EISPIRATEN

Whilst Jake Knievel was busy riding his scooter over repurposed ACH signage, I added another chapter to my tome Poor Choices In Summer Hiking. Missing out on a perfectly good early morning descent of Eaton, I drove out to Rancho Cucamonga and parked at the top of Haven Avenue. I started up Deer Canyon at 0600. It was very slow going all day due to the heat. It was already in seventies when I started and amazingly in the nineties above 8,000 feet. My goal for the day was Cucamonga Peak, promising myself to retreat should conditions warrant it. The wet winter was very kind to the vegetation on "Cucamonga Truck Trail" 1N34. What was overgrown annoyance last August was now a tangle of young Buckthorn, glistening with a sticky resin. There were several stretches where progress could only be managed by pushing through this mercifully pliable, shoulder-height mess. Most of 7W04.4/5, from the Cucamonga Wilderness boundary to the Etiwanda summit trail cutoff is in decent shape, save for a nasty mile-or-so where it turns towards the Lytle Creek side. Luckily I had the presence of mind to top off the water supply on my first pass over Day Creek. I was down to one liter for the entire descent from Etiwanda back to Day, and y'all know how hot it was this past Saturday.


Unattained goal for the day: Cucamonga Peak.


Cucamonga Truck Trail, 1N34 as it heads towards Joe Elliott Campground from the top of Deer Canyon.


I missed its previous owner.


Remote rain gauge, Deer Canyon, part of the basin and the Pacific Ocean.


Cucamonga and Etiwanda Peaks.


One of the more easily traveled stretches of IN34.


The trail gets a bit brushy in spots.


Day Canyon drainage.


Gateway into the Cucamonga Wilderness from Joe Elliott Campground.


San Sevaine Road and 7W04.4, looking down into Joe Elliott.


I was tempted to try and scramble up here rather than face the trail ahead. Musta' been the dehydration talking.


Looking towards Buck Point.


San Sevaine Lookout and relay towers.


Little flat around 7,440 feet.


I descended this ridge rather than fight a poor trail segment.


7W04.4 is in here somewhere. Really.


Middle Fork, Lytle Creek trail is down there somewhere.


Timber and the other 'T's.


View from Etiwanda's Summit.


What's a hike without one of these beautiful Crotalae ?


GPS track and elevation data. One of these days I'm gonna' figure out why the gain and loss totals get so wonky.

Sheet, bro, Etirwander from the South ain't no slouch. So whats if you didn't make Cucamonger. Dang good hikin'.

HJ

Nice work Jake (and Elwood)

Those are some very informative pictures, that area looks beat up from a previous fire - any idea when that was?

Gonna have to jump in with you on one of these wild ones - when the temp's are a little cooler - the heat fries me.

Thanks for sharing that TR

That's a heck of a hike to do in the heat!

nice job! a glutton for punishment

for the gps elevation see if the software has a smoothing option, it is picking up the random fluctuations in elevation as real ups and downs

sweeet pics and write up!

Nice job, Elwood!

Patrick, that would be from the Grand Prix fire of 2003.

He219 wrote:Nice job, Elwood!

Patrick, that would be from the Grand Prix fire of 2003.

Fritz, is that the same one that caused all the damage on the north west facing slopes of Ontario as well? That forest of death

That's just before I started hiking so I'm not up on that fire.

Thanks

Hot stuff Elwood.

When you were on the 7W04.4 trail portion of your hike, did you happen to take any pictures looking down into Middle Fork Lytle Creek that show the gully indicated on this ACME map (basically the gully that runs from the saddle at 7100+ straight north down to Stone House Crossing)? To me it looks possible to ascend that gully - maybe continue on to Etiwanda/Cucamonga.

yup, neat stuff...wonder if this rampart feature of the peak is accesible?

I think this is as good a picture as I have of the gully in question. Last year's shots aren't any better.

AW, it should be easy to reach. I'd be down to give it a shot.

Thanks Elwood.