As with last week, I was up at 4:00am and on the Icehouse Canyon trail by 5:50. A group of two Korean ladies with three Korean children started out just ahead of me. As the children were speaking Korean amongst themselves rather than English, I gathered they were actually from Korea, probably on summer holiday visiting relatives in the US. As it happened, Koreans made up no more than half the people I saw on the trail that day, which was the lowest proportion I have yet encountered. Indeed, I didn't meet any above Icehouse Saddle.
Anyway, I zoomed up the trail to the saddle without incident, arriving at 7:30. It was much as the weekend before, except there were even more gnats this week than last week, annoying bastards, and the sun was shining brightly through a cloudless sky.
After a snack and a circuit of the saddle to photograph all the trail signs, I started down the Cucamonga Peak trail. Of course, I encountered the heartbreaking elevation loss almost immediately, which made me sad. I was cheered up by my arrival at a dramatic but, as far as I can tell, unnamed saddle between Bighorn and Cucamonga. The views on either side of the saddle were spectacular.
In fact, that's mostly what this trip has going for it: the views. You get wonderful views of the Ontario Peak ridge, of the San Gabriel Valley, of the Middle Fork drainage of Lytle Creek, and as you get high enough, Mt Baldy peeping over the shoulder of Bighorn:
But beyond that it's mostly just a steep hike up to an unspectacular summit; nothing like the trek through an eerie landscape that characterizes the Ontario Peak hike. In fact, Cucamonga summit is even a little disappointing, as summits go:
I enjoyed myself up there, though, as I do on every summit, having arrived at 9:15. But the area just below the summit, where folks apparently do a lot of picnicking and camping (legal or not), seems to be a bit trashed:
I took a few photos of the San Gabriel Valley and ate the rest of my hummus (a new trail food I have been experimenting with instead of turkey sandwiches). Then I looked over towards Etiwanda and thought about continuing along the trail and bagging it, but I wasn't sure of the route to the top. I'll have to do a bit more research and then head back up.
Heading back down at 9:45, I didn't encounter another party coming up until 10:10. I met about a dozen people in all above the saddle. Later I saw a couple fighter jets flying in low over the San Gabriels:
I got back to the saddle at 10:55 and shared the trail down with a group of kids in red tee shirts who didn't seem to be Boy Scouts, finally reaching my car at 12:35.
Another very nice hike out of Icehouse Canyon, though not as dramatic as the Ontario Peak hike. I'll come back in a month or so with my sister and we'll do Etiwanda as well as Cucamonga.
Moar photos here.
PS: that new message board image is teh suck because it is too wide and makes the forum stretch too wide. I have replaced it in my Flickr stream with a version that is a little smaller, which might work better.
