Fresh Snow on San Bernardino Peak

[Sally]

There was a very thin and spotty dusting of snow at the San Bernardino Peak trailhead when Ellen and I set out on our hike yesterday morning. After a while we got into our microspikes to maneuver across some icy patches on the trail, and by the time we reached Manzanita Flats the ground was well-covered in snow.

We left the trail for our cross-country route and booted it up the hill. When the snow got a bit deeper we switched to snowshoes. The last time we did San Bernardino Peak we ran into some rocks that were awkward to negotiate in snowshoes, so we thought that if we stayed to the right (west) we might avoid the rocks. We topped out on a ridge and much to our dismay there was even a more formidable clump of boulders in our way. Also, according to my GPS, we weren't nearly at the elevation we thought we would be at. It was difficult to be angry at the mountain for tricking us like that because it was so incredibly beautiful with all that glistening trackless snow. So we negotiated around the boulders and continued in an upwards fashion along the ridge.

We reached San Bernardino Peak and had lunch under a thin veil of racing clouds. We had brought thermoses of hot soup thinking it was going to be a cold day up there, but actually it was not all that cold.

We headed back down, taking a different route, of course. We avoided the rocks altogether, but the slope was a little steep for our comfort. Our fears about slipping down the hill to our death were alleviated when we discovered that the snow was deep and powdery enough to stop us from sliding too far.

Eventually we made it back to the trail. The snow had melted a lot down below and we were walking through a combination of mud, wet gravel, sticky snow and ice.

What a great day! We learned another way to get tangled in rocks and had the opportunity to be the only people making tracks in the fresh snow on that side of the mountain. There were probably 4-5" of the fresh stuff at the higher elevations.

Thank you Ellen!

[Sally]

Sorry to put you all through the same TR twice, y'all! I think Ellen's version is more colorful than mine!

[Sally]

Pictures:

https://picasaweb.google.com/sallymorle ... directlink