Ice House Canyon 5 Peaks

James · Post by **James** » Sun Jul 24, 2011 10:42 am

Phil, Patrick, Tina, DaveG and son Liam, Ira, Mark, and I started at the Ice House canyon trail head. We went up Falling Rock canyon to Sugarloaf peak then over to Ontario, Big Horn, Etiwanda then Cucamonga.

Falling Rock canyon was a lot of fun. Steep boulder hopping with some ledges. A steep way to start the morning. We topped out on a ridge then dropped packs and made our way over to Sugarloaf. Picture perfect day with a nice breeze to keep the temps down.

Back to the packs and then a long, steep climb up to Ontario. That was a butt kicker. But there was plenty of shade on that climb with the nice breeze. At the Ontario summit there was snacks and tree climbing photos.

On the way to Big Horn we stopped at Kelly's Camp to refill the water bottles from the spring. It was flowing about a liter per minute. There's a nice patch of grass around the spring along with a zillion bugs.

We followed the trail a little ways then climbed a gully back up to the ridge to the trail to Big Horn. After the nice break at the water hole this was a bit tiring, must mean it's about lunch time.

At the Big Horn summit we had some snacks before heading down the sandy hill to the Cucamonga/Big Horn saddle. That went quick and there was a nice, cool breeze at the saddle. Good thing since the hot, exposed climb up Cucamonga was next.

Up the Cucamonga trail, switchbacks and hot sun can be no fun. Finally the turnoff to Etiwanda. A brief stop and we spotted a big horn sheep further up Cucamonga. It looked us over then moved off.

The hike over to Etiwanda was cool. There were many nice nap spots in the forested area. It was fun to think about it anyway. Getting to the base of Etiwanda, another climb up. But it's well worth it. The views on the Etiwanda summit are spectacular.

After some photos it's back to the trail junction then up to the Cucamonga summit. Number 5! Took some photos signed the register then back to the trail junction where Phil cooked the best cinnamon rolls we'd ever had. What an awesome way to finish off a tough and amazing hike.

Heading down was uneventful, a quick stop at Columbine Springs for a refill then continue down hot, dusty Ice House Canyon. The cool breeze on the ridges was not at the parking lot, which was in the upper 80s.

Approx. 16-18 miles and 6500 feet elevation gain. A great day with a great group! Photos are here:

http://s622.photobucket.com/albums/tt30 ... ?start=all

turtle · Post by **turtle** » Sun Jul 24, 2011 11:49 am

Thanks for posting the trip report Jim, and my thanks to everyone for a really nice hike! Patrick, Phil, Jim, Dave, Liam, it was nice to meet all of you.

Sorry to have to scoot ahead at the end. Looks like I missed some amazing cinnamon rolls! I made it Cucamonga to car in 1:25, but my quads are none to happy about that today!

I still have someone's annual pass... Patrick, is that yours? If so, I'll get it to you later this week. Phil, if it's yours, PM me your address and I will mail it you right away.

RichardK · Post by **RichardK** » Sun Jul 24, 2011 11:50 am

Fran and I ran into this crew in the parking lot at the end of the day. It was nice to meet some of the board members in person.

lilbitmo · Post by **lilbitmo** » Sun Jul 24, 2011 12:26 pm

Thanks to Phil and Tina for putting this together.Thank you James for putting up the trip report.
It was nice to finally meet Turtle (I vote we rename him Rabbit

, Cucamonga to his car in 1:25 min that's moving, nice work, I'm sure the family apprecaited it - the "Adventure Pass is mine, just bring it north with you ), it was nice to finally hike in the same direction as Elwood (Ira), it was nice to meet Dave's son Liam, that boy can fly. Thanks go out to Phil for the amazing "cinnimon rolls" and the "virgin margarita" at the truck and the suttle to & from starbucks (or as my brother calls it "fivebucks"

). And it was good to be on the trail with Dave G, Phil, Tina and James again. Everyone kept up a great pace and good times were had by everyone.

Richard K. it was nice to meet you as well we thought it was you walking by but we weren't absolutely sure, it was Tina that yelled out your name, she's the "introvert in our crowd"

.

Looking forward to doing something fun like that again in the future - nice work everyone, thanks for letting me tag along.

My Pictures here

Post by **Taco** » Sun Jul 24, 2011 5:02 pm

Holy crap Phil, that's cool!

I bet it was a bit hot on some of those slopes. 8)

lik2hik · Post by **lik2hik** » Sun Jul 24, 2011 6:27 pm

Hey Taco.
Actually, the weather was pretty nice with cool air and a good breeze most of the time. Going up/down Cucamonga was a bit of a cooker though. The views out east from Etiwanda were fantastic.
Great group of people! Fun times.
Thanks to everybody who came along.

My photos:

mcphersonm80 · Post by **mcphersonm80** » Mon Jul 25, 2011 9:38 am

Ah, so this must explain the piles of Eispiraten stickers in each register... I was up Etiwanda, Cucamonga, Bighorn, and Ontario yesterday, stickers in hand, but you guys beat me to it.

(I did manage to leave some on Mt Lowe and Markham on Saturday)

Great report and photos!

Dave G · Post by **Dave G** » Mon Jul 25, 2011 11:15 am

Great TR James; it was fun hiking with you! Also a pleasure to meet and hike with Elwood and Turtle and then bump into Richard K afterwards. Thanks to to Tina and Phil for organizing this fun adventure, to Patrick for the comic relief, and thanks to all of you for making Liam feel welcome. This was the toughest hike he’s done so far and he was totally stoked that he got the chance to do it with you guys.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21042415@N ... 153732195/

Elwood · Post by **Elwood** » Mon Jul 25, 2011 6:21 pm

Saturday morning I got to hike the five peaks: Sugarloaf, Ontario, Bighorn, Etiwanda, and Cucamonga with one of the nicest bunches of people you could ever want to share the day with. Many thanks to all who hiked and posted.

After leaving some cars (including my 320,000 mile minivan beater) in La Verne, we convened in the Icehouse Canyon parking lot. We were on the trail around 0605. The synopsis of the glorious day has been covered in earlier reports, so I'll just add the summit times, based on my GPS:

Sugaloaf - 0736
Ontario - 0929
Bighorn - 1112
Etiwanda - 1305
Cucamonga - 1355

I was happy to be the caboose of this obscenely fit group. Dave, James, Liam, Mark, Patrick, Phil, and Tina (alphabetically). I look forward to hiking with y'all again sometime soon.

Heading up the talus into Falling Rock Canyon.

87.5% of our group climbing in F.R.C.

Mark, Liam, Dave, Tina, Phil, James and Patrick nearing the Sugarloaf Saddle.

Sugarloaf Peak, looking towards the front range.

Liam, Phil and James, undaunted by the ridge up to Ontario Peak.

Mark hoisting the colors atop Ontario Peak.

It was unusually clear. This mountain looks familiar.

Saddling up on Ontario for Kelly's Camp, then Bighorn Peak.

Phil on the way to Kelly's.

Heading out of Kelly's Camp for climb up the top of Delker Canyon to Bighorn Peak.

Heading down towards Cucamonga Saddle.

Ovis Canadensis Nelsoni on Cucamonga Peak.

Homo Sapiens on Etiwanda Peak.

View down Day Canyon towards Rancho Cucamonga and beyond.

View towards the San Bernardino Mountains.

Relaxing at Icehouse Canyon parking area.

GPS track and elevation plot. I filtered this before printing, so some figures may we a little wonky.

tinaballina · Post by **tinaballina** » Tue Jul 26, 2011 12:14 pm

it was an awesome day with an awesome bunch of guys. i had a great bf for the day too.
thank you phil for the yummy goodies and cocktails. that and the company made the trip complete.