Hey kids!
Hey dad!
What do you wanna do today?
We don’t know.
Do you wanna go to the matinee?
No.
Do you wanna [climb Cucamonga Peak]
No.
Do you wanna go to the punk rock show?
YEAH, let’s go to the punk rock show!
NOFX, The Separation of Church and Skate
Everyday I drive home from work in Orange County and I stare at the front (south) side of Cucamonga Peak and I have often wondered if there was a way to climb one of the south facing ridges to the top. So after doing some internet research, looking at several maps and talking with some helpful people on this board I gathered enough information to give it a try on Friday morning. It seems only a handful of people have tried to climb Cucamonga Peak from the south and I can only find two people that have summited this way – they both climbed in the spring after the Grand Prix Fire when a lot of the brush had been burned away. I figured the brush would be an issue after six years of re-growth but I hoped I could ascend through Calamity Canyon to the snowline before it came time to directly ascend Calamity Ridge. (I am calling it Calamity Ridge because the ridge I intended to ascend is not named on any map I looked at)
The trail starts at the top of Haven Avenue in Rancho Cucamonga and continues north via a private paved road that leads to four successive Cucamonga Valley Water District water towers. The KRZE-FM radio tower is up this road also. After the third tower the road turns to a dirt 4x4 road that leads into Calamity Canyon. Eventually the road ends and you continue to ascend to the left on the rocky canyon floor until you reach the old Cucamonga Truck Trail (located 4.05 miles from the start at 4956 feet elevation). Once on the CTT head east for .6 miles and at 5150 feet the CTT turns left around Calamity Ridge.
Even before I reached Calamity Ridge I could see the brush was probably way too thick for a direct ascent. After reaching the ridge and several failed attempts trying to ascend various routes I decided this was not the day I would summit Cucamonga Peak via a south ridge. Too much brush, too many thorns, really loose wet soil and finding three separate ticks after all that brush bashing made it all seem like a bad idea.
So not to waste the long 4.6 mile hike up I decided to do some exploring of the canyon directly to the east of Calamity Ridge – for now I am calling it Little Calamity Canyon since it is not named on any map I have read. In Little Calamity there were lots of rocks, running water, several rockfall cliffs that got progressively larger the deeper I ascended and one snow chute I climbed just to make carrying my crampons, ice axe and helmet seem worth it.
My exploring ended only a half-mile up Little Calamity Canyon after climbing the largest of the three rock cliffs I discovered. This was my summit for the day at 5450 feet – “Little Miss Calamity”. Pictures never seem to do justice to the proportions of the things in the mountains, but this fall was definitely 25+ feet high and a solid class 4 scramble. After making my way safely back down, I had a quick lunch, took the obligatory self-portrait and then went truckin’ on home. Why is it that going down always sucks way more than going up?
I had trouble attaching pictures to the TR so my pictures and a more detailed trip log using my photos can be found here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64063696@N ... 427050240/
Cheers!
Little Miss Calamity - 12FEB2010
Nice report.
I'm trying to match your report with a map and it looks to me like you were in Deer Canyon (gawd we need more of those, don't we?) with Calamity off to the West.
I think your Little Calamity Canyon is actually bigger than Calamity Canyon (though smaller than Deer) maybe you should call it Big Calamity Canyon.
Smith Ridge seems to come up from the East to meet your ridge higher than you went.
On this map; I've marked A as where I think you left CTT and headed up canyon.
http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=34.20197,-11 ... Baldy%20CA
I'm trying to match your report with a map and it looks to me like you were in Deer Canyon (gawd we need more of those, don't we?) with Calamity off to the West.
I think your Little Calamity Canyon is actually bigger than Calamity Canyon (though smaller than Deer) maybe you should call it Big Calamity Canyon.
Smith Ridge seems to come up from the East to meet your ridge higher than you went.
On this map; I've marked A as where I think you left CTT and headed up canyon.
http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=34.20197,-11 ... Baldy%20CA
Rumpled- Thanks for the map link, even better thanks for the introduction to Acme Mapper. It's funny to me that both my maps labeled Deer Canyon as Calamity Canyon and made no mention of the name Deer. Everything I read on the internet before the climb called it Deer though. I am going to go back up sometime soon and try to go as far up Little/Big Calamity as I can go and then try to find a way to Calamity Ridge there should be less brush higher up and the map contour lines in the canyon seem to indicate that it could be doable.
It's an awesome place though!
It's an awesome place though!