Left at 7:30 yesterday with Janine. Donned microspikes 10 minutes in -- lots of snow down low. The snow was icy and uneven due to footprints -- I tried to stay out of the tracks on the way up. It was a PITA to navigate the snow berm near Manzanita Flats. Headed up and over the ridge after the junction sign (rather than traversing to the left around the ridge). Once we rejoined the trail on the other side, we headed up and to the left, navigating around brush and rocks until we reached the base of the left side of the ridge. The trail wraps around the right side of this ridge.
Donned snowshoes and stayed on the left side of the ridge all the way up until we topped out where the ridge meets the San Gorgonio backbone. From there, it was a simple matter of heading up to west San Bernardino peak. The views from the summit were breathtaking. We were above the clouds and watched them move as we had lunch. In the beginning, we could see San Jacinto. Then, the clouds/mist completely took over the south side of San Gorgonio -- a white out on the south side and clear on the north side. Time to leave!
Retraced our tracks. The snow continued to be a PITA from Manzanita flats on. I was slipping and sliding on the way down the switchbacks back to the trailhead. Between Skyline and this hike, I was shattered and devastated to find that gutless wonders had stolen my wallet and both Janine's and my crampons (covered in a separate post).
I will not go back up this trail until the bottom half has melted out -- it is too much of a pain to get to the good snow climb. I suspect the Forsee creek trail is even worse, as it is narrower and gets less sun.
Needless to say, don't park at the San Bernardino peak TH due to the gutless !@#$%^&* thieves.
Miles of smiles,
Ellen