Mt. San Jacinto Outdoor Recreation

Ellen and I decided to visit the San Gorgonio Wilderness for our weekly Wednesday hike. We liked the idea of heading up for Dobbs with a possible summit of Jepson, and figured that crampons and ice axe would be the most useful equipment, and left our snowshoes at home.

The road to Forest Falls was clear but a little icy. We were a bit surprised at the amount of snow at the Falls Creek parking area, and started walking up the road to the Mill Creek crossing. The switchbacks at the beginning of the Vivian Creek trail were covered in snow about 50% and although a little slippery in spots we did not put on microspikes.

When we came to the spot where we left the trail to head up the ridge there was bare dirt alternating with powdery snow drifts. The brush and scrub oak and dead fall were not cooperating and we had to back up a few times before we finally hit the backbone of the ridge. Once up on the ridge the ground was nearly 100% covered in snow. It didn't take long for us to realize that we maybe should have brought snowshoes.

Ellen did a great job of routefinding and trailbreaking, and did her best to keep us away from the deepest drifts. But the drifts were unavoidable and there were spots where I had to just get on my hands and knees to climb up. There was an icy crust in spots . When we got to those spots we held our breath and scurried accross in hopes of making it as far as possible before breaking through the powder. When we did we would bang our shins on the crust, and Ellen shed blood, and I got bruises on my shins.

We neared the area where the slope levels out near the top befor the final push to Dobbs Peak and called it. We had a lovely lunch with great views of the Pacific.

Well, gotta go to work now, so I will finish this TR this evening and post pics, too.

(continued from previous post)

OK, I'm back from work now (I had hoped I could write the whole TR before work). Let me backtrack a bit....

So, BEFORE lunch, we were struggling in the powder and when we were partially up the ridge we put on our crampons. This helped somewhat. Although the brush was covered in snow for the most part, the powder tended to drift there, making for some nearly impassable terrain for me. I would step onto the brush only to have the snow cave back in at me, and then I'd slide back down to my previous step. Occasionally I would grab at a tuft of brush and pull myself up and out. I also tried getting on my stomach and crawling out on hands and knees. I did whatever technique would work. Ellen, for some reason (probably that Alien DNA) seemed to make better progress than I, but was struggling too.

We would look up in the direction of our goal, and from some angles it looked close, and from other spots it looked far. Finally, as the angle of the ridge started to level out a bit near the top, we decided we'd had enough and needed some nutrition. We weren't even at the crest of the ridge where you could look over to the other side towards Big Bear, but we didn't care... we were completely shot! I had been hiking in a short sleeve T-shirt and working up a sweat, but soon after stopping we realized that it was actually a bit nippy. We donned our down jackets and ate our soup which both of us had brought up in thermoses.

After enjoying the exceedingly beautiful view we began the long slog down. Whilst hiking up I had been thinking that going back down would be a breeze. HA! We had to take it rather slowly and deliberately, especially because of the possibility of breaking through the crust or tripping over some obstacle hidden under the snow. We pretty much followed our tracks on the way down to take advantage of the snow being a little more packed down.

As we neared the bottom of the ridge and entered the area where there was exposed dirt we tried to take the same route down that we had taken up, but we lost our tracks and began wandering through the maze of scrub oak, deadfall, and brush. The sun was going behind the Yucaipa Ridge, and we weren't sure if we were upstream or downstream of where the log crosses Vivian Creek where we would rejoin the trail. I spotted a familiar log and ascertained that we were a bit downstream. We crossed the creek and were back on the trail again. Had we had enough energy, we would have knealt down and kissed the trail!

The sun was just setting when we crossed Mill Creek, and it was stunning. Also we caught Galena Peak just as it was bathed in alpen glow. As we traipsed back to my car, I slipped on the snowy road and landed on my rear. It seems to be a tradition for me to end a hike that way! By the time we got to the car it was very cold. Brrr.... That woodburning stove at El Mexicano sounded real inviting!

Thanks, Ellen, for another adventure. It never gets boring!

And now for the rest of the Story!

https://picasaweb.google.com/1009477359 ... directlink

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Nice photos! Those photos where you can see the glare off the Pacific Ocean are awesome. Looks like a great day, summit or no (although post holing is one of my least favorite outdoor activities).

HJ

Sally wrote:And now for the rest of the Story!

butt - that's not all.
Thanks for the tale and pix

That is a beautiful shot. Its hard to tell if the snow is Slush or Ice

Howdy GreatShaitan

I also love the sun on snow picture on Diabolical Dobbs.

Sally was a great sport -- I was cursing at myself for not having snowshoes all the way up the ridge. There's nothing like post holing up to your crouch in brush-covered snow when you're wearing crampons.

Trying to find a good route to drop down the side of ridge to Vivian creek was the cherry on the cake of the day. The steep drop of the trail to Mill creek was enjoyable by comparision

Miles of smiles,
Ellen

Sally wrote:https://picasaweb.google.com/1009477359 ... directlink

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Sally, did you happen to take anymore shots of the Yucaipa Ridge while you and Ellen were out there that day?

I'm looking for shots into the canyons and saddles for the whole ridge.

Thanks

Patrick/Lilbitmo

No, Patrick, the only shots I got of the Yucaipa Ridge is pic #9 in the slideshow, and the shot of what we believe is Galena Peak.

Ellen and I discussed the Yucaipa Ridge and how it was interesting but a bit out of our league. Are you planning on taking a trip up there?

Sally:

The Yucaipa Ridge from Allen Peak to Little San Gorgonio is fairly gentle. You can access the ridge via the Bearpaw Reserve by contacting them and getting their permission. http://www.wildlandsconservancy.org/pre ... arpaw.html

Kathy