San Gorgonio via Fish Creek Trailhead

[tkvance]

Went up the Fish Creek Trailhead this last weekend to San Gorgonio peak. A great hike. We had 5 Boy Scouts with us, and we all made it, so that was cool.

The weather was perfect. Very cold on Fri night. Ice in the water bottles! Windy on the way up to the peak as usual, but perfectly blue skies.

We only saw two other hiking groups on Sat.

All-in-all, a great trip.

[Hikin_Jim]

That's a great hike, isn't it? I really enjoy the stretch from Fish Creek Saddle to Mine Shaft Saddle. Just a nice ramble through high country.

May I ask where you overnighted?

[tkvance]

Overnighted only 1.7 miles in, at Fish Creek Trail Camp. I had wanted to camp further along, as it would've made it easier getting to the peak on Sat, but it was getting dark on us Fri night, and the lack of a reliable water source caused us to stop where we did.

[Hikin_Jim]

I think you did the right thing. The next site up, Fish Cr. Saddle generally does not have water except briefly in the Spring when the snow is melting.

What kind of shape was Fish Cr. Trail Camp in? Were there plenty of tent sites? Were the sites in pretty good shape or were they rocky and eroded?

[tkvance]

Fish Creek Trail Camp was great. It was spread out very nicely, and could've easily held a number of camping groups. Since we were the only ones there, obviously no problem. The camping area spreads up and down the valley for quite a ways. There were a ton of level spots that made good camping spots.

One thing that was interesting----when we got to camp that evening, I went out looking for a spring. I went downhill first, and couldn't find anything. As it was starting to get dark, I happened upon a tent that was standing. It was very "spooky", since there was no other sign of a person. The tent was not staked properly, like it had been blown by the wind, but it was still standing. It was zipped up. I went over to it and called out, but no answer.

So I unzipped it, halfway thinking there would be the remains of some forlorn hiker inside, but nothing. The tent looked fairly brand new, with no apparant damage or wear on it.

Inside the tent, there was an instruction book and bag for packing the tent, but nothing else. No supplies, notes, or anything.

So I zipped it back up and left it.

Hmmmm.

[Hikin_Jim]

Ah, um, well, the answer is, um, everybody knows that, er, Fish Creek is the international tent testing area. Yeah, yeah, that's it. It's the international tent testing area. Perfectly normal.

A tent all by itself -- that's really weird.

[magikwalt]

Perhaps the honeymoon ended faster than he expected.