San Gorgonio Wilderness-California — Sunday, May. 4, 2008

Heartily sick of the Northwest weather, I ditched Seattle at the end of April and flew down to Palm Springs for some backpacking in the sun. I met up with Chuck down at PS and did a 4 day backpack from Coon Creek Jumpoff to Vivian Creek trailhead, summiting 11,499' Mt San Gorgonio along the way. The backpack trip did not disappoint! The weather was as sunny as expected and the scenery ruggedly impressive by any standard, despite being so close to Los Angeles. Timing is everthing in Southern California. We enjoyed cool weather, snow, and an amazing lack of other people. Later in the year, the San Gorgonio Wilderness becomes hot, dry, and crowded. We were dropped off at Coon Creek Jumpoff by a friend of Chuck's...Thanks Jon for doing all that driving! At 8000' the air was cool and the scenery impressive right from the start. After the requisite trailhead photo session, we commenced hiking south in the Pacific Crest Trail. The eight mile stretch of the PCT we hiked was spectacular indeed. It traversed a steep ridge with great views, reaching a high point at almost 9000' before gradually descending to Mission Creek. We met 4 parties of PCT thru-hikers along the way--must have been peak season for them. In the afternoon, we arrived at Mission Creek Camp and a bit farther along, the entrance to San Gorgonio Wilderness at Fish Creek. Wooded and quite pleasant Fish Creek Camp at 8400' was our destination for the night. Despite being only 2 miles from the trailhead, reaching the camp was tiring due to frequent patches of snow. We were frustrated to find that there was no running water at the camp. Why had the ranger not told us about this? Not wanting to melt snow, I hiked up the canyon looking for a spring and luckily found one about a quarter mile above the camp. Whew! The next day was challenging as we gained altitude and encountered increasing amounts of snow. Initially the trail climbed a thankfully snow-free slope. Across the valley, the piles of snow from avalanches that had come down from Ten Thousand Foot Ridge were impressive to see. Beyond 9700' Fish Creek Saddle, the trail to Mineshaft Saddle was solidly covered with snow and challenging to travel on. But mighty Mount San Gorgonio came ever closer, luring us on. We studied the mountain hard, looking for a safe way up, a task made made difficult because we had no ice axes. By the time we reached Mineshaft Saddle a terrific wind had come up, ad we abandoned any thought of trying to summit that day. We set up camp on a flat area below, hoping for a little more shelter. My Shires Tarp Tent got its toughest test ever that night as the wind increased to hurricane strength. I had built a rock wall to protect the tent, which helped, but a stake blew out during the night, partially collapsing the tent. While I reset the stake and got the tent back in working order, Chuck slept peacefully through it all as he had wisely taken two Ambiens. That stuff really works! The next day we headed for the summit of Gorgonio after working out a safe route. I enjoyed seeing the evidence of glaciation in Southern California as we climbed ever higher. At 10,000 feet we crossed a very nicely formed terminal moraine. The steep-walled cirque above was impressively alpine. The final 1000' ascent to the peak was on a snowless spur. The howling wind made things quite exciting. I sometimes had to get down into a crouch to avoid being blown over. Also there was the nagging worry that we would be blocked by an icy snowfield. This would have cause a major headache as our travel plan relied on getting over the mountain. But at 2 pm we arrived safely on the broad summit plateau of San Gorgonio. A rock shelter provided a comfortable haven from the bitter wind. Camping is allowed up here, but we were not tempted--had enough of wind that day. After an hour of admiring the impressive views fom the summit, we headed down the other side of the mountain via the Vivian Creek Trail. Much of the trail was snow covered, making for slow going. Finally we gave up on the trail and just headed down cross country on a dry slope directly to 9200' High Camp. With running water, views of high peaks, and little wind, this is one of the better places to camp in the San Gorgonio Wilderness. The next day, we continued the descent off the mountain. Snow patches obstructed the trail all the way down to 7000'. The meadows and forest along Vivian Creek were beautiful, more Northwest than So. California. A final steep descent down the steep-walled canyon of Mill Creek brought us to the trailhead and the end of the hike. A final treat awaited us at the Vivian Creek Trailhead: we saw a herd of Bighorn Sheep grazing on the canyon wall nearby. This was a fun backpack trip. Off-season hiking in Southern California is a great way to escape the damp and snow of the Northwest.