Mt. San Jacinto Outdoor Recreation

by **Sally** » Thu May 26, 2011 10:16 pm

As you all know, Ellen did the Big Draw with Cindy, John and Calico Cat (Jim) last weekend. She was a sweetheart and offered to take me up on Wednesday. We headed up yesterday with the goals of 1) summitting Jepson Peak via the Big Draw; 2) finding the perfect hassel-free cross-country route to the Bowl (meaning avoiding "moraineland," brush, and dropoffs); and 3) having a good time.

After crossing the streams at South Fork Meadows we left the trail in the usual manner and began to bear a bit west (to the right) until we came to a rather gentle snow-filled gully. We followed the gully up for quite a way, then climbed out and found ourselves in some minor morrain. This is where we figured we should have followed the gully farther and that we would avoid the morrain altogether by getting in at the top of gully on the way back.

We did make it to the Big Draw without too much navigating through morraine. We got out the crampons and headed up. As it got steeper near the top we followed footsteps in a zig-zagging manner. We attained the ridge and headed west toward Jepson Peak. When we got to the peak we ate our Cheetos and Doritos while discussing the virtues of real fried chips as apposed to "baked" chips. Then we headed back across the ridge. We decided to descend the mountain by glissading down the chute that we had climbed two weeks ago as it was a little more sane than going back down the Big Draw. Well, we overshot the chute and found ourselves practically at San Gorgonio Peak. It was irresistable to take off our packs and head up to the peak and make it a double.

After summiting we backtracked to the chute and, after I balked at glissading the steeper section at the top, put our crampons back on. We had only gone a short way when I gathered the courage to go for it and off came the crampons and down we went. I got so bold as to challenge Ellen in a race to the bottom. We glissaded more than 1500' before we had to stop and walk. Then we began to search for our gully and find the perfect route back. We thought we needed to go west some more and found ourselves in some rocks and brush. Finally we came to a gully, but it was the wrong gully. We had overshot our gully! We backtracked and got back on track. Oh well, maybe next time we'll find the perfect cross-country route!

We did meet goals #1 and #3.

Ellen, thanks for a great day and for the wonderful hamburger at The Oaks! I can't wait 'til next Wednesday.