Ontario Peak 6/14

[kristo5747]

Started around 3:30am. Weather reports the previous day talked about temp in the mid 90's. Since I figured I can't beat the heat, I decided to get my ass out of the bed crazy early.

Really quiet, dark night. Got to Ice house saddle around 5am. Baldy still shows patches of snow but nothing major. Got to Kelly camp and ate some breakfast. Still a few patches of sleet and snow there.

Made to Ontario Peak around 8am. On the way down, I saw that "someone" had kicked and broken the marker poles to Cucamonga Peak and Comanche trail. I dug a hole and use rocks to steady both poles...

Got back to my car around 10am. Beats a day at the office.

Now, the crappy pictures...

Al,
//========================================//

1) Sunrise view of Baldy


2) trap to snap falling rocks...not sure if you can anything


3) sunrise / part 1


4) Ontario Peak is on the right...I swear


5) sunrise / part 2


6) neat looking flower(?)


7) Old Saddleback


8) Baldy


9) Ontario Peak. My camera crapped out so I had to use my iPhone.

[RichardK]

Your neat looking flower is the snow plant. It is parasitic without chlorophyll and lives on decaying pine needles. Thank you for repairing the trail signs. We were there Saturday at 9AM and had to park a 1/4 mile below the parking lot. The place was mobbed. A bus from the Evergreen Hiking Club added another load as we started. You could tell by listening to people's conversations that many had never been there before, maybe never hiked before. There were families with little kids, rowdy teenagers, the works. Ten years ago the parking lot was never full. Now the place is hopelessly over crowded with trash along the trail and vandalism. Icehouse Canyon is a wilderness in name only. How come the San Bernardino forest has a quota on their trails while the ANF can't even send out a ranger to keep an eye on things?

[kristo5747]

Your neat looking flower is the snow plant. It is parasitic without chlorophyll and lives on decaying pine needles. ...

Near Bighorn, I saw *blankets* of California poppies (I think). It was surprising to see anything other than manzanitas at such elevation...

...How come the San Bernardino forest has a quota on their trails while the ANF can't even send out a ranger to keep an eye on things?

That would make sense. ANF seems to think otherwise though. Wonder if it has anything to do with $$$...

What pissed me off the most is the fact that putting up trail markers is a lot of work: someone had to get up the saddle bringing tools, signs etc. The jerk(s) who broke and kicked the signs down did not have enough gray matter to consider this fact, obviously.

I am also thinking of bringing a couple of trash bags to pick up litter next Sunday. That won't be fun but after what I saw yesterday, it seems necessary.

Al.