the hike last year, I knew I wanted to try to summit again. I'm not going to let a mountain get the better of me. So earlier this year I started planning another hike up San Gorgonio. I wanted the same crew, more or less, as last year to hike with me. So over the past few months we started practice hikes in the local San Diego mountains, mostly  Iron Mountain, Mt. Woodson and one trip up Cuyamaca Peak. Well, as time passed my hiking partners started dropping out, for various reasons beyond their control. So it came down to just Lee and I.

My day hiking permit was for July 1st. Because I wanted to get an early start and not have to wake up too early, I got a hotel room in Redlands, the closest city with decent hotels, for the night before. So after work Lee and I drove up, checked into the hotel, had dinner and then it was bed time. The alarm went off nice and early at 5:30 AM. My original plan was to start hiking by 7 AM, but somewhere along the way I was convinced by one of my friends who ended up not going (sorry, Dan), that a 6 AM start was better. No matter how hard you try, everything takes longer in the morning than you expect. By the time we ate and left the hotel, we didn't get to the trail head until almost 8 AM.

When we pulled into the parking lot at Forest Falls, we were immediately attacked by swarms of bugs including blood-sucking mosquitoes. I didn't bother bringing any bug spray, because it never seems to work. So once we got all our hiking gear on, we set off. Even though it was later than I had hoped for, we still were starting about two hours earlier than the year before, when we drove up from San Diego the morning of the hike. The beginning of the hike was easier, because it wasn't detoured through the river bed like last year. We got to take the regular dirt trail, making the trip to the beginning of the Vivian Creek trail much easier and quicker. However, unlike last year, no big horn sheep sightings. In fact, we saw very little wildlife on the whole trip. Other than some chipmunks and birds, the sighting of a quail and her offspring was the only wildlife viewing highlight of the hike.

Since we had just done most of this hike the year before, we concentrated on getting to the summit, and not spending much time stopping to take pictures. We did make sure to stop every 60 to 90 minutes to eat some food and rest. The very beginning of the trail, as some of you may know, is VERY steep. However, this year I was mentally prepared. We actually made it up this section stopping only once, and that was to talk to a man that had already lost track of this wife and friend. He said his friend was behind him and his wife was ahead of him. We told him if we saw either of them we'd let them know that he was waiting for him.

Even though we were in no hurry, we made pretty good time. We arrived at the junction for Halfway Camp much faster than last year, and I still don't know why it's called "halfway". Halfway to what? Soon we caught up to the man's wife. I must admit she was more prepared than us, hiking gear-wise. She had a head-net to keep the bugs out and long pants and jacket. After talking to her, she thought that her friend was in front of her, not behind, and I'm not sure she knew where her husband was, but we told her that he was behind, waiting for the friend, who was described as "short". So once again, we told her that if we saw the friend we'd let her know that she was ahead of her hiking partners.

Continuing on the hike, we were passed by two very fast hikers who were very nice. We talked briefly, and as hiking goes, we later passed them as they rested and then later they passed us. As we approached High Creek, at about noon, we stopped for a break and since this was the last source of water, we used my water filter to refill our water for the final trek to the summit. Also, we ran into the "friend". She too was wearing head netting. And, like her hiking partners, was confused as to their location. She thought that they were both ahead of her, and we told her that they were behind her. She told us that they, plus two others, had permits to hike the John Muir trial in September, a three week trip. That sounded great, but they better work on their hiking-together skills. Lee was very nice and offered to filter water for her, and she accepted. Once we left the creek we wished her good luck, and that was the last we saw of her or her friends.

So this was the section of the trail that last year someone we met on the trail told us that it was 15 minutes up these switchbacks and then 45 minutes to the summit. Last year it took one hour to reach the "saddle" at the top of the switchbacks, and this year it took the same amount of time. The saddle is the spot last year where Lee and our friend Jim stopped, and the rest of us kept going. We took a break here, had some food (a very sweet and moist brownie for me), re-tied our boot laces, and then set out for the summit. It was about 1 PM, and my goal to reach the summit by 2 PM seemed optimistic.

Before long, the trail got really steep, and soon, like last year, we were stopping every few minutes to catch our breath. I had forgotten how difficult this section was. Eventually we reached the plateau that last year had the most snow. This year, even though there was record snowfall in these mountains, there was actually much less snow. In fact, we didn't have to hike through any snow at all. Also, the creeks seemed to be running lower. It was hot, so the snow must have melted quicker than last year, even though we were hiking about two weeks later than last year.

It seemed to take forever to get to the point where I stopped last year, but once there, the trail was all new to me. It wasn't long before we encountered the people who had passed us earlier as they descended from the summit. They let us know that we were very close. What's funny about the summit, is that you can't see it until you are almost there. You see peaks that look like a summit, but they are not. As we slowly continued on, I was really feeling the altitude. We were above 10,000 feet, and I had a slight headache and felt dizzy, despite drinking lots of water and taking aspirin. I also knew that we would reach the summit, thus giving me some summit-fever energy.

Soon we reached a trail junction. From here it was only .6 miles to the summit. We also met another hiker who had lost her friend. She was looking for a "fair-skinned" woman with a head bandanna. We told her we had seen no other women on the trail. So she shouted her friend's name (Crystal), after after the echo, she heard her friend respond. So she took off to the summit, leaving us slow, old men behind.

However, it wasn't long before we came to a crest, and for the first time the summit was in sight. We saw three people on the summit, which is basically a big pile of rocks. Within a few minutes were at the summit of San Gorgonio! Time to celebrate and take photos to prove that we were there. We arrived about 3:15, so that's about 7 hours of hiking, covering 8 miles. Just over 1 MPH average. That seems slow, but we did stop about 10 to 12 times along the way.

After eating more food, including a second brownie, I took many pictures of the view from the summit.  It was a very clear and sunny day, but unfortunately there was quite a bit of smog and haze in the valleys below, limiting the view. I was glad that you could see Big Bear Lake, as well as a few other lakes, and of course, Mt. San Jacinto. I also took my usual 360 degree, narrated movie from the summit, making sure to not sound too tired. After about 20 minutes we were ready to head back down. Our goal was to get back to the car before dark, even though be both had head lamps.As expected, hiking down was much faster. We hiked almost non-stop back to High Creek. I did run out of water along the way, but I never got dehydrated. Overall, I think I drank 8 liters of water, so it's good that there was a water source, because there is no way I could have packed enough water for the hike.

At the creek, we filtered water, and I also put on a fresh pair of dry socks, applying new blister pads on two of my toes. After the stop we made good progress down the mountain, but now my knees were starting to hurt me, despite having the hiking poles. I knew the steep section at the end would be painful, but I'd deal with that later. I didn't want the rest of the trip to be un-fun, so I made a point to stop along the way and take some "funny" photos, which didn't turn out all that funny. I had Lee take a photo of me "stuck" trying to cross a fallen tree, but the photo didn't capture my facial expression very good, making it look like I was doing something "obscene" with the log. Oh well. Speaking of fallen trees, there seemed to be less this year, implying that some had been cleared since last year. There was only one tree that was semi-difficult to get around. On the way up I went under it, but on the way back I went over it which was much easier.

I was keeping on eye on the time and sun, trying to determine if we were ahead of last year of behind. It felt like there was less light than last year when we finally reached the San Gorgonio Wilderness sign, but we still didn't feel the need to get our lights out. From here the trail gets steep, and my knees were killing me. Literally! I hiked down slower than I did going up, but eventually when I reached the river bed, I got a standing ovation from Lee. Better than in 2007 when I got back down from summiting Mt. Whitney and I was told to "get in the car now!".

Even though the sun had set, there was enough light to see the trail. We crossed Mill Creek, I believe it is called, and then got to the dirt trail/road back to the car. Since we were tired, the trial seemed much longer than it did 12 hours earlier. Just like last year, we got back to the car with just enough daylight to see without using our head lamps, as there are not lights in the parking lot. After a quick change of shoes (man, it felt good to get those boots off) we got in the car and headed back into town for dinner. The night before after leaving Red Robin, I saw what looked like a sign for Five Guys Burgers and Fries. So that was our goal. As we got closer to the freeway, I thought I made a wrong turn, but by dumb luck, we ended up driving directly to the restaurant.

Neither of us had eaten here before, so this was new adventure. We both got the bacon cheese burger, and we shared the fries on the advice of the cashier who said they fries will server two people. I must have been hungry because I devoured the burger and fries in a mater of minutes. As it was approaching 10 PM, we left and headed home. The drive went by pretty quick, but we didn't get to my house until 11:30, and Lee still and to dive even further to get to his home. Just like any other long trip, I can't just get home and go to bed. I had to shower to remove the layers of dirt, sweat and sunscreen. Then I unpacked, checked my e-mail, and as promised, by me, I drank a cold beer in celebration of my accomplishment. I finally went to bed at 1 AM on Sunday, making it a 20 hour day.

I slept very well, and when I woke up I was a little sore, but my knees, muscles and joints felt much better. My biggest concert was all the bug bites on my lets and arms. Now, four days later, most of the bug bites have healed, and so have my muscles. In fact, I plan on going on a bike ride tomorrow after work. Having just bought a new bike, I plan on doing more biking than hiking the rest of this Summer.

Will I hike San Gorgonio again? Well, as of now, I'm not planning on it, but who knows how I'll feel next year. If I do hike it again, I'm going to be a follower, not a leader. I'm more than happy to let someone else plan and organize the hike.