Hiked: 7/29/2023
Distance: 21.8 miles round trip on trail and cross country
Summit Elevation: 11501'
Prominence: 8294'
Elevation Gain: 4754'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 3.8
Round trip time: 10 hours 50 minutes
Recommended water: 176 oz.
Parking/Fees: Adventure Pass
Difficulty: Very Strenuous
Leisa and I drove to the South Fork Trailhead for a big training hike. I think San Gorgonio is the best Whitney training hike in SoCal. It is the highest and all routes are long with substantial gain. The sandy granite trails are also similar to the Whitney trail. The parking lot was mostly full when we arrived just before 7 AM. Temps were pleasant and stayed that way as our elevation gain offset the warming of the day. Several parties were on the trail. We caught one with six people taking a break at Poopout Hill. They caught up with us a mile later during our first break and we made a couple of stream crossings together. After that, we pulled away and met them heading to the summit as we were coming down. We took the junction to Dry Lake and it was full of murky green water. We decided we would filter water from one of the streams if possible on the way back. We passed Mineshaft Saddle and started the many switchbacks up the north side of Gorgonio. For our final break on the way up, we stopped at the C-47 memorial. There was still a lot of debris above and below the trail, but little to no snow. We continued up as the Sky High Trail cut into the south face, offering nice views of Bighorn Mountain and Dragonshead.
We were passing directly underneath Gorgonio where the Sky High Trail makes a final turn before intersecting the summit trail when we met a large snowfield. It covered the trail completely with a 100' run out into rocks, boulders, and trees. Footprints marked the trail through the snow so people had been using it. Even though we both had microspikes, it seemed an unnecessary risk. We had just caught up to a party of three and all of us agreed it looked better to go straight up toward the summit over sand and rocks. There were even a few braids of use trail indicating others had made the same decision. We led the way up and soon joined the busy summit trail. There were about twenty people milling around the summit, par for a summer Saturday. There was a destroyed ammo box with a missing register, also par for San Bernardino summits. The benchmark that used to be there was gone. The weather remained favorable, with some puffy, non-threatening clouds drifting by and no rain. We hung around on top for a while, then I made a short side trip to the Northwest Slope which has some geological significance (and a bonus PB point). I found two coils of wire, no marks, but another destroyed register box. I returned quickly and we descended the same way back to the trail and retraced our steps. We stopped at one of the streams to refill our water using squeeze filters, much more efficient that the hand pump variety. The final five miles seemed to go slowly, but we finished up in just under 11 hours. A great day and successful trainer in the books.
Awesome! (but how about that drive home afterward?) Are you two targeting Whitney this year?
ReplyDeleteGloop,
DeleteDrive home was not too bad. It's usually worse on a weekday. We have a two-day Whitney permit for the last week in August. Still concerned about high stream levels and ice on the 99 switchbacks. We'll give it a go.