Cucamonga, Bighorn, Ontario

TRs for the San Gabriel Mountains.
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davidwiese
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Joined: Mon Jul 30, 2018 4:00 pm

Post by davidwiese »

This past Sunday I set out to hit these three peaks, and it ended up being a great day up in the mountains.

Parked at Icehouse Canyon at 5:45am and was hiking by 5:50am. Made it to Icehouse Saddle in 1:15, and got to summit of Cucamonga in 2:05 (personal best... although I still want to make it sub-2 hours).

Came down from Cucamonga to the saddle between it and Bighorn, and after a short break to put on my hat and some sunscreen, ascended up the SE ridge to Bighorn. It's pretty steep but not too long. It doesn't see much use and there is no official trail, but if you look carefully you can usually see the path most people take. In general just keep going up. Great views back toward Cucamonga from this ridge and up top at Bighorn proper.

The most tiring section of the day was between Bighorn and Ontario for me. Probably because I had already climbed over 4,000' and it was starting to get rather warm, and this entire section is exposed with the sun climbing higher in the sky.

Once I made it to Ontario I took my first real break in some shade. After that, I headed down the trail past Kelly Camp and back to Icehouse Saddle. Once I got a bit below the saddle, I took the Chapman Trail alternate back to near the parking lot because I had never done it, and figured it would be much better going down than up. It added some miles but it was pretty neat to get back into Cedar Canyon and cross Telegraph Wash.

Ended up being ~18.5 miles, ~5,300' elevation gain, and took me 6 hours and 55 minutes total. Drank 4L of water and ate around 1,500 cal.

Looking back down Icehouse Canyon
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Looking up toward Icehouse Saddle
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Looking back toward Icehouse Saddle
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The SE ridge of Bighorn I'll be going up after Cucamonga
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View from Cucamonga
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Looking back toward Cucamonga from near Bighorn summit
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Great views of Baldy and Telegraph
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Ontario coming into view
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davidwiese
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Joined: Mon Jul 30, 2018 4:00 pm

Post by davidwiese »

Remaining pictures:

Looking down the Chapman Trail near the start, Icehouse Canyon Trail is down below on the left
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Looking back up the Chapman Trail toward Icehouse Saddle -- very exposed trail
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Descending below Cedar Grove/Canyon, Telegraph Peak false summit above
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JeffH
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Post by JeffH »

That’s a good day in the mountains. Seems like I would want more calories during this kind of trip - although I do replenish heavily afterwards.
"Argue for your limitations and sure enough they're yours".
Donald Shimoda
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davidwiese
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Post by davidwiese »

I always struggle to eat as much as I should while hiking. I definitely make up for it at home later in the day (and the next day...)
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RichardK
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Joined: Sun Sep 30, 2007 12:33 pm

Post by RichardK »

Many years ago while ascending Cucamonga, I kept eyeing that ridge up Bighorn. It looked very doable. We came back next week and did it by itself. There was no use trail then. Basically, you just go straight up. The footing was decent and it's not that steep. You managed to see everything that Icehouse Canyon has to offer in a single hike! Good job!
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