Lance and I headed up the San Bernardino Peak trail yesterday. This is the first time I've hiked in the snow since I broke my ankle on San Jacinto in February. After reading GigaMike's post about hiking up San Gorgonio on Friday on the San Gorgonio Wilderness Association forum, we opted to carry crampons rather than snowshoes.
It was fairly warm when we started (~6 AM) and we quickly took off our fleece jackets. We ran into the first signs of snow and ice at about 8200 ft before reaching Manzanita Flat. The ice we encountered on the trail was due to snow melting and refreezing from the footsteps of other hikers. We saw large paw prints -- about 4 inches across. I assumed the previous hikers were accompanied by a large dog.
The snow became more constant and deeper on the way to Limber Pine. I love the reassuring sound of crunching when my boots make contact with the snow. At Limber Pine (9,300 ft), we were in solid snow and decided to go cross-country up the ridge towards the summit. Lance picked the route and I followed in his footsteps. It was slow going and energy intensive -- the snow was new and becoming soft due to the warm weather. I sank up to the top of my boots on average but occasionally post-holed up to my knees or higher. On the positive side, there was no ice and we didn't need our crampons.
Lance did an excellent job orienteering. We came out on the ridge about a quarter mile from the summit. We continued to slog our way uphill and finally reached the peak. The register box was buried and I was too tired to dig it out to sign in. It was clear from the pristine snow that we were the first hikers to summit San Bernardino peak since the storm. We ate lunch, basked in the warm fall day (~ 50 degrees at the summit), enjoyed the fabulous views, and took the requisite pictures.
Since my ankle injury occurred going downhill, I was leery about descending. The snow had softened even more due to the warm day, so the odds of sliding downhill were slim.. I took very deliberate steps to stay upright and avoid a face-plant. When we reached Limber Pine and rejoined the trail, we realized that the previous hikers had stopped or turned around.
The warm weather worked to our advantage in one respect -- it melted most of the ice as we continued to descend. We actually got a bit warm by the time we reached the trail head. I stripped down to my shorts and turned on the car's air conditioning. Pretty ironic for a late fall hike. We celebrated my successful return to the snow with a fabulous dinner at El Mexicano in Forest Falls. Afterwards, we visited my wildlife artist friend Lindsey Foggett in her nearby San Gorgonio art gallery. Lance described the paw print. Turns out the print belonged to a cougar. Just when I thought it was safe to return to the snow...
Miles of smiles,
Ellen
