Sister Sally and I started at 6 AM Wed April 27. The cool air felt wonderful after the Tues heat on Skyline. Our first challenge was getting across Mill Creek without getting our feet wet
Headed up the trail to Vivian Creek and crossed over a large tree before the regular crossing as creek water was flowing fast over that log. Then we headed up the ridge. I first did this route in Jan of 2010 and didn't recall having to negotiate so many dead trees, brush and trees 
We finally attained the ridge and headed up.
The ridge gains altitude very quickly. Two hours in we were at 8 K. We donned crampons at about 8.5 K. On the lower part of the climb we had to manuver around and through exposed brush and dirt. By about 9.5 K, the snow coverage was excellent. We reached Dobbs Peak (10,459) and I asked Sally if she wanted to bag Jepson -- heck yes! We continued to walk along the ridge, dropped down slightly to cross a gully, then headed uphill. As the Craigmeister says, "When in doubt, go up!"
Reached Jepson (11,205) a little after 11 AM. Ate lunch and sent out SPOT messages to family and friends, then started down around 12 noon.
I expected the snow to soften on the way down and wasn't disappointed. The post holing back to the beginning of the steep descent wasn't too bad. My main concern going down was to not drop off the south side of the ridge. Thanks to Sally's GPS track, we were able to get back on track when we got off route. The snow in the steep section had softened up so much that we were slipping a bit. Got back into the dirt and made our way down to the area where we needed to drop back to Vivian creek. Once again, Sally's GPS track helped us manuver around the dead trees, bushes and trees.
It was great to reach Vivian creek and actually be on a trail again
Going down the steep section to Mill Creek was a piece of cake compared to our descent up to that point. The final challenge was trying to cross Mill Creek, which was much higher and flowing faster than in the early morning. Reached the car at 5 PM -- a good, solid butt kicking day in the mountains. We had an excellent meal at El Mexicano before heading home.
Notes: the snow on the south side of San Gorgonio is not nearly as nice as the snow on the north side and the recent warm weather is softening it up. I won't do this route again until 1) it is dirt or 2) there is better and firmer snow coverage.
Miles of smiles,
Ellen
SPOT track (also has the South Fork track from last Saturday)
http://share.findmespot.com/shared/face ... GVq7AbU0UP
