I spent Saturday night on the summit of Mt San Gorgonio. It was a spectacular experience.
A few months ago I had scheduled a "Sleep on the Summit" climb for the Orange County Hiking Club (OCHC), originally via Vivian Creek. But as Vivian Creek has been closed most of the summer due to bear activity, I later re-routed the trip with a northern approach. While I was considering which trail to use I decided since I would have a number of people along we could do a car shuttle and so do a traverse instead of a boring old there-and-back trip.
We started at Fish Creek trailhead (normally a nasty approach as it requires seven miles of dirt road driving, but it cuts a couple miles off the normal Aspen Grove entry) and climbed up Grinnell Mountain to Fish Creek Saddle, Mineshaft Saddle, the Sky High Trail and finally the summit (map).
Unfortunately, the last water was at Fish Creek, only a couple of miles into the hike (if that). It was heartbreaking to have to fill our camp bladders with six or seven liters of water and hoist them in our packs, to carry them over nine miles up the mountain.
We made good time to Fish Creek Saddle, but most of us slowed down quite a bit once we were on the flank of Mt San Gorgonio. After setting out just before 9:00am, the last of us finally made it to the summit by about 5:30pm. It was a long day.
The weekend almost ended before it began for Heather. The (cemented!) sole of her boot fell off while we were getting water at Fish Creek. Because of the car shuttle arrangements, it would have been tricky for her to get back to her car at the South Fork trailhead, so instead, she repaired the boot, first with duct tape (which didn't work very well) and then with a spare web strap. She hiked the entire trip with her sole strapped to her boot.
When we got to the top, there was little more than an occasional breeze, and even that died away once the sun went down. I was surprised by how cold it got then, since I had for some reason expected warmer temps. I think it got down to 40 degrees or so during the night, and I slept fully clothed (including my fleece jacket) for the first time in years. But I was quite comfortable in my "summer" sleeping bag, with no bivy.
During the dusk, Mt San Gorgonio cast a strangely pyramidal (considering the lumpy profile the mountain usually presents) shadow across the Mojave Desert.
The night sky was clear and filled with stars and satellites, plus the Milky Way, of course. Palm Springs and Banning, which look like yellow smears during the day, appeared as shining molten metal. Around 10:30 or so all but the brightest stars were overwhelmed by a nearly full moon that hung in the sky for the rest of the night, lighting up the summit landscape. At some point that night, a ranger arrived at the summit and set up a tent near us.
I've never before been to the summit of San Gorgonio when there weren't at least a dozen people there with me, sometimes as many as a hundred. It was glorious, on Sunday morning, to go scrambling among the deserted summit rocks, free and alone.
The mountain cast her shadow again, this time across the San Gabriel Valley.
We broke camp and after a final group photo on the summit pile, taken by the helpful ranger, we headed back down via the San Bernardino Peak Divide Trail. By the time we got moving just before 9:00am, only three day hikers had appeared at the summit.
We hiked the San Bernardino Peak Divide Trail along what I consider the "back side" of Mt San Gorgonio, past Jepson Peak and the two Charltons, to Dollar Lake Saddle. From there we dropped down the Dollar Lake Trail to South Fork Meadows, where we had lunch and rested our aching feet (the Dollar Lake Trail is nasty and rocky). I hadn't seen South Fork Meadows in about 20 years, since I have managed to avoid the South Fork Trail during all that time. The meadows haven't changed much.
I have long felt that ten miles was a personal daily limit for me with a full pack. Each day of the traverse we hiked about 11.5 miles, and as we headed down the trail from Poopout Hill I was acutely aware I was over my limit. My feet hurt rather badly and I needed all my concentration to just keep putting one leg in front of the other and get down to the parking lot.
I was not familiar with the trail between the parking lot and Pooput Hill, because it wasn't there in the eighties, and when I was later a USFS volunteer ranger we always unlocked the gate and drove to Poopout Hill. But Sunday that trail seemed like it would never end. I was grateful to finally see the glint of glass and steel through the trees as we finally approached the trailhead parking lot.
Despite all the pain in getting there and getting back, spending the night on San Gorgonio summit was one of the most rewarding outdoor experiences I've ever had. I don't know why it has taken me so long to do it. San Gorgonio is right in our backyard. Secure your permit today.
Moar photos (uncaptioned as yet).
Mt San Gorgonio overnight traverse, 8-9 August 2009
Nunc est bibendum
